Sea Transportation Directorate General at Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry, along with Japan’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Ministry (MLIT), is reinforcing maritime synergy through a technical port training program under the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement (JIEPA).

Director of Ports at the Ministry of Transportation, Muhammad Anto Julianto, expressed appreciation for the ongoing cooperation, emphasizing that the program supports JIEPA, especially in technical collaboration, knowledge sharing, and human resource capacity building.

“This initiative is a strategic step to transform Indonesia’s port sector into one that is more competitive, resilient, and sustainable,” Anto stated during the JIEPA Port Technical Training in Jakarta, Wednesday evening (July 2, 2025).

Anto highlighted the importance of learning from Japan’s experience in sustainable port infrastructure, stating that collaboration with MLIT and OCDI offers valuable insights for building competent maritime human resources in Indonesia—crucial for addressing modern challenges such as environmental issues and increasingly complex bilateral trade.

The three-day training (July 2–4, 2025) involves officials, technical staff, and stakeholders from ports across Indonesia. Anto is upbeat that it would lay a strong foundation for improving national port service quality and further strengthening Indonesia–Japan bilateral ties.

MLIT’s International Coordinator, Fujiwara Hiromichi, welcomed the program as a milestone in maintaining the countries’ long-standing technical cooperation.

“This training is the first initiative under the Economic Partnership Agreement, held at Indonesia’s request,” Fujiwara stated.

He also commended Indonesia’s continued trust in Japan’s role in port development, citing major projects such as Patimban Port in Subang, West Java.

“I visited Patimban yesterday and was deeply moved by the significant progress. I am proud that Japan is trusted to contribute to Indonesia’s economic and social development,” he remarked.

The training covers planning, management, maintenance, and climate change issues, delivered by top Japanese experts with hands-on experience.
 

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Thursday that he is working to arrange an early visit to Japan, hoping to continue the two countries' "shuttle diplomacy," or mutual visits by their leaders.

With the two nations commemorating this year the 60th anniversary of diplomatic normalization, Lee also voiced his hope that Tokyo and Seoul will release a new bilateral statement.

Like the 1998 Japan-South Korea joint declaration, which called on the two countries to build a future-oriented relationship, the East Asian neighbors need to clearly depict their relations, he added.

He made these remarks at a press conference held in Seoul to mark a month since he took office on June 4.

Lee held his first in-person meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later in June, on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Seven major countries in Canada, to which the South Korean leader was invited as a guest.

Lee said that he proposed to Ishiba the continuation of the shuttle diplomacy and that he hopes to reduce misunderstandings between South Korea and Japan, and promote bilateral cooperation through mutual visits and dialogue.
 
 

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck near the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture at 4:13 p.m. Thursday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
Authorities said there was no risk of a tsunami and there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The strongest shaking was recorded on Akuseki Island, where the tremor measured lower 6 on Japan's seven-point shindo seismic intensity scale. A level 3 quake was also reported on Kodakara Island within the same island chain.

The quake's epicenter was located off the coast between the two islands at a depth of about 20 kilometers.

The government has set up a crisis management center at the Prime Minister’s Office in response to the magnitude 5.5 earthquake Thursday afternoon.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a news conference Thursday evening that all residents on the Akuseki Island has been confirmed safe with no reports of damages to infrastructure and utilities so far. But he added that it will continue to be in close contact with local municipalities.

"We ask local residents to be on alert for an earthquake with a shindo 6 or higher," Hayashi said.

Genichiro Kubo, the mayor of Toshima Village in Kagoshima Prefecture, announced during an online meeting of the prefectural disaster response headquarters that they plan to transport residents who wish to evacuate off Akuseki island and are ready to do so to the city of Kagoshima by ship tomorrow, NHK said.

NHK said that the first group will depart from Naze Port on Amami Oshima Island, approximately 120 kilometers south of Akuseki island, at 2 a.m. on Friday, and will be evacuated via a village-operated ferry heading to Kagoshima Port.

The ferry is scheduled to stop at the seven inhabited islands of Toshima Village en route to Kagoshima Port. After arriving at Kagoshima Port tomorrow night, evacuees will be accommodated at lodging facilities arranged by the village.

As of Thursday, the Tokara Islands have recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since the burst of seismic activity first began on June 21. According to the agency, several more earthquakes measuring shindo 1 occurred shortly after the shindo lower 6 quake was registered.

While the area is known to be quake-prone, the series of earthquakes this time marks the highest number recorded since 1995. In 2023, 346 quakes registering shindo 1 or above were recorded in September.

Before that, in December 2021, 308 jolts were logged including a magnitude 6.1 earthquake on Akuseki Island that registered upper 5 on the shindo scale.

The combined population of all seven inhabited Tokara Islands was 668 as of June 30, according to the Toshima village hall website.

Isamu Sakamoto, the head of a community association on Akuseki Island, told The Japan Times on Wednesday that residents had agreed to evacuate their homes to a school on the island in the event of any earthquake measuring shindo upper 5 or above.
 
 

Japanese carmakers have largely absorbed the cost of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on auto imports, a move that may undermine the Asian nation’s negotiating power ahead of a July 9 deadline that will see duties rocket even higher.

So far, just three of Japan’s six major automakers have raised prices in the U.S., and only Subaru’s hike has come close to the 25% tariff imposed on imported vehicles.

Toyota, the world’s No. 1 carmaker, only lifted prices on some models by a few hundred dollars while Mitsubishi Motors increased prices by an average of just 2.1% across three models. The average price of a new car in the U.S. rose 2.5% in April to about $48,700.

The modest nature of the changes signals Japan’s carmakers are reluctant to pass the hit on to consumers. But it’s a decision that could backfire. Sparing American shoppers any kind of extreme sticker shock means Trump is less likely to change course.

Auto tariffs have emerged as a key sticking point in bilateral negotiations between the U.S. and Japan as Trump fixates on U.S. deficits in the sector while Japan tries to safeguard one of its main economic powerhouses.

Despite Japan’s chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa holding a seventh round of talks with U.S. counterparts, the two countries remain at loggerheads and the clock is ticking: across-the-board levies of 24% on Japanese goods are set to come into effect next Wednesday. Trump has even suggested they could be as high as 35%.

Industry watchers say an extended stalemate may force Japanese carmakers’ hands, with an ultimately beneficial outcome.

"If prices continue to rise due to Trump’s tariffs, the government will realize it’s not a simple scenario where raising tariffs benefits the U.S. economy,” Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama, said. "This may lead to changes in tariff negotiations.”

Japan’s cautious approach contrasts with the quick retaliation by China, which leveraged its dominance in industries like e-commerce to make it clear to Trump that American consumers would be footing the bill. Some products sold on platforms like Temu and Shein nearly doubled in price in the wake of fresh duties.

Tokyo, for its part, has maintained its stance that it will try to settle all the tariff disputes in one go. Akazawa has made clear that despite the looming July 9 deadline, he won’t be pressured into a deal.

The protracted negotiations make it more likely Japan’s carmakers will turn to price increases in the U.S. to minimize the impact on their bottom lines.

Those hikes could start when manufacturers offer upgraded specifications on models, Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Tatsuo Yoshida said. Still, any price increases are likely to be phased in gradually, and it could take as long as three to four years for a 25% levy to be reflected in vehicle prices, he said.

While the consensus is that some level of tariffs on cars will be inevitable, a lower 10% tariff may be more palatable. The auto industry is a bellwether for wage trends and generates around 10% of gross domestic product. The sector also accounts for one-third of Japan’s exports to the U.S..

"There’s no reason to continue cutting profits indefinitely to offset high tariffs when it’s unclear how long this situation will persist,” Carnorama’s Miyao said.
 
 

Japan’s newest issued banknotes marked their first anniversary on Thursday, yet the new bills still only account for about 30% of all bills in circulation.

Although more vending machines and other devices have become compatible with the new bills, the replacement of older banknotes has been slow.

According to the Japan Vending System Manufacturers Association, nearly all railway ticket machines have become compatible with the new bills over the past year. The new bills are also being accepted by 50%-60% of beverage vending machines.

However, the transition is slow when compared to the last time new banknotes were introduced in 2004.

According to the Bank of Japan, the new bills introduced in 2004 made up 61.1% of those in circulation 11 months after their introduction. This time, however, the figure was only 28.8%.

This difference can be attributed to the increased use of cashless payment methods, such as credit cards and QR code transactions. The percentage of cashless payments rose to 42.8% in 2024, which is a 2.5-fold increase from 10 years ago. This reflects the growing number of people who do not use banknotes.

Another factor contributing to the slow adoption of the new banknotes is the increase in the number of people keeping cash at home. The number of bills in circulation grew from about 11 billion at the end of 2004 to about 17 billion at the end of 2024.

Banks have kept interest rates on deposits low due to the BOJ’s low interest rate policy. This has apparently prompted an increasing number of people to store cash at home, resulting in a fewer number of damaged or soiled older banknotes being returned to the central bank.

The city of Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, the hometown of Eiichi Shibusawa, who is featured on the new ¥10,000 banknote, held an event on Wednesday to celebrate the first anniversary of the new bill’s issuance.

The stalls set up at the event attracted many visitors. Among those who were paying with the new banknotes, some were making payments using QR codes.

“I usually pay with my credit card or via QR code because I don’t want to bring bulky coins,” said a 50-year-old residet in the city.

However, experts believe that the demand for banknotes will remain to some degree. While cashless payments are convenient, they could become unusable in the event of a system malfunction or disaster. The new banknotes feature cutting-edge anti-counterfeit measures, which gives people more confidence in the bills.

“People will have fewer occasions to use cash, but it will continue to be a part of society,” said Tsuyoshi Ueno, a senior economist at the NLI Research Institute.
 
 

The number of food and beverage items that will face price hikes in 2025 is projected to surpass 20,000 for the first time in two years, mainly due to high material and logistics costs, a credit research firm said Monday.

In July alone, 195 major food makers are planning price hikes for 2,105 items, such as seasoning and snacks, about a fivefold jump from a year earlier, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank Ltd.

Price hikes through November that have already been announced involve 18,697 items, with the company saying that the trend of rising prices of food and beverages is likely to continue "for the time being."

By category, seasoning, including broth and curry roux, will be mostly affected, with 6,108 items to see higher prices, followed by beverages including beers and soft drinks at 4,483 items and processed food including frozen meals and packaged precooked rice at 4,138.

In addition to a surge in raw material costs, the company said high utility costs and increasing personnel expenses due to labor shortage are also driving the price hikes.

Since crude oil prices have recently fluctuated amid tensions in the Middle East, the credit research firm said, "We need to keep an eye on price hikes derived from energy."

The number of food items that saw price hikes totaled 32,396 items in 2023 but dropped to 12,520 in 2024, according to the company.
 
 

Strong demand from inbound tourism has significantly driven up land prices in tourist destinations nationwide, a trend extending to areas around the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.

According to an announcement by the National Tax Agency on Tuesday, land prices rose year-on-year in 35 prefectures, and the national average increased for the fourth consecutive year.


Popular ‘Little Kyotos’

A 55-year-old Belgian tourist was seen smiling as she looked at a “sarubobo” (monkey baby) — a local folk artwork — in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, on June 25.

She said that a guidebook sparked her interest in the culture and nature in the area and that she found the traditional wooden buildings to be amazing.

Takayama is popular for its old townscape, which comprises historic sake breweries and traditional houses.

Last year, the city, dubbed “Hida’s Little Kyoto,” saw its foreign overnight visitors surge to about 769,700, an increase of 70% compared to the previous year. That number is a record high, significantly surpassing the pre-pandemic figure of about 612,000 in 2019.

Reflecting this popularity, land prices in the area along Kami-Sannomachi Shimo-Sannomachi-dori street, located in the central part of the city, rose by 28.3% this year compared to the previous year, the fourth highest increase in the nation.

According to the city’s historic townscape preservation association, the surge in demand driven by inbound tourism means that buyers are quickly found even for shops on the main street of Kami-Sannomachi that closed due to the aging of their owners. The trend has left the street with almost no vacant properties.

At the Sumiyoshi Ryokan inn with a more than 100-year-old building located along the Miyagawa river, a stream famous for its morning market, more than 90% of guests are inbound tourists.

“We’re almost fully booked until September,” said Tsunetada Minami, 50, who manages the inn. “International travelers are essential for the survival of our business.”


Spreading on social media

Even in Tokyo, where land prices saw the highest increase among all prefectures at 8.1%, it was mainly inbound tourism that was responsible for the rise.

Land prices on Kaminarimon-dori street in Asakusa, Tokyo, recorded a 29% increase, the third highest nationwide and the highest in Tokyo. Nakamise-dori shopping street in the district is bustling with foreign tourists posing for photos in kimonos and buying souvenirs.

“Events like Sanja Festival have spread on social media, increasing their popularity among foreigners,” said Shigemi Fuji, 76, chairperson of the Asakusa Tourism Federation.

Meanwhile, it has also been pointed out that the number of Japanese visitors to Asakusa has been decreasing. “Some rickshaw drivers have days when all their passengers are foreign tourists,” said Takashi Sudo, 45, manager of Isshin, which operates a rickshaw service.



Appeal of Expo

Although the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which opened in April and is being held on the artificial island of Yumeshima in Konohana Ward, Osaka, had yet to open at the time of the land price assessment, speculation over associated redevelopment projects has still boosted land prices in the ward.

The area around Yumeshima Station on the Osaka Metro Chuo Line, saw an 18.2% increase from the previous year. The station, which opened in January, is the closest one to the Expo venue.

Land in the area around Bentencho Station, a station where passengers transfer from a JR line to access Yumeshima, also saw an 11% price increases.

Near the station, there is a 20,000-square-meter plot of land, which used to be the site of a municipal high school. The city in September last year solicited redevelopment proposals for the site and received 12. “There is a lot of interest in the area, as it’s close to Yumeshima,” a city official said.

According to a British company that operates hotels in 10 locations in Osaka, the average rate for a room at its hotels has increased by 30% year-on-year since the Expo opened in April.

“In addition to visitors from Asia, there has been a notable increase in visitors from Europe and the United States,” an official of the company said. “The Expo is serving as a huge advertisement for promoting the appeal of Osaka to the world.”
 
 

Japan has seen a disturbing rise in nationwide child abuse cases over the past three decades and the problem is getting worse each year. Now, one woman who was abused as a child is working to open a shelter for girls and young women.

Kogetsu Otagaki, 24, was taken into custody at a children's shelter at age 18, but says staff were not serious about caring for their wards. She knows from experience that kids seeking safety from violence need not only protection but comprehensive support for all aspects of life.

"Half-hearted intervention doesn't heal wounds but instead inflicts new pain. Real support is crucial," Otagaki, director of nonprofit Child Oasis Kogetsu Villa, told Kyodo News in a recent interview.

There were 2,649 cases of child abuse in Japan in 2024, a record high, the National Police Agency announced in June. The figure includes 52 children who died, up 24 from 2023.

Government data shows that child welfare centers responded to a record-high 225,500 reports of child abuse in fiscal 2023, with psychological abuse making up more than half. Physical abuse made up 22.9 percent, or 51,623 cases, followed by 36,465 cases of neglect and 2,473 sexual abuse cases.

Under Japanese law, psychological abuse includes witnessing domestic violence, which some experts say is one factor in the long-term increase in child abuse cases.

The total rose 5.0 percent, or 10,666 cases, from fiscal 2022, marking the 33rd consecutive year of increase since records began, according to the revised figures compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Children and Families Agency.

The percentage of physical abuse among all cases tends to increase with age.
The increase in the number of reported cases is believed to be attributed to the fact that some parents feel trapped raising their kids without being able to consult with anyone, as well as to the establishment of a nationwide hotline which can be used to immediately report abuse once it is suspected.

Otagaki, who currently lives in Chiba, near Tokyo, says her father was verbally abusive when he would get drunk. When she was in elementary school, he became violent, shoving her into a trash bin and saying he was throwing her away.

In high school, her father would keep her up at night, berating her.
"'You have nowhere to run,' he told me," she said. Otagaki would cry so hard she would often hyperventilate and breathe into a bag to calm herself.

Stressed, Otagaki gained weight. She cut off her hair, which she had carefully grown out over the years. She was a far cry from how she had imagined herself as a high school girl.

The daily scoldings began to take their toll on her sleep, and she started to have trouble staying awake in class. At the age of 15, she was temporarily taken into protective custody at a child welfare facility at the urging of a teacher.

When she returned home a few months later, her father blamed her mother, saying, the reason Otagaki was "abducted by the child welfare center" was because her mother had raised her wrong. The family environment deteriorated. The abuse intensified.

She had believed her mother was basically kind, even though she would sometimes encourage her father's outbursts. But when she was 16, her mother threatened her with a knife and Otagaki realized she was also an abuser.

At the age of 18, Otagaki feared for her life and called a local government hotline. She found a private children's shelter where she was taken into protective custody. The family-like, peaceful environment allowed her to gradually recover.

But she questioned the shelter's strict rules. Internet and telephone access were prohibited in order to shield the location of youths from their parents.

Residents could not readily go to school or find work to their satisfaction. Otagaki felt that while the center was protecting the children, it was not preparing them for their future lives.

As her physical strength declined due to lack of exercise, the only jobs arranged for her were a live-in caretaker and farmhand.

Otagaki was unable to handle the grueling work and was bullied. She quit both jobs after three months. She had lost her home, employment and had grown distrustful of the shelter.

In August 2024, Otagaki established her nonprofit in Chiba because she wants to provide services offering a "child's perspective." She aims to open the facility next spring for girls and women ages 15 to 20 to live, commute to school and find employment.

Some of the renovation and operating costs of the facility are expected to come from the government and Chiba City. A municipal official pointed out that it's rare for a person who has been an abuse victim to create such a facility.

Otagaki says she understands that her father was "immature" and taking out his frustrations on a daughter who was unable to fight back. They now live apart.

"I hope he will someday reflect on the scars he left on my life," she said.
Otagaki abandoned her original given name, which her parents had constantly yelled at her in anger, changing it last year to Kogetsu, using kanji characters for "bright moon."

"When I called the hotline office from the park for help, I looked up crying and saw the moon shining in the night sky. I want to be like the full moon that shines on children," she said.
 
 

Japan is preparing for a possible “megaquake” with a feared death toll of up to 300,000 people.

The Japanese government said that much more needs to be done to prepare for a possible “megaquake” to reduce the feared death toll of up to 300,000 people.

Quakes are extremely hard to predict, but in January a government panel marginally increased the probability of a major jolt in the Nankai Trough off Japan in the next 30 years to 75-82 per cent.

The government then released a new estimate in March saying that such a megaquake and subsequent tsunami could cause as many as 298,000 deaths and damages of up to $US2 trillion ($A3 trillion).

In 2014 the Central Disaster Management Council issued a preparedness plan recommending a series of measures that, it was hoped, would reduce deaths by 80 per cent.

But the government has said that so far the steps taken would only cut the toll by 20 per cent, Kyodo news agency reported, and an updated preparedness plan was issued on Tuesday.

This recommended accelerated efforts including constructing embankments and evacuation buildings as well as more regular drills to improve public readiness.

“It is necessary for the nation, municipalities, companies and non-profits to come together and take measures in order to save as many lives as possible,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a government meeting, local media reported.

The Nankai Trough is an 800-kilometre undersea gully running parallel to Japan’s Pacific coast where one tectonic plate is “subducting” – slowly slipping – underneath another.

Over the past 1400 years, megaquakes in the Nankai Trough have occurred every 100 to 200 years. The last one was in 1946.
 
 

Japan experienced its hottest June on record, the weather agency said on Tuesday (Jul 1), as climate change prompts sweltering heat waves across the globe.

"Japan's monthly average temperature in June was the highest for the month since statistics began in 1898," said the Japan Meteorological Agency.

With strong high-pressure systems in June staying in the region, the average monthly temperature was 2.34 degrees Celsius higher than the standard value, the agency said.

The coastal water temperature near Japan also measured 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than usual, tying with June 2024 for the highest since data collection began in 1982, the agency said.

The body also had a further warning that is becoming routine for Japanese residents: "The next month is expected to continue to bring severe heat throughout the country."

The announcement came as scientists say human-induced climate change is making heatwave events more intense, frequent and widespread.

Brutal heat waves are currently sweeping Europe from France to Greece, while global footballers' union FIFPro has called for longer half-time breaks at next year's World Cup to mitigate the effects of extreme heat.

Japanese meteorologists have warned against drawing a direct link between specific weather conditions, like higher temperatures in a specific time, with climate change.

But they have observed a changing climate over many years that is causing unpredictable weather phenomena.

Japan remains heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and has the dirtiest energy mix in the G7, campaigners say.

The government has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2035 and by 73 per cent by 2040, against the 2013 standard, with the ultimate aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Japan's summer last year was the joint hottest on record, equalling the level seen in 2023, followed by the warmest autumn since records began 126 years ago.

Experts even warn that Japan's beloved cherry trees are blooming earlier due to warmer climate or sometimes even not fully blossoming because autumns and winters are not cold enough to trigger flowering.

The famous snowcap of Mount Fuji was also absent for the longest recorded period last year, not appearing until early November, compared with the average of early October.

Last week, the rainy season ended in the western region of Japan, the earliest date on record and around three weeks earlier than usual.
Raging typhoons in summers routinely have caused violent floods in Japan while brutal heat waves have resulted in deadly heat strokes among the elderly.

Increasingly dry winters have raised the risk of wildfires, with a northern area of Ofunato earlier this year seeing the nation's biggest forest fire in three decades.

At the same time, other areas have seen record snow falls that resulted in fatal accidents, traffic disruption, and higher avalanche risk.
 
 

Amid heightened concerns over child safety, the government is expanding the scope of its planned background check system designed to protect children from sexual offenders.
 
A new system, commonly referred to as the “Japanese version of the U.K.’s Disclosure and Barring Service,” is set to go into effect in December 2026. It aims to ensure a safe learning environment for minors by facilitating background checks on individuals seeking work that involves interacting with children.
 
The expanded guidelines will apply not only to schools and kindergartens, but also to community spaces such as children’s cafeterias and talent agencies.
 
The move comes as scrutiny grows over how institutions handle allegations of abuse, particularly in the entertainment industry and informal education settings.
 
At a meeting on Monday, the Children and Families Agency presented a draft outlining the new guidelines, revealing that community-based organizations, such as children’s cafeterias, talent agencies, cram schools, and sports clubs will be subjected to the checks under certain conditions, in addition to schools and licensed child care facilities.
 
The draft also subjects secret filming, which would violate local ordinance, to the new system, the agency said. Last week, two teachers were accused of secretly taking indecent pictures of young schoolgirls and sharing them in a 10-member group chat.
 
“If it is true, they exploited their positions as teachers to collectively disregard the rights of children, which we recognize as something absolutely unforgivable,” Tomoko Fujiwara, the head of child development bureau at the Children and Families Agency, said during Monday’s meeting.
 
Under the expanded system, background checks will be mandatory for professions including teaching, child care, licensed day care, and child welfare.

Relevant institutions must verify prospective employees do not have a history of sexual offense by making an inquiry with the children’s agency, which will check with the Justice Ministry for criminal records.
 
If an applicant falsely claims to have no criminal record and is later found to have one, employers will be permitted to revoke their offer on the grounds of "serious misrepresentation."
 
Unlisted organizations that offer children-related services for a six-month period or longer may also volunteer to conduct background checks in return for an official government safety certification mark.
 
To qualify, entities must meet four conditions:
 
    Provide education to children
    Hold in-person sessions
    Operate in a location other than the child’s home
    Employ at least three staff members or instructors
 
Solo operators such as freelance tutors or babysitters are excluded from the background checks. However, the system will bring them under regulation indirectly by certifying the platforms they use to connect to clients. In those cases, it will be the platform’s responsibility to ensure background checks are conducted.
 
In the expanded guidelines, the child agency recommends that bus drivers and volunteers who regularly interact with children be screened, but the final determination is left to the employer.
 
The agency plans to finalize the guidelines by the end of the year based on discussions with relevant stakeholders.
 
Although certification for nonmandatory institutions will be optional, the government is encouraging wide adoption as part of a broader push to create safer environments for children across public and private sectors.
 

 

 

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 struck off the Tokara Islands in southwestern Japan, with no tsunami alert issued, the weather agency said Monday.

The 6:33 p.m. temblor measured a lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 on Akuseki Island, which is part of the island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture. There have been no reports of damage so far, according to the prefectural government and police.

The quake occurred west of Akuseki Island at a depth of 30 kilometers, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The agency has been urging residents to stay alert, as the Tokara island chain and its vicinity have experienced over 670 earthquakes with a seismic intensity scale of 1 or higher between June 21 and 7:00 p.m. Monday.

The district meteorological observatory monitoring the area said the frequency of quakes has fluctuated and activity has continued, adding that several strong quakes have struck Akuseki Island throughout Monday afternoon.

Junichi Nakajima, professor at Institute of Science Tokyo, said, "There is a possibility of an earthquake similar to the magnitude 6.1 that hit in 2021, or an even larger one." He warned of a tsunami if a temblor nears magnitude 7.

Yoshiro Tobo, principal of an elementary and junior high school with 14 students on the island, said he had confirmed everyone was safe but added he felt "fearful" about the possibility of quakes occurring at night.

About 90 people live on Akuseki Island, according to the local government.
 
 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin have affirmed their commitment to strengthening relations between the two countries following the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.

At his meeting with Parolin in Tokyo on Monday, Ishiba expressed his congratulations on the inauguration of the new pope in May. Referring to more than 80 years of Japan-Vatican diplomatic ties, the prime minister also voiced his hope to boost cooperation between the two sides.

Parolin said he wants to further enhance the long-standing friendship between Japan and the Vatican.

The two exchanged views on global challenges, including Middle East tensions, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the East Asian situation, including North Korea's nuclear and missile development and its abduction of Japanese citizens.

Parolin is visiting Japan to attend the Holy See's "national day" event at the ongoing World Exposition in the city of Osaka, western Japan.
 
 

The average income of Japanese lawmakers in 2024 stood at 25.13 million yen, almost unchanged from the previous year, both chambers of the Diet, Japan's parliament, said Monday.

The top earner among Diet members was Kenji Nakanishi of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party with 662.45 million yen, mostly from capital gains and dividends from his shareholdings.

Four lawmakers earned over 100 million yen, and all of them were LDP members.

The highest income among opposition party lawmakers was 87.54 million yen, earned by Kenko Matsuki of the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

By party, the LDP had the highest average income, at 28.22 million yen, followed by the Democratic Party for the People, at 24.64 million yen, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), at 23.08 million yen, and the CDP, at 21.88 million yen.
 
 

The Japan Fair Trade Commission has decided to issue a cease and desist order against Harley-Davidson Japan K.K. (HDJ), a Tokyo-based motorcycle sales company, for unfair trade practices in violation of the antimonopoly law, sources report.

According to the sources, HDJ unilaterally imposed difficult-to-meet sales quotas on dealers, a practice which was detrimental to them. The JFTC is also expected to issue a surcharge payment order of about ¥200 million.

Harley-Davidson is the leading manufacturer of large motorcycles in the United States, with some models costing over ¥5 million. HDJ, its Japanese subsidiary, has an exclusive distribution agreement with about 90 dealers in Japan.

The sources say that no later than January 2023, HDJ began saddling dozens of dealers with sales quotas that they could not meet without purchasing new motorcycles from themselves. HDJ also indicated that it would not renew the dealers’ exclusive sales contracts if they did not at least partially meet these quotas.

The dealers, not wanting their contracts to be terminated, bought new motorcycles in the names of their own executives and employees to drive up their sales numbers.

It is believed that the purchased vehicles were registered in the names of the executives and others and resold as “registered unused vehicles” at discount prices lower than those of new vehicles. Some dealers spent tens of millions of yen a year buying their own motorcycles.

The JFTC found that HDJ used its strong position to gain profits for itself at the dealers’ expense, and that such practices legally constituted “abuse of a superior bargaining position.” It has already sent HDJ a plan for measures to be taken and will formally issue the order after hearing HDJ’s opinion.
 
 

China has lifted a ban on seafood imports from most regions of Japan, which was imposed two years ago due to concerns over the release of treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Beijing said it will "conditionally resume" the imports from Japan with the exception of 10 of the country's 47 prefectures, including Tokyo and Fukushima.

Samples collected over long-term monitoring of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima had "not shown abnormalities", China's General Administration of Customs wrote on 29 June.

A tsunami in 2011 flooded three reactors of the Fukushima plant in north-east Japan in what is regarded as the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Three of six nuclear reactors at the plant suffered a meltdown during the tsunami, leaving the facility severely damaged. Over the years more than a million tonnes of treated waste water accumulated there.

In 2023, Japan began discharging the treated waste water into the ocean - a move backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The process is expected to take up to 30 years.

Although most experts agree that the release is safe, some scientists say there isn't enough research yet on the potential impact on the ocean.

But Beijing criticised Japan's decision and almost immediately banned seafood from the country, citing environmental concerns and safety fears.

Before that, China had been Japan's biggest seafood buyer accounting for nearly a quarter of its exports.

Japan has said that China's move to partially lift the ban was a "positive" move, adding that the government will continue to urge Beijing to accept seafood imports from all of its regions.

The decision came after Tokyo promised to ensure the safety and quality of its exports.

Production companies that had suspended imports must now reapply for registration in China and would be subject to supervision, officials said.

China and Japan are key trading partners but have long had a testy relationship because of territorial disputes and Japan's occupation of parts of China in the past.
 
 

Japan is driving Asia's M&A rebound in 2025 with a record $232 billion worth of deals in the first half, and bankers expect the trend to sustain fueled by multi-billion dollar take-private arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity.

Management reforms to tackle chronic low valuations among Japanese firms are spurring a flurry of foreign and activist investor interest, while Japan's low interest rates - which support deals - mean the appetite for more deals remains strong, bankers say.

The deals involving Japanese companies more than tripled in value in the first half, while in the same period Asia M&A value reached $650 billion, more than double the amount year-on-year, LSEG data showed.

Bankers say government calls for better corporate governance, including the privatisation of listed subsidiaries, as well as outbound acquisitions by Japanese firms seeking new growth avenues will keep igniting mega deals.

Moreover, Japan has been relatively insulated from global volatility despite the broader geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, helping to underpin deals momentum, they say.

A cohort of Toyota Motor group companies and telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone took private listed subsidiaries in deals worth $34.6 billion and $16.5 billion respectively, among the largest transactions globally.

"There are many other deals like these on the way and their number is increasing," said Kei Nitta, global head of M&A at Nomura Securities.
SoftBank Group also led a new fundraising of up to $40 billion into ChatGPT maker OpenAI in the biggest private tech funding round in history.

The long-standing trend of Japanese firms looking abroad for growth opportunities in the face of a shrinking home market has continued despite heightened uncertainty in the global economy.

 Japanese financial institutions, such as insurer Dai-ichi Life and Nomura Holdings, announced major deals and bankers say demand remains robust across industries.

"Debates over tariffs and foreign conflicts mean that some investment decisions are taking longer than usual and some customers have become more cautious, but we consider appetite for investment itself to remain very strong," Nitta said. 

Japanese firms themselves have also become more attractive acquisition targets as global firms have reconsidered their supply chains and distribution of resources over the past two years, Nitta added.

However, there are some hurdles that could slow dealmaking in Japan.
Uncertainty around the global economic outlook has made assessing companies' future prospects more difficult, leading to a disconnect in valuation expectations between buyers and sellers.

This has caused an increasing number of deals to fail, said Atsushi Tatsuguchi, head of the M&A advisory group at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

As part of the corporate reform drive, firms are under rising pressure to offload non-core business units, with private equity funds increasingly the destination for the hived off parts.

Convenience store operator Seven & I Holdings – itself the target of a buyout bid from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard – sold off a bundle of its superstores and other peripheral business units to Bain Capital for some $5.5 billion in March.

"Carve-outs of operating companies' non-core assets will continue to be a trend in the near term," said senior deputy head of M&A advisory at SMBC Nikko Securities, Yusuke Ishimaru.

Bankers say there is a strong pipeline of potential deals involving private equity firms.

Potential deals to be announced in the second half include an acquisition of Japanese cybersecurity firm Trend Micro which has a market value of 1.32 trillion yen ($8.54 billion).

Bidders included Bain Capital and EQT, Reuters reported earlier this year.
"Private equity funds are also seen as promising buyers for taking listed companies private," Ishimaru said.
 
 

Nissan Motor Co. plans to make large-scale production cuts at its key Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in July and August, according to sources.

The move was prompted by sluggish sales of the Nissan Note, a compact car produced at the factory, the sources said. Nissan reportedly plans to reduce production at the plant by nearly 50%, and the production capacity utilization ratio could fall to around 20%.

The Oppama plant is one of seven domestic and overseas factories that Nissan is considering closing. The difficulties facing the plant are becoming pronounced.

During the cutback period, employees at the plant will be engaged in tasks such as maintenance of production lines. Nissan does not plan any layoffs.

The Oppama plant began operations in 1961 as Nissan’s “mother plant” for establishing production technologies. With an annual production capacity of 240,000 units, the plant began producing the Leaf, the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle, in 2010, and produced five models through 2019.

However, the plant has been downsized partly due to aging facilities. The production of Leaf vehicles was relocated to the Nissan Tochigi plant in Tochigi Prefecture, and only the Note and its derivatives are currently produced at the Oppama plant.

In 2024, the Oppama plant produced approximately 100,000 units and its capacity utilization rate stood at only 40%, far below the break-even point of 70% to 80%.

Sales of the Note were approximately 8,000 units per month from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2024. Only 4,470 units sold in April 2025, down 25% from the same month last year.

Since there has not been a full model change in the Note since the end of 2020, it has been losing ground to vehicles by other carmakers and stocks of unsold Note cars have accumulated, making it inevitable for the automaker to sharply cut back production.

Nissan reported a consolidated net loss of ¥670.8 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. In May, the automaker announced a plan to close seven of its 17 finished-car plants in Japan and overseas by fiscal 2027 in an effort to restructure its business.

In Japan, Nissan is making arrangements to close its Oppama plant and the Shonan plant in Hiratsuka, also in the prefecture, of its subsidiary Nissan Shatai Co. Overseas, the automaker is considering terminating vehicle production in South Africa, India and Argentina and closing two plants in Mexico.

Nissan’s global production capacity stands at 5 million units a year. However, the automaker produced 3.1 million units in fiscal 2024, and the capacity utilization rate has been sluggish at 60%.

Under these circumstances, Nissan plans to consolidate its finished vehicle plants in Japan and overseas by fiscal 2027 to reduce its annual global production capacity, excluding China, to 2.5 million units. It also seeks to increase the capacity utilization rate of the remaining 10 plants to nearly 100%.
 
 

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition held a commemorative ceremony Sunday as the total number of visitors, including staff, reached 10 million at the Expo in Osaka.

"The number of customers is increasing more and more, at a faster pace than we thought," Secretary-General Hiroyuki Ishige said during the event in the Expo venue.

Kazuhiro Asano, a certified public accountant from Yamagata, became the 10 millionth visitor. Asano, who was visiting with his family, received commemorative gifts including special passes allowing unlimited entries during the summer period.

According to the association, the number of general visitors by Saturday was 8.49 million. In addition, 1.37 million people, including pavilion staff and press personnel, entered the venue, bringing the total to about 9.86 million.
The Expo started on April 13 for a six-month run.
 
 

Japan successfully launched its 50th and final H2A liquid-fuel rocket from a southwestern Japan island on Sunday, drawing the curtain on the series' 24-year career in support of the country's space development program.

The H2A rocket, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has been replaced as the country's mainstay space vehicle by the H3 rocket, which offers a lower launch service price.

The final H2A rocket, which blasted off from Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture at 1:33 a.m., placed in orbit a government satellite for observing greenhouse gas levels and monitoring climate change.

The satellite separated from the rocket at an altitude of around 670 kilometers near the equator and deployed its solar panels, with its operation confirmed by JAXA.

"I was more nervous than ever about the launch and feel like I'm still dreaming. We achieved our long-cherished goal of a 98 percent success rate," said Keiji Suzuki, a Mitsubishi Heavy official in charge of the rocket launch.

At a park near the Tanegashima Space Center, around 1,300 people gathered early Sunday to watch the launch, cheering as the rocket ascended in the darkness.

"I was impressed by the loud sound and light. I'm excited to see the next H3 rocket," said 7-year-old Hikari Nagoe.

Since 2001, the H2A series has supported the country's aerospace exploration by sending satellites and probes into space, raising its reliability over time.

Its long career was rocky at times. The No. 6 rocket failed in 2003 when a booster did not separate and the ground crew ordered its destruction. It was discovered later that a damaged jet nozzle was the cause of the breakdown.
It took one year and three months until the succeeding No. 7 flew successfully after alterations were made.

Sunday's launch was postponed by Mitsubishi Heavy from June 24 due to an equipment abnormality.

The H3 rocket, also developed by Mitsubishi Heavy and JAXA, is expected to help the country gain a foothold in the satellite-launch business that has become increasingly competitive with the rise of SpaceX of the United States.

The H3 rocket debuted in March 2023 but its maiden flight ended with a self-destruct order minutes after liftoff due to the failure of the second-stage engine to ignite. The succeeding launches, including the latest No. 5 in February, have been successful.
 
 

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday sounded cautious about expanding the ruling coalition between his Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

"A coalition should be formed after a certain level of agreement is reached on diplomacy, security and public finances," Ishiba said in a speech ahead of Thursday's start of the official campaign period for the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament.

 

At a conference hosted by a private policy proposal group, Ishiba also expressed support for the idea of establishing a nonpartisan consultative body on social security reform.

On measures against persisting inflation, he stated, "What is needed now is immediate effects," reiterating the need to provide a cash benefit of 20,000 to 40,000 yen per citizen, included in his party's election pledges.

 

"We must secure financial resources for medical care, elderly care and pensions," he said, indicating a negative view about opposition proposals for lowering the consumption tax.
 


 

A newly opened giant slide in southwestern Japan has been closed after four people sustained broken bones while using it, the local government said Friday.

The 30-meter slide at the top of Mt. Sarakura in Kitakyushu, a popular nightscape spot, opened to the public on April 25, but a tourist from Taiwan in her 30s broke her shin on May 28 while using it.

The local government subsequently uncovered the three other cases, involving a municipal employee who tried the slide before it opened to the public, a 2-year-old held by her older sister, and a man in his 70s.
The slide has been closed since June 3.

According to the city in Fukuoka Prefecture, some injuries are believed to be attributable to users not falling within the recommended age range of 6 to 12, as stated on a nearby sign that also warned users against sliding while holding someone.

Kitakyushu is planning on increasing the number of languages on signs, with the hope of reopening the equipment in July.
 
 

The Tohoku Shinkansen line was suspended after a bullet train collided with a bear while traveling in Miyagi Prefecture on Saturday afternoon.

According to East Japan Railway Co., the train that collided with the bear was Hayabusa No. 25, which was bound for Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto from Tokyo. It was coupled with Komachi No. 25, which was bound for Akita.

The train was traveling between Sendai and Furukawa stations when it detected an abnormal noise at 4:02 p.m., and an inspection of the cars was conducted. As a result, Tohoku Shinkansen services were suspended for 37 minutes between Sendai and Morioka.

The company said it was a very unusual accident and that it is unclear how the bear got onto the tracks.

A train crew member spotted the bear in the direction of travel before the collision and found the carcass near the tracks after the train stopped.
 

 

 
 
Much of Japan was gripped by sweltering heat on Saturday, with temperatures soaring to 35 degrees Celsius or higher especially in western parts of the country.
 
The hot weather is expected to continue on Sunday, prompting warnings of heatstroke.
 
The Meteorological Agency says a high pressure system prevailed over wide regions from western to northern Japan.
 
A daytime high of 36.4 degrees was recorded in the town of Akiota in Hiroshima Prefecture. The mercury reached 33.8 degrees in central Tokyo and 33.5 degrees in Osaka City.
 
Tokyo Fire Department officials say that as of 9 p.m. on Saturday, 43 people in the capital between the ages of 10 and 99 had been taken to hospital with symptoms of heatstroke.
 
Temperatures are likely to remain high mainly from the Kinki to Kyushu regions in the west. Overnight lows are not expected to fall below 25 degrees in some areas.
 
Another scorching day is forecast for Sunday.
 
A daytime high of 37 degrees is expected in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Highs of 36 degrees are likely in the cities of Saga, Yamaguchi, Okayama, Kyoto and Kumagaya, while Kumamoto, Takamatsu, Osaka and Fukushima cities can expect a high of 35 degrees.
 
Heatstroke alerts have been issued for the prefectures of Shimane, Tokushima, Kochi, Fukuoka, Oita, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Kagoshima excluding the Amami region, as well as Okinawa's main island and Yaeyama regions.
 
Temperatures are expected to remain high for the coming month.

People are advised to use air conditioners, take liquids and salt and rest frequently during outdoor activities.
 

The European Union on Friday proposed making all eel species, including the Japanese eel, subject to regulation under an international treaty to protect endangered species, while Japan opposes the move.

The EU, along with the Dominican Republic, Panama and Honduras, submitted the proposal to the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.

The proposal is aimed at putting fry, full-grown eels and processed eel products of all 18 species under regulation.

CITES, also known as the Washington convention, lists animals and plants requiring protection in annexes on three levels depending on the degree of regulation. The EU and others seek to add all eel species to the second level.

The proposal will be discussed at a conference of the parties to the pact to be held in Uzbekistan from November to December.

If the proposal is approved, exporters will be obliged to issue permits based on scientific assessments, putting eels and processed products under stricter trade control.

Japan, where eels are prized food, opposes the proposal. A Fisheries Agency official has said, “There is no risk of eels becoming extinct due to international trade.”

On Friday, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi voiced deep regret over the situation, adding that his country will do everything it can to block the adoption of the proposal in cooperation with China and South Korea.
 
 

Private-sector rice imports to Japan are soaring as domestic rice prices remain high, apparently for use in "bento" boxed meals and household consumption.

According to trade statistics released by the Finance Ministry on Friday, 10,607 tons of rice was imported by private-sector companies in May, about 125 times the monthly average for last year.

"If we leave the surging rice prices as they are, (rice imports) may grow further," agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday.

The government imports an annual 770,000 tons of rice free of tariffs under its minimum market access obligation agreed with trading partners.

Meanwhile, private companies can import rice if they pay a tariff of 341 yen per kilogram.
 
 

Toyota Motor Corp said Friday its global sales for May rose 6.9 percent from a year earlier to 898,721 units, a record high for the month, due to last-minute demand in the United States amid concerns over possible price hikes due to high tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, global production dipped 0.7 percent to 806,677 units, falling below the same period the previous year for the first time in five months.

The United States raised the tariff rate on imported passenger vehicles by 25 percentage points to 27.5 percent in early April, with Tokyo and Washington holding multiple rounds of talks to negotiate an agreement.

By region, sales in the United States grew 10.9 percent to 240,176 units. Those in China were up 6.8 percent to 149,887 units, with hybrid vehicles especially sought after due to government subsidies.

Domestic sales climbed 4.4 percent to 106,586 units on a rebound from the previous year when Toyota was hit by a verification scandal. The launch of new models including the Land Cruiser 250 series also helped lift sales in the country.

The automaker said production in the United States dropped 1.8 percent to 120,539 units due to one fewer working day. Domestic output fell 5.4 percent to 241,570 units.

Honda Motor Co, the country's second-biggest automaker, also benefited from greater demand in the United States in May, with sales up 6.5 percent from the previous year to 135,432 units.

But globally, sales slumped by 4.1 percent to 298,167 units, with those in China logging its 16th consecutive monthly decline on fierce price competition.

Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Co, which is struggling to turn around its business and undergoing restructuring, saw global output decline 16.5 percent to 229,645 units and global sales slip 6.0 percent to 256,159 units.

The company earlier this week said it forecasts a net loss of 200 billion yen for the April-June period, weighed down by effects of the U.S. tariffs.
 
 

Asian shares were mixed on Friday, losing some of their morning gains, after U.S. stocks ran to the brink of another record. U.S. futures and oil prices also logged modest gains.

Investors were watching for further details after President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China had signed a trade deal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on Bloomberg TV that the deal was signed two days ago, but he gave no details, saying “The president likes to close these deals himself.”

China's Commerce Ministry said Friday that the two sides had “further confirmed the details of the framework.” But its statement was vague, not explicitly mentioning an agreement to ensure U.S. access to rare earths, materials used in high-tech applications that have been at the center of negotiations.

“China will approve the export applications of controlled items that meet the conditions in accordance with the law. The United States will cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China accordingly. It is hoped that the United States and China will meet each other halfway,” it said.

Worries about Trump’s higher tariffs have receded since the president shocked the world in April with stiff proposed levies, but they have not disappeared. The wait is still on to see how big the tariffs will ultimately be, how much they will hurt the economy and how much they will push up inflation.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.3% to 24,250.77, while the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.7% to 3,424.23 after China reported that industrial profits slid 9.1% in May, the sharpest drop since last October.

“Beijing may have paused the worst of the trade fight with Washington, but the tariff scars are showing—and unless demand picks up or pricing stabilizes, the pressure on margins and business sentiment will linger,” Stephen Innes, Managing Partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a commentary.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index 1.4% to 40,150.79 as the government reported that consumer prices eased slightly in May.

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index fell 0.8% to 3,055.94, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% at 8,514.20.

Markets have settled somewhat after the upheavals of the Israel-Iran war and its aftermath.

 

On Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 6,141.02 and was sitting just 0.05% below its all-time closing high set in February.

It briefly topped the mark during the afternoon in the latest milestone for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, which had dropped roughly 20% below its record during the spring on worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.9% to 43,386.84, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1% to 20,167.91.

Reports Thursday added to evidence the U.S. economy is holding up despite higher tariffs and other challenges, though it has slowed. Orders for washing machines and other manufactured goods that last at least three years grew by more last month than economists expected. Another report said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of fewer layoffs.

A third report said the U.S. economy shrank by more during the first three months of 2025 than earlier estimated. But many economists say those numbers were distorted by a surge in imports as companies tried to get ahead of tariffs. 

 

They’re expecting a better performance in upcoming months.
Following the reports, Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market before easing.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.29% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, fell to 3.71% from 3.74% late Wednesday.

Analysts said yields may have felt pressure because of a report from The Wall Street Journal saying Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell unusually early, in an attempt to undermine him.

That could hurt confidence among investors about the Fed’s capability to make unpopular decisions when it comes to fighting inflation.

In other dealings on Friday, the U.S. benchmark crude gained 32 cents to $65.56 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 34 cents to $67.03 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 144.50 Japanese yen from 144.40 yen. The euro edged higher to $1.1715 from $1.1703.
 
 

This strategic move is in response to Japan's increasing reliance on LNG as a critical energy source.

apan’s gas distributor, Tokyo Gas, is currently in discussions with several US liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers to finalise a long-term purchase agreement, reported Bloomberg.

This strategic move is in response to Japan’s increasing reliance on LNG as a critical energy source.

The company is engaging with at least four suppliers along the US Gulf Coast, with names such as Energy Transfer and Commonwealth being mentioned by sources familiar with the negotiations.

The details of the talks remain confidential as the involved parties have either declined to comment or have not responded to inquiries.

This initiative is part of Japan’s broader preparation for an anticipated surge in power demand, driven by the growth of data centres and semiconductor manufacturing.

The Japanese Government views LNG as an essential component of the nation’s energy security and is seeking to secure supplies that could extend beyond 2050.

US-sourced LNG is particularly appealing due to its contractual flexibility, which allows Japanese buyers to redirect shipments based on fluctuating domestic needs or more favourable global prices.

In addition to securing LNG supplies, Tokyo Gas is also bolstering its presence in the US gas market.

The company acquired shale drilling company Rockcliff Energy in late 2023 and has reorganised its US portfolio, including purchasing assets from Chevron in east Texas and divesting its Eagle Ford stake to Shizuoka Gas.

In February, Tokyo Gas acquired a 20% stake in FGEN LNG, the owner and operator of an offshore floating LNG terminal in Batangas City in the Philippines.
 
 

Japan has executed a man who murdered nine people in 2017, the first time since 2022 that the country has enacted capital punishment.

The serial killings by Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the "Twitter killer", had shocked the country and triggered debate over how suicide was discussed online.

Shiraishi, then 30, lured his victims - most of them young women between the ages of 15 and 26 - to his apartment, before strangling and dismembering them.

The killings came to light in October 2017, when police found body parts in the Japanese city of Zama, near Tokyo, when they were searching for one of the victims.

Shiraishi later admitted to murdering nine suicidal victims and revealed that he got acquainted with them on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.

He then told them he could help them die, and in some cases claimed he would kill himself alongside them.

His Twitter profile contained the words: "I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime."

Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a "house of horrors".

While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Shiraishi, his lawyers argued for the lesser charge of "murder with consent", claiming his victims had given their permission to be killed.

They also called for an assessment of his mental state.
Shiraishi later disputed his own defence team's version of events and said he killed without the victims' consent.

Hundreds of people showed up at his verdict hearing in December 2020, when he was sentenced to death.

The murders also prompted a change by Twitter, which amended its rules to state users should not "promote or encourage suicide or self-harm".

Japan's justice minister Keisuke Suzuki, who said he ordered Shiraishi's execution, said the killer acted "for the genuinely selfish reason of satisfying his own sexual and financial desires", according to an AFP report.
The case "caused great shock and anxiety to society", Suzuki said.
 
 

SoftBank Corp. has announced a plan to launch high-altitude platform station-based pre-commercial telecommunications services in Japan in 2026.

Service areas and the number of users will be limited in the operations, the major Japanese mobile phone carrier said Thursday. SoftBank aims to offer the HAPS-based services to general users from 2027 at the earliest.

A HAPS, an unmanned aerial vehicle and also referred to as "a base station in the sky," features lower latency because it operates in the stratosphere at an altitude of approximately 20 kilometers, lower than that of communications satellites. In addition, it can cover wider areas than ground base stations.

The services are expected to support communications infrastructure recovery in the event of major earthquakes and other large-scale disasters, and deliver connectivity to hard-to-reach areas, including mountainous regions and remote islands, SoftBank said.

To launch the services, SoftBank will invest about 2.2 billion yen in U.S. HAPS developer Sceye Inc. and introduce airship-shaped HAPS vehicles from the partner.
 
 

The average monthly salary in Tokyo is about half of those in New York, according to a report released by the Deutsche Bank Research Institute.

The report notes that while the U.S. economy has grown, Japan’s monthly salaries have dropped to the global average following events such as the collapse of its bubble economy.

A comparison was made of after-tax monthly salaries in 69 major cities worldwide, with the salaries were converted to U.S. dollars.

The report indicates that the average monthly salary in Tokyo is $2,592 (about ¥370,000), ranking 38 among the surveyed cities. This figure is nearly 50% lower than New York’s monthly salary of $5,128 (about ¥740,000), which ranks seventh.
 
 

Nissan Motor Co on Tuesday said it forecasts a net loss of 200 billion yen for the April-June quarter and apologized for the worsening performance as it faced criticism from shareholders at their annual meeting.

New President and CEO Ivan Espinosa, who took over from Makoto Uchida in April, vowed to return the business to profitability by fiscal 2026 after apologizing for the poor outlook, encumbered by high auto tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

He reiterated restructuring plans that include shuttering seven factories and cutting 20,000 jobs, saying that the company would release the information on which factories would be affected swiftly once decided.

Nissan has been grappling with poor sales in the United States and China, logging a net loss of 670.90 billion yen for fiscal 2024, which ended at the end of March. It initially did not issue an earnings forecast for the current fiscal year.

With Uchida also present at the meeting, shareholders repeatedly questioned his responsibility and expressed indignation at the lack of dividends in contrast to massive payouts to four former executives, including Uchida, for leaving top roles. However, Uchida declined to respond.

"Many demanded answers from Uchida and asked what the point of his attendance was if he was refusing to answer any questions," said Tsuyoshi Maruki, CEO of Strategic Capital Inc, an activist investor.

But he expressed high expectations for Espinosa, noting that he had a calm demeanor despite the tumult of the shareholders meeting, adding, "We'll just have to anticipate good results from now on."

In addition to the job cut and plant closures, Nissan is also reportedly planning to sell its headquarters building in Yokohama to help cover costs.
"I was not convinced by their explanation.

The management was avoiding responsibility," said a 76-year-old shareholder who has driven Nissan vehicles for around 50 years. "They were just putting it all on the workers and firing them."

Nissan and Honda Motor Co revealed in December plans to begin merger talks under a holding company, aiming to share the financial burden of developing electric vehicles and software to better compete with global rivals, but the talks broke down less than two months later.

However, the two automakers, along with Mitsubishi Motors Corp, have continued discussions regarding a possible collaboration on the electrification of automobiles, among other areas.
 
 

Thirty major industry associations in manufacturing sectors such as steel, electronics and textiles established a cross-industry human resources management organization to secure more highly skilled foreign workers to work in Japan.

About 7,000 companies will join the Japan Association for Human Resources in Industrial Product Manufacturing (JAIM), which will require each member company to provide a 1.5%-3% year-on-year pay raise for those who work under the specified skilled workers status.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry on Wednesday recognized JAIM as a registered entity to support acceptance of the highly skilled, long-term workers.

JAIM includes 30 major manufacturing-related organizations such as the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association and the Japan Textile Federation.

A similar organization has already been established in the construction industry, but JAIM, the second such organization, covers a wider range of industries.

The specified skilled workers system was launched in 2019, with 280,000 foreign nationals working under the system as of fiscal 2024. Of these, 45,000 are in the manufacturing industry, and the number is expected to quadruple from the current figure to up to 170,000 in fiscal 2028.

Many of the JAIM member firms face severe labor shortages and aim to retain workers by raising wages. Specifically, a minimum year-on-year salary growth rate per foreign worker will be set at 3% for large companies and 1.5% for small and midsized companies. JAIM will verify the employers’ performance annually through documents, and companies that fail to meet the standards will be required to raise wages the following year.

If firms do not adhere to the guidelines, they will be expelled from the association and will no longer be able to hire the specified skilled workers.

The government plans to abolish by fiscal 2027 the technical intern training program, which caused such problems as long working hours and unpaid wages.

Instead, the Employment for Skill Development Program will be established to create a favorable working environment for foreign workers and encourage their transition of residential status to specified skilled workers.
 
 

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) has decided to field former House of Councilors lawmaker Renho as a proportional representation candidate in the July 20 Upper House election.

The decision was made at a meeting of CDP executives on Tuesday, in hopes that the well-known politician will help the party attract votes under the proportional representation system, although some in the party objected to endorsing her.

Renho, 57, won her first election to the Upper House in 2004 and served as administrative reform minister under the Democratic Party of Japan-led government and as leader of the Democratic Party, a successor of the DPJ and the CDP's predecessor.

During her fourth term, Renho left the CDP and ran as an independent in last year's Tokyo gubernatorial election. After being defeated in the election, she said on social media that she was "no longer thinking of running in a national election."

At a news conference on Tuesday, CDP Secretary-General Junya Ogawa admitted that there were concerns that the party could be criticized if it endorses Renho.

However, Ogawa added, "We believe she will be a more mature Renho, and we would like to fully support her."
 
 

The move is part of measures to boost the content industry and better protect intellectual property.

The government is planning to deepen cooperation with foreign authorities in cracking down on counterfeit anime goods to better protect intellectual property.

To combat the sale of counterfeit goods, the government will cooperate with the Content Overseas Distribution Association, an organization that tackles the issue of pirated publications. With China in mind, the government will join hands with foreign authorities to investigate and identify distributors of such fake goods and take legal action.

The government’s policy is part of its Entertainment and Creative Industries National Strategy, which was formulated for the first time to promote the Japanese content industry, which includes fields such as anime and video games. It aims to support the global expansion of the Japanese content industry as it expects the global content market to grow.

The government has set a goal of increasing annual overseas sales of the Japanese content industry to ¥20 trillion by 2033, more than three times the current level. It has outlined 100 measures covering 10 priority areas in the strategy, which was revealed by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry on Tuesday.

The overseas advancement of video games will be supported by the government through the creation of a database that lists the legal regulations, cultural norms and customs of various countries. For manga, the government will support the development of translation tools utilizing generative artificial intelligence.

The government will also work on the revitalization of bookstores in Japan, whose numbers have been decreasing rapidly in recent years, as they serve as important sales base of manga. It also considers support to manga to be important on the grounds that many manga titles receive anime adaptations.

To address the shortage of anime creators, the government will improve working conditions at production studios. It will also establish a certification mark that will be awarded to anime produced under appropriate working conditions.
 
 

The Makassar city government is partnering with Maniwa City, Japan, and Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. to develop renewable energy through sustainable waste management practices.

Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin welcomed the initiative as a major step in transforming the city’s waste handling systems into an environmentally friendly model.

"Makassar is one of 12 cities selected for the construction of a waste-to-energy plant. We've prepared a waste management roadmap aiming for zero waste within five years, starting with government offices and educational institutions," Arifuddin said after a meeting here on Tuesday.

The meeting focused on collaboration plans to achieve a decarbonized society through a modern and sustainable waste management system.

Several programs are already in place, including early education on waste sorting in schools, integration with community waste banks, and organic waste processing initiatives led by hotels and business associations.

The city is also exploring advanced technologies to convert accumulated waste at the Antang landfill into refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Arifuddin reaffirmed his commitment to making Makassar a green and waste-free city within five years.​​​​​​​
Maniwa City representative Hitoho Maki emphasized his government’s strong support for sharing best practices in waste-to-energy innovation.

The small Japanese city of Maniwa has become a pioneer in turning waste into energy, moving steadily toward zero carbon emissions.

"We bring technology already proven in Maniwa to convert waste into fuel and gas, with an annual output of 10,000 tons. We hope this collaboration with Makassar will have a significant environmental impact," said Hitoko.​​​​​​​

He added that the initiative is part of the Japanese Ministry of Environment’s effort to foster international cooperation between local governments and the private sector, supported through funding assistance in the form of loans or subsidies.
 

Japan's Nippon Yusen and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said on Monday they have instructed their vessels to minimize the time spent in the Gulf as they continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The shipping companies said they are closely monitoring the situation and sharing updates with ships operating in the region.

"We are instructing our vessels to shorten their time in the Persian Gulf whenever possible, depending on their schedules," a Nippon Yusen spokesperson said.

"We will make decisions on each vessel's passage through the Strait of Hormuz on a flexible basis," he added.

MOL's safety operation support center in Tokyo has stepped up 24-hour surveillance, a company spokesperson said.

 

"We are advising vessels operating in the area to exercise maximum caution and providing them with latest information," he said, adding that their vessels have also been instructed to minimize the time in the Gulf.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes over the weekend, joining an Israeli assault in an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council must make the final decision on whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Press TV said on Sunday, after parliament was reported to have backed the measure.

Iran has long used the threat of closing the Strait, through which around 20% of global oil and gas demand flows, as a way to ward off Western pressure which is now at its peak following the U.S. strikes.
 
 

The government said Tuesday that an election for the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of parliament, will take place on July 20.

The official campaign period will start on July 3 in the election for the 248-seat Upper House, in which 125 seats — 75 in constituencies and 50 under proportional representation — will be contested.

The campaign will focus on ways to address rising prices and political fund issues.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday that his ruling coalition aims to secure a majority in the Upper House. The bloc needs to win at least 50 seats to achieve the goal.

Opposition parties want to block his goal after the ruling coalition lost a majority in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in an election last year.
 
 

Japan's Financial Services Agency will promote Yutaka Ito, director-general of the Supervision Bureau, to commissioner of the agency, effective on July 1, the government said Tuesday.

Ito, 61, will face challenges including promoting the reorganization of regional banks and expanding the NISA tax-exempt program for small-lot investors.

He will replace Hideki Ito, 60.

 

Yutaka Ito was an expert while previously working at the Finance Ministry. He once worked at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on loan. He assumed the current post in June 2022.
 
 

A laser navigating tool doomed a Japanese company's lunar lander earlier this month, causing it to crash into the moon.

Officials for ispace announced the news from Tokyo on Tuesday. The crash landing was the second for ispace in two years.

This time, the company’s lander named Resilience was aiming for the moon’s far north in Mare Frigoris, or Sea of Cold. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter relayed pictures of the crash site last week where Resilience and its mini rover ended up as wreckage.

Company officials blamed the accident on the lander's laser range finder, saying it was slow to kick in and properly measure the spacecraft's distance to the lunar surface. Resilience was descending at a rapid rate of 138 feet (42 meters) per second when contact was lost, and crashed five seconds later, they said.

Bad software caused ispace's first lunar lander to slam into the moon in 2023. Like the latest try, the problem occurred during the final phase of descent.

Of seven moon landing attempts by private outfits in recent years, only one can claim total success: Firefly Aerospace's touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander in March. Blue Ghost launched with Resilience in January, sharing a SpaceX rocket ride from Florida.

 

Aside from Texas-based Firefly, only five countries have pulled off a successful lunar landing: the Soviet Union, the U.S., China, India and Japan. And only the U.S. has put astronauts on the moon, back during NASA's Apollo program more than a half-century ago.

Despite back-to-back losses, ispace is pressing ahead with its third moon landing attempt in 2027, with NASA cooperation, as well as a fourth planned mission. Extra tests and improvements will add as much as 1.5 billion yen (more than $10 million) to the development costs, officials said.

CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada stressed that his company “has not stepped down in the face of setbacks" and is looking to regain customers' trust.

Outside experts will join the accident review, and ispace will collaborate more closely with the Japanese Space Agency on technical matters.

“We’re firmly taking the next step toward our future missions,” he said in Japanese.
 
 

Japan’s biggest banks are considering evacuating employees and their families from financial hubs in the Middle East, just days after U.S. airstrikes on Iran increased risks in the region.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull the families of staff out of locations including Dubai, and will consider evacuating workers if they need to accompany them, a spokesperson said Monday. Japan's biggest bank has also halted unnecessary travel in and out of the region, it said.

After the United States on Saturday launched attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran, Japanese companies are rushing to protect their employees and brace local operations for the fallout from any potential retaliation by the Islamic Republic.

Mizuho Financial Group said it urged employees in the region to exercise caution, and has started to coordinate individual evacuations. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is looking to bring its staff from locations including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates back to Japan.

In the UAE, the twin hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi have lured banks and hedge funds as traders embrace zero income taxes, a time zone conducive to working with both East and West and a lifestyle tailor-made for the rich.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, meanwhile, have also been attracting financial firms in an attempt to diversify away from oil.

MS&AD Insurance Group also said it’s looking to temporarily recall employees in both UAE cities back to Japan.

Trading company Marubeni said it has suspended business trips to the Middle East and began evacuating family members of employees in certain countries.

Japan Airlines plans to reroute direct flights between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Doha Airport to avoid airspace above the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which adds about 20 minutes of flight time, a spokesperson said Monday.
 
 

The Japanese and Indian governments are arranging for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Japan in late August for talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The two leaders are expected to agree on India's adoption of a next-generation shinkansen bullet train being developed by East Japan Railway Co. for a high-speed rail project underway in western India, the sources said.

They may also agree to revise the 2008 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation to expand their security partnership amid China's increasing maritime prowess, they said.

The visit would be Modi's first since May 2023, when he attended the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, western Japan.

Modi and Ishiba also aim to strengthen communication ahead of a four-way summit with the United States and Australia under the Quad framework, which New Delhi is set to host in the fall.

The high-speed rail line will connect the western Indian cities of Ahmedabad and Mumbai, covering about 500 kilometers in roughly two hours.

The project is considered a symbol of Japan-India cooperation, as it will use Japan's renowned shinkansen technology.

JR East aims to complete the E10 series carriages in the fall of 2027 at the earliest, with commercial operation starting in fiscal 2030.

In their meeting, Modi and Ishiba are expected to confirm plans to introduce the E10 series in the early 2030s, according to the sources.

Through the revised security declaration, the two sides are expected to agree on strengthening comprehensive cooperation in broader areas, including space and cybersecurity, the sources said.
 
 

"Long ago, rock was a symbol of the anti-establishment...Using words, not guitars, as our weapons today, politics is what rocks!"

That's the marketing message of Sanseito, a new right-wing populist party in Japan known for its stance against immigrants and coronavirus measures as well as calls for rewriting the postwar Constitution, often seen as taboo.

Some supporters want to revive wartime slogans of the Japanese Empire.
Sanseito, known in English as the Party of Do it Yourself, was established as the pandemic began in 2020 and quickly exploited the fears and frustrations of people in Japan.

It picked up three seats in last October's lower house election. The party leader Sohei Kamiya, who won re-election in May, has set a target of six seats in voting for the upper house this summer.

Amid growing discontent with economic malaise and record-breaking numbers of inbound tourists, Sanseito supporters complain that foreigners receive better treatment than Japanese and the country's culture is changing rapidly.

A movement with roots in social media, supporters blend nationalism with a sense of crisis and frustration over their daily lives.

At a party gathering in Hashimoto, Wakayama Prefecture in February, about 25 attendees split into groups to discuss rewriting the 1947 Constitution. One group suggested a new supreme law should state that "Japan belongs to the Japanese people, and foreign ownership of Japanese land is not permitted."

"First, (foreigners) have to fulfill their obligations as human beings and then we can teach them their rights," said one woman.

"That's right. Japan's a paradise for foreigners," chimed in another.

Others said everyone living in Japan should follow its traditional culture and customs. One proposal called for a return to the spirit of "Hakko Ichiu" as a national ideal. The Japanese Empire's wartime slogan means "unify the eight corners of the world" and it was used to justify its domination of Asia.

Many supporters of populist right-wing political parties claim Japan spends more money on foreigners' livelihoods while Japanese are struggling to make ends meet.

An 18-year-old male university student from Nara Prefecture supports Sanseito because he's angry at the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The teen, who requested anonymity, was introduced to the party by his father around the time of the 2022 upper house election, when Kamiya won his first parliamentary seat.

"Japanese people are struggling, but they are giving money away to foreign countries and giving excessive preferential treatment to foreigners," the teen said. He supports Sanseito's calls for tighter regulation of land acquisition by foreign capital and curbs on foreign workers.

He was impressed by speeches by the firebrand Kamiya and others on YouTube. "I thought these people are really Japanese," he said.

In January, the student helped hand out Sanseito leaflets in front of a venue for a Coming-of-Age ceremony in Yamatotakada, Nara Prefecture, western Japan.

Young people smartly attired in their suits and kimono did not readily accept them, but the teen was satisfied nonetheless, remarking, "I'm glad that people know about the party now."

Sanseito's early support, especially among younger Japanese, can be attributed in part to pandemic fatigue, specifically the obligation to wear masks.

A 19-year-old woman who attends a vocational school in Wakayama Prefecture became a supporter because of the party's proposal for the "liberalization of mask wearing" in the 2022 House of Councillors election as official COVID-19 policy.

Feeling masks were ineffective and uncomfortable, she began removing hers at school even though she was warned not to do so.

The woman, who also requested anonymity, joined Sanseito's political activities with her mother. When Kamiya was elected for the first time, she said she felt his voice united voters across the country.

Kamiya has been likened to a Japanese male idol because of his charismatic stage presence. "When I see Mr. Kamiya's speeches, it makes me cry. I'm a huge fan," the woman said.

Her parents often say that Japan's history was changed by the U.S.-led Allied Occupation. "The Constitution was not written by the Japanese people," she said. "I want people to be taught the correct history."

She also agrees with Sanseito policies on food safety and the importance of organic produce. Fast food is not part of her diet.

"It's the additives," she said. "And the food is not from Japan. It's all imported. Because I'm Japanese, shouldn't I want to eat Japanese food? It's like local production for local consumption. Our food self-sufficiency rate is low."
 
 

A breeze carries murmurs and quiet laughter between the rows of bright green tea leaves that are growing in dappled shade as workers harvest the plants that are destined to become matcha.

The Kokaen tea farm in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, is just one of the many across Japan that has benefited from the sudden surge in interest in powdered green tea, but the industry is now facing uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff salvos.

"Global demand for matcha, especially from the United States is extremely high. If the tariffs are imposed, it is likely to affect sales," said Yoshitaka Noba, the third-generation owner of Kokaen.

Founded by Noba's grandfather Takakichi in 1945, Kokaen is one of the few remaining tea farms in the region better known for hosting Toyota Motor Corp and its factories. Nishio, the neighboring city, is especially known for green tea.

Japanese green tea exports have surged in the past few years, marking a record 36.4 billion yen in 2024, more than triple the value of ten years earlier.

According to the Finance Ministry, the United States took 44.2 percent of those exports, significantly more than Germany which, at 9.2 percent, was second.

Production, however, has lagged behind demand. Some 75,200 tons were grown in 2023, down by more than 20 percent compared to 15 years ago, according to the Japanese Association of Tea Production.

Experts attribute the decrease to myriad reasons, including the country's rapidly declining population.

The Japanese government has been incentivizing farmers to switch from other tea varieties to tencha, a tea leaf typically ground to make matcha, as international demand soars.

While tencha production in 2023 grew to 4,176 tons, more than twice that of 2014, it nonetheless only makes up 5.6 percent of all aracha, or unprocessed tea.

The shift to tencha has been slow as investing in new machinery, including what is required to powder the leaves, can cost hundreds of millions of yen. The process itself is very labor intensive, according to Noba.

"Tea farmers may hesitate to turn to matcha production as it's difficult to ascertain whether this is a temporary fad or whether it will end up sticking around for longer," he said.

Tencha is usually harvested between April and May. Kokaen manages eight farms totaling 1.6 hectares, hiring people to pick leaves from one of its locations spanning less than a hectare, while the remaining farms are harvested using machinery.

"Our business relies heavily on what we produce in this one month," Noba said.

The global popularity has been a boon to the Japanese tea industry, thanks in large part to matcha being a rich source of nutrients, vitamins and amino acids.

"There was a growing interest in health during the coronavirus pandemic, and people turned to matcha as they had an impression of it as being beneficial," said Yukiko Motohara from the Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Center -- part of the Japan External Trade Organization.

Its popularity has been supplemented by its use in sweets as well, Motohara said.

JFOODO, which specializes in promoting various Japanese foodstuffs including sake and miso, has thrown its weight behind Japanese tea since 2017.

While matcha has been mainly sold in luxury supermarkets in the United States, Motohara believes that its popularity will likely grow as it becomes more widely available.

However, despite the ever-increasing attention from abroad, businesses dependent on exports to the United States have been wary about the potential effects of tariffs on profits as uncertainty mars future decisions. Tea, for example, is currently exempt from import taxes.

In what he has labeled "reciprocal tariffs," Trump unleashed a baseline 10 percent duty for almost all nations in the world and additional, higher country-specific levies for about 60 major trading partners that have trade surpluses with the United States.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently cut its global economic growth outlook for 2025.

The tariff hikes have been paused for 90 days until early July to allow for negotiations, with Japan having sent its envoy to Washington multiple times in a bid to reach an agreement.

"Tea is not a necessity, it is considered a luxury item and is therefore influenced by economic conditions. If the U.S. economy suddenly deteriorates, the value of what we produce may also suddenly drop," Noba said.

In order to maintain the ongoing popularity of matcha abroad, JFOODO's Motohara suggests that consumers should focus on the rich history and artisan skills behind producing high-quality Japanese green tea -- tariffs be damned.

Kokaen's Noba agrees, but also hopes the tariff situation can be resolved sooner rather than later.

"Matcha isn't produced in the United States, so those who want the tea will purchase it (from us) regardless of tariffs," Noba said.

"But it would be nice for the levies to be withdrawn, for the world to become one in which we are able to deliver our product as freely as possible to anyone who wants it."
 
 

Japan has canceled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the United States after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defense, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in Washington on July 1 for the annual 2+2 security talks.

But Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the U.S. asked Japan to boost defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3%, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding that its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5% of GDP on defense.

A U.S. official who asked not to be identified told Reuters that Japan had "postponed" the talks in a decision made several weeks ago. The official did not cite a reason. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting but not the reason for it doing so.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she had no comment on the FT report when asked about it at regular briefing. The Pentagon also had no immediate comment.

Japan's embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The nation's foreign and defense ministries and the Prime Minister's Office did not answer phone calls seeking comment outside business hours on Saturday.

The FT said the higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

In March, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that other nations do not decide Japan's defense budget after Colby, in his nomination hearing to be under secretary of defense for policy, called for Tokyo to spend more to counter China.

Japan and other U.S. allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff offensive.

The FT said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 upper house elections, expected to be a major test for Ishiba's minority coalition government.

Japan's move on the 2+2 comes ahead of a meeting of the U.S.-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defense spending to 5% of GDP.
 
 

Japan is heavily exposed to turmoil in the Middle East despite being far away and removed from the hostilities, and the crisis is coming at a time when Japan is vulnerable and in no position to absorb shocks that emanate from the conflict.

According to the Petroleum Association of Japan, about three-quarters of the country's crude oil imports are shipped via the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman with Iran on one shore.

Iran, which is currently in a military conflict with Israel, has threatened to close the strategic passage.

“A large portion of crude oil and gas is transported through this strait, so any disruption would hinder energy procurement and cause prices to increase sharply," said Yuki Togano, a researcher at the Japan Research Institute.

The price of oil is already up about 10% since the conflict began on June 13 — when Israel started destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities — with Brent crude oil futures now trading at about $77 a barrel.

Tagano said that if the Strait of Hormuz is closed, the price could jump to $140 a barrel. Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, wrote in a recent report that the price of crude could climb to around $120 a barrel.

"This time, Iran’s regime might possibly collapse. Blocking the Strait of Hormuz might anger China and Middle Eastern nations, but when facing a situation where the regime itself could collapse, it's natural to put every possible measure on the table,” Togano said.

According to a report by Zero Carbon Analytics, a research group, Japan is the most vulnerable of the large Asian economies to the disruption of petroleum shipments through the Strait of Hormuz due to its high reliance on Middle East oil.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Thursday that the government will implement additional measures from June 26 to prevent gasoline prices from rising above about ¥175 per liter. The average price on Monday was ¥171.2 per liter.

Togano said that although measures to contain price increases are important, Japan needs to strengthen policies, including those related to saving energy, to contain fundamental risks arising from reliance on oil imports from the Middle East.

Japan is already facing a number of significant economic challenges. The trade war with the United States is affecting exports and threatening auto sales, which are important to the Japanese economy.

Inflation is also a problem. It is high and squeezing households, which are struggling to make ends meet as wages fail to keep up with price increases. Rising food prices are particularly worrying.

Japan’s inflation in May was 3.5%, with the price of rice having more than doubled.

If the Middle East conflict continues to push up oil prices, the yen is expected to decline as dollar-buying must increase to pay for energy imports.
Even though the yen is traditionally seen as a safe-haven asset, the dollar seems to be attracting higher demand for those seeking a refuge from turmoil, Tsuyoshi Ueno, an economist at NLI Research Institute, wrote in a report on Thursday.

On Friday, the yen traded at ¥145.3 to the dollar, from about ¥143.5 when the conflict began.

Ueno points out that the yen weakened significantly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and oil prices increased.

“If the heightened tensions in the Middle East continue for a long time and oil prices rise and remain high, it will likely become a major factor for the yen’s depreciation.”
 
 

Honda Motor Co President Toshihiro Mibe expressed his eagerness to collaborate with Nissan Motor Co and its alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp during a general shareholders meeting on Thursday, after merger talks with Nissan collapsed earlier this year.

Asked about the likelihood of revisiting a merger with Nissan, which fell through due to disagreements over management structure, Mibe said it was not possible "for the time being."

Honda and Nissan, Japan's second- and third-largest automakers, as well as Mitsubishi Motors have carried on talks regarding a possible collaboration on the electrification of automobiles, among other areas. Honda and Nissan are also considering cooperation in the United States, in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies.

"We want to secure a leading competitive edge in the industry by maximizing the merits brought on by the collaboration," Mibe was quoted as saying, according to the exchanges at the meeting provided by Honda.

Honda and Nissan revealed in December plans to begin merger talks under a holding company, aiming to share the financial burden of developing electric vehicles and software to better compete with global rivals such as Tesla Inc. of the United States and China's BYD Co. But the talks broke down less than two months later.
 
 

A total of 87 Japanese nationals and their family members have evacuated from Iran and Israel amid conflict in the Middle East, the Japanese government said Friday.

The evacuees arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku and Jordan's capital Amman by bus as local airports remained closed and none of them had health issues, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said.

Of the 87, including six foreign nationals, 66 left Tehran and arrived in Baku early Friday, while 21 departed from Tel Aviv and reached Amman on Thursday afternoon, the Foreign Ministry said.

The government is arranging additional bus transportation to evacuate more people from Iran as early as Saturday, Iwaya said.

"As the situation remains very tense, the government will protect Japanese citizens with a high sense of urgency," he said.

Around 220 Japanese nationals remained in Iran and around 1,000 in Israel after the evacuations, according to the ministry.

Japan also plans to dispatch two Self-Defense Forces planes to a base in Djibouti in eastern Africa to evacuate its nationals if airports in Iran and Israel reopen, according to Iwaya.

Israel and Iran have continued to exchange strikes since the former attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and military targets last week, alleging the Islamic Republic was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, a claim it denies.

With possible U.S. military intervention in the conflict attracting global attention, President Donald Trump has upped pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program by setting a deadline for negotiations.

"I will make my decision of whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement, which was read by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt at a press briefing on Thursday.
 

 

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called for expanding exchanges between Japan and South Korea as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries.

"We want to pass on the baton of exchanges we have nurtured to the next generation while further broadening the scope of Japan-South Korea cooperation," Ishiba said in a speech at a reception hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday to commemorate the anniversary.

Ishiba said that he had very good discussions with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung when they met in Canada on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit.

"As the strategic environment surrounding Japan and South Korea is becoming increasingly severe, let's take a new step toward a better future hand in hand," the prime minister stressed.

Meanwhile, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Park Cheol-hee said that the bilateral relations have continuously deepened despite twists and turns in the past.

Park called for further developing the friendly relations and continuing the efforts to make them sustainable.

The reception was also attended by Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga, both former prime ministers. Suga currently serves as head of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union.