In June of 2020, Ikea opened a new branch in the fashion-focused Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. Launching a new venture at this time was a gamble, since the COVID pandemic was in full force and the economy’s status was murky, but on the other hand, the pivot to remote work and stay-at-home leisure activities also had a lot of people looking to make their living spaces more comfortable and convenient.

And as you can see in the above photos from opening day, things got off to a great start at Ikea Harajuku, and the shop has so much early success that less than a year later, in May of 2021, Ikea opened another branch in downtown Tokyo, this one in the Shinjuku neighborhood.

Unfortunately, while both branches made it through the pandemic, they’re not going to be around much longer, as Ikea Japan has announced that both the Harajuku and Shinjuku branches will be closing next month.

The company hasn’t publicly commented on why the two high-profile branches are shutting down. This being business, insufficient earnings are no doubt at least a major part of the reason, and a plausible cause for that would be a mismatch between the perceived appeal of Ikea among Japanese shoppers and the closing stores’ locations.

 

When the Ikea chain arrived in Japan, it attracted attention not just for the quality and reasonable prices of its products, but also for the sheer size of its stores.

Features like numerous large model rooms and huge cafeterias helped the chain stand out from its domestic Japanese competitors, and couples and families often made a whole day out of a trip to Ikea. 

Ikea’s early stores were generally located in the suburbs of major cities, outside their urban core where land is more plentiful and it’s easier to offer parking so that customers with their own cars can take advantage of Ikea’s easy-to-transport flat-packed furniture.

The Harajuku and Shinjuku stores, though, have a slightly different concept. Being in two of the most densely developed urban areas of Japan, they’re smaller in scale, with more of a focus on compact items for people living in the cozy dimensions of downtown apartments rather than spacious suburban homes. The Harajuku Ikea even has a convenience store instead of a cafeteria.

 

With Ikea having risen to fame in Japan because its stores are so huge that they feel like a sightseeing destination, smaller Ikea branches lose a lot of what makes the chain feel special to Japanese shoppers.

Rent in the close-to-the-station parts of Harajuku and Shinjuku where the Ikea branches are located isn’t cheap, either, and with Ikea’s comparatively low prices they need to making a lot of sales to turn an acceptable profit, something that’s tough to do when the branch is missing much of Ikea’s core appeal.

The closing of the Harajuku and Shinjuku branches doesn’t mean that Ikea’s experiment with smaller stores in the Tokyo city center has been deemed a complete failure, as the company has said that it will be keeping the Shibuya Ikea branch open.

Actually, it’s possible that the existence of the Shibuya Ikea also played a role in the troubles of the Harajuku and Shinjuku branches. It’s only a two-minute train ride from Shibuya Station to Harajuku Station, and only another five minutes from there to Shinjuku Station.

That’s three different Ikea branches within seven train-riding minutes of each other, which may have also eroded their feeling of destination-specialness even more than their smaller sizes alone would have.

The Harajuku and Shinjuku Ikea branches will both be closing on February 8, with February 1 the last day for in-store pickup for preordered items.
 

 

Up to $6 million (¥900 million) will be offered to Japanese companies to assist in developing AI for robots, the Japanese subsidiary of the cloud division of Amazon.com, Inc. announced on Tuesday.

Selected companies will receive a reduction of up to 50% in Amazon Web Services (AWS), Inc.’s cloud usage fees, along with support from specialized staff.

The support is aimed at startups and other companies based in Japan, with plans to assist several dozen companies in total. The application period will be open until Feb. 13, with intensive support scheduled from March this year to June.

It is said that Japanese companies have advanced technological capabilities in the field of industrial robotics, however, they lag behind the United Stated and China in developing “physical AI” — AI that operates robots and similar devices.
 


 

Japan's annual wage negotiations effectively kicked off on Tuesday, with the focus on whether the momentum for pay hikes will continue, reaching the rate of 5 percent or higher for the third straight year in the inflation-hit economy.

Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the country's most powerful business lobby, said in talks with Tomoko Yoshino, head of the largest labor union, "To further solidify the strong momentum of wage increases, we will exert leadership as our social duty."

Yoshino of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said, "We want to position the realization of a society where wage increases of 5 percent or more continue as a common foundation for negotiations."

The Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, is urging its member companies to offer base pay increases for this year's annual "shunto" labor-management negotiations ahead of April, when the new business year begins for many major corporations in the country.

Rengo has set an overall target of 5 percent or more for the third year, including for small and medium-sized companies.

In the 2025 negotiations, major Japanese firms raised wages by an average of 5.39 percent and 5.58 percent in 2024, according to the survey by Keidanren, up from 3.99 percent in 2023.

But for small and medium-sized companies, the increase remained at 4.73 percent on average, including 4.47 percent for those with 300 or more employees and 4.02 percent for those with 20 or fewer, according to the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Wage negotiations at most large companies are expected to conclude by mid-March, with smaller firms completing theirs later.

The Bank of Japan, which raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest level since 1995 in December, is closely monitoring the outcome, as rises in both wages and prices are key factors affecting its policy decisions.

In its basic policy for the 2026 "shunto" wage talks, Rengo also encouraged unions representing small and medium-sized enterprises, -- which employ about 70 percent of the country's workforce -- to set higher goals of 6 percent or more, which would help to narrow the gap with larger companies.

Rengo has also said it aims for a real wage increase of 1 percent. Real, or inflation-adjusted, wages are a barometer of consumer purchasing power.

For November, government data showed Japan's real wages fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, marking the 11th consecutive month of decline.
 
 

Online piracy and counterfeit products related to Japanese anime, games and other content caused estimated damage of 10.4 trillion yen in and outside the country in 2025, an industry ministry survey showed Monday.

The government aims to increase overseas sales at the Japanese content industry to 20 trillion yen by 2033 from 5.8 trillion yen in 2023. Cracking down on illegal activities would help the government achieve this goal.

According to the latest survey, digital content-related damage hit 5.7 trillion yen, almost triple the 2022 level. Of the 2025 figure, 2.6 trillion yen was related to printed publications, 2.3 trillion yen to video content, 500 billion yen to games, and 300 billion yen to music.

Copyright protection has become a big task for the country, reflecting an onslaught of illegal uploads overseas of popular content, such as the "Demon Slayer" franchise.

In the latest survey, the ministry assessed damage linked to merchandise for the first time, estimating the amount at 4.7 trillion yen. Major problems were counterfeit dolls and trading cards.
 
 

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index rose for the first time in six trading days on Thursday. Investors turned bullish after US President Donald Trump backed away from imposing tariffs on countries that oppose his plan to acquire Greenland.

The Tokyo benchmark ended the day up 1.7 percent at 53,688. Before Trump's move, investors had been anxious about a possible escalation of trade tensions between the United States and European nations.

The Nikkei index had fallen for five straight sessions through Wednesday after setting a record closing high above the 54,000 mark last week.
 
 

Japan posted a trade deficit for the fifth straight year in 2025, according to government data released Thursday, as concerns continued to grow over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and Japan’s political rift with neighboring China.

For the full year, Japan logged a 2.65 trillion yen ($17 billion) trade deficit, the Finance Ministry reported in its preliminary data.

That was nearly 53% smaller than the deficit Japan marked the previous year. Exports for the year rose 3.1%, while imports remained about the same on-year, gaining less than 1%.

For the month of December, Japan recorded a 105.7 billion yen ($669 million) trade surplus.

The monthly surplus was 12% smaller than what was racked up a year ago. Imports grew 5.3% from the same month a year ago, while exports grew 5.1%.

By nation, exports in December declined 11% to the U.S., while growing to Britain, Africa and to some Asian points like Hong Kong and India. Imports remained strong from Europe but declined from Brazil and the Middle East.

The United States has imposed a 15% tariff on most imports from Japan, a reduction from the 25% that Trump initially proposed but an increase from before.

Another looming concern is the impact on Japanese manufacturing, including automakers, from China’s curbs on exports of rare earths.

The controls were announced by Beijing after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a Chinese move on Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response.

Takaichi may call elections for next month in hopes her party can gain strength in Parliament while she is popular with the public.

Overall, Japan’s economy has held up, despite grumbling from the public about rising prices and stagnant wages. The benchmark Nikkei on the Tokyo Stock Exchange keeps hitting new records.
 
 

Sales from seven major Japanese convenience store chains hit a record 12.06 trillion yen ($76.34 billion) in 2025, bolstered by the development of high-value-added products, increased inbound tourism and sales tied to the World Exposition in Osaka, an industry body said Tuesday.

The sales rose 2.2 percent from the previous year, marking the fourth consecutive record-breaking year, according to a report by the Japan Franchise Association.

The average spending per customer for the year was 737.9 yen, up 2.5 percent from the previous year, as promotional campaigns such as collaborations with popular anime and well-known restaurants proved effective, the report said.

Over-the-counter foods such as onigiri rice balls and fried snacks also saw strong sales.

The number of stores nationwide stood at 56,054 as of December, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier.

However, the number of store visitors in 2025 decreased by 0.2 percent to 16.34 billion, marking the first decline in four years.

Monthly sales for December were up 1.1 percent from a year earlier to around 1.01 trillion yen, marking the 10th straight monthly increase.
 
 

Indonesia’s Trade Ministry has linked 30 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with major Japanese retailers to expand export access for Indonesian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), targeting one of Asia’s most demanding consumer markets.

The ministry partnered with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to organize business matching sessions between Indonesian SMEs and four major Japanese retail companies. The sessions focused on market access and compliance with strict Japanese standards.

Director General of National Export Development Fajarini Puntodewi said the initiative aims to align Indonesian products with Japanese quality, safety, and consumer requirements, to enable local suppliers to compete in a high-barrier, high-value market.

"We are bringing together Indonesian suppliers and Japanese retailers to align market standards so our products can meet Japan’s stringent requirements and consumer needs,” Puntodewi said in a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Participating SMEs operate across furniture, homeware, cosmetics and skincare, pet care, and food and beverages, underscoring Indonesia’s push to diversify exports beyond commodities and the automotive sector.

The business matching was conducted through one-on-one meetings, allowing each SME to present flagship products, display samples, and negotiate prices directly with Japanese retail representatives.

Puntodewi said Indonesia and Japan have strong potential to deepen cooperation in furniture, home and living, wellness, personal care, and beauty products, which she described as emerging growth drivers in global supply chains.

"Beyond automotive, we see significant opportunities in home living, wellness, personal care, and beauty. We are optimistic Indonesian FMCG and creative products can help drive a rebound in 2026,” she said.

Indonesia’s non-oil and gas exports to Japan totaled US$14.08 billion in January-November 2025, down 17.91 percent from a year earlier amid global economic pressures, according to official data.

Despite the decline, longer-term trade trends remain positive. Total Indonesia-Japan trade grew 9.47 percent over the past five years, while non-oil and gas exports rose 8.82 percent.

Statistics Indonesia said total bilateral trade reached US$29.29 billion in January to November 2025, down 10.45 percent year on year, with Indonesia still posting a US$2.64 billion trade surplus.

Puntodewi said the government expects the business matching to produce concrete deals that can evolve into long-term partnerships, strengthening Indonesia’s position in Japan’s competitive retail market.
 

 

Indonesia's Ministry of Trade co-organized a business matching event with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Jakarta on Tuesday to further intensify trade activities between the two countries.

"We intend for this activity to invite partners from Japan to step up collaboration with Indonesia-based suppliers, aiming to deepen cooperation and strengthen Indonesia's foothold in the global supply chain of various products," National Export Development Director General Fajarini Puntodewi stated.

Speaking at the event, she highlighted that the Ministry of Trade seeks to facilitate local companies in fostering partnerships with Japanese firms and retailers from relevant business fields or sectors.

The bilateral business forum was also designed to help Indonesia create a balance between local and imported products while expanding the export outreach of its top-quality goods and services, she added.

"In addition to the automotive sector, we have identified potential for collaboration in furniture, home living, wellness, and body care and beauty. We are confident that the two sides can emulate their extensive automotive ties in these business sectors," Puntodewi remarked.

She further remarked that officials from the Trade Ministry and JETRO have also demonstrated support by visiting an exhibition of Indonesia's local products and spotlighting a database on Indonesian companies arranged by the ministry.

Meanwhile, President Director of JETRO Jakarta Shinji Hirai underlined that the business matching event aligns with the Indonesian government's ongoing efforts to downstream locally sourced commodities to boost their selling value.

"This event presents Indonesian suppliers with a reference in product development and provides them with the momentum to comprehend the needs of Japanese companies," he said.

He expressed hope that the business forum will also contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Japan.

"We are looking forward to developing projects in accordance with the needs of both Japan and Indonesia," he concluded.
 

Department store operators and confectionery makers are trying to ride a wave of the Valentine's Day-related shopping binge in Japan by offering products and services featuring experiences, highly valued by consumers these days.

The Matsuya Ginza department store, run by Matsuya Co., is selling chocolate containing "pismaniye," a traditional Turkish dessert in fine strands. The chocolate, named Angel Hair Chocolate, sells for 3,240 yen per piece.

Due to the unique fluffy appearance and light texture, the product has already gone viral on social media. "I hope people will be surprised," said Sho Koizumi, a Matsuya Ginza buyer.

Tobu Department Store Co.'s flagship store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district has tripled the number of sweets available in its eat-in space from last year, offering around 30 options.

In some Takashimaya Co. outlets, renowned patissiers prepare sweets, including parfaits, for customers to eat. From Feb. 8 to 14, the Matsuya Ginza store will serve a course meal using cacao.
 
 

 
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama expressed concern about the yen's recent depreciation on Friday, saying the government is ready to take "decisive action" to stem the currency's continued fall.

"I have repeatedly said that we will take every possible measure," Katayama told a news conference, as the Japanese currency again weakened to the upper 158 range against the U.S. dollar earlier Friday.

Katayama said she and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently shared the view that the yen's recent weakness does not reflect economic fundamentals and is "excessive."

The Japanese and U.S. finance chiefs held talks earlier this week in Washington on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting over critical minerals supply chains.

Katayama also did not rule out market intervention by Japanese authorities, saying such a step has been mentioned in a joint statement issued by Japanese and U.S. finance chiefs last September.

Earlier this week, she made remarks taken as verbal warnings of possible intervention as the yen declined to the 159 zone against the dollar, its lowest level since July 2024.

The Japanese unit has been under selling pressure since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office in October due to expectations that her expansionary fiscal spending policy will worsen Japan's fiscal health.

The currency has faced renewed selling since Takaichi decided to dissolve the House of Representatives for a general election, a move seen as potentially allowing her to advance her agenda.
 
 

 

Cut chrysanthemums will be exported for the first time from Japan to the United States this year.

The Aichi Minami branch of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, will carry out the exports in cooperation with the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Aichi prefectural government.

Aichi Prefecture leads Japan in both chrysanthemum production volume and output value, with more than 30% share of the national total in both categories.

However, domestic demand has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic due to factors including the growing popularity of smaller-scale funerals. New opportunities overseas are thus being sought.

The planted area of chrysanthemums in Aichi Prefecture was 1,262 hectares in 2023, the shipment volume was 419 million stems and the production value was ¥21.8 billion, all ranking first nationally, according to 2023 data.

The main chrysanthemum production areas within the prefecture are the cities of Tahara and Toyokawa.

The region’s warm climate, secure water supply — from sources like the Toyokawa irrigation canal — and established electric lighting cultivation techniques enable three harvests per year through greenhouse cultivation.

In recent years, the diversification and simplification of funerals, such as family-only services, along with event cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have impacted markets severely.

This has particularly affected varieties like Ringiku single-stem chrysanthemums, often called the “rice of the flower industry.” Production within the prefecture has fallen to its lowest level in recent history, down 10% compared to 10 years ago.

Chrysanthemums have a strong connection with Buddhist altars and graves. JA Aichi Minami has been promoting their everyday use and wider popularization. In 2024, the office secured funding as it was selected under the ministry’s large-scale export production base strengthening project.

The Tokai Regional Agricultural Administration Office is also seriously committing to supporting the flower’s export.

Next month, the JA will have six farmers export hundreds of thousands of cut chrysanthemums to Hawaii and Guam, where they will be sold in stores to gauge demand. In the United States, chrysanthemums are reportedly seen as cheerful flowers, often given as gifts to friends.

To implement the necessary white rust disease control measures for export, each farmer’s field will be registered with the Plant Protection Station, and air transport will be arranged in cooperation with domestic sales companies.

“While assessing the impact of exporting to the United States, we want to build a brand and engage in exports in the hopes of creating a future,” said the chairman of the JA’s chrysanthemum division.
 
 

Legendary Entertainment, producer of "Dune" and "A Minecraft Movie," formed a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based broadcaster TBS Holdings to develop Japanese stories into global film and TV properties.
 
TBS, parent of the Tokyo Broadcasting System, will acquire a $150 million stake in Legendary, according to a statement from the companies.

The shares are being acquired from Apollo Global Management and Legendary’s leadership and value the company at more than $4 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
 
Legendary aims to capitalize on the growing market for Japanese stories. Its film "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," based on the iconic Japanese monster, grossed more than $570 million in theaters in 2024, while Sony Group’s "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle" took in over $700 million last year. That topped U.S. blockbusters like "Superman" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."
 
TBS, one of the leading media companies in Japan, approached Legendary a year ago, according to Josh Grode, the U.S. company’s chief executive officer. TBS owns broadcast networks, streaming services and a studio that produced the hit Netflix show "Alice in Borderland."
 
Legendary has already produced several movies and series set in the monster universe. It produced the TV shows "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" for Apple TV and "Skull Island" for Netflix.
 
"Having them as partners to enhance what we are already doing in Japan appealed” to Legendary’s leadership, Grode said in an interview. Foreign media companies are always seen as outsiders, and having a local partner can help open some doors.
 
While Japan has long been one of the world’s largest media markets, most of its biggest players have been focused on domestic customers. That’s changed as Netflix, Spotify Technology and other global services have made it easier for stories and songs in any language to reach audiences abroad.
 
Toho, Japan’s biggest movie company and the owner of Godzilla, has been looking to release more of its films globally and build attractions based on its characters outside of Japan.
 
Toho encouraged Legendary to do the deal with TBS, which has some of its own intellectual property and relationships across the Japanese industry, Grode said.
 
Legendary, based in Burbank, California, is one of the largest independent studios and financiers in the U.S. It was wholly owned by the Chinese company Dalian Wanda until 2022, when Apollo acquired a $760 million equity stake. Legendary bought out Wanda’s remaining holdings in 2024.

 

Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed to work together on developing new artificial intelligence models and preparing related laws.

The AI-sector cooperation was included in a joint statement adopted at a meeting of digital ministers from Japan and ASEAN member states in Hanoi on Thursday. The statement was proposed by Japanese communications minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who attended the meeting.

Japan and ASEAN aim to join hands at a time when the United States and China are boosting their presence in the AI sector.

At the outset of the meeting, Hayashi, who served as co-chair, said that Japan will continue making contributions to the development of ASEAN.

In a Japan-ASEAN summit held in Kuala Lumpur last October, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called for launching an initiative to expand joint research in fields such as semiconductors and AI.
 
 
 

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan surpassed 10,000 in 2025 for the second consecutive year amid a labor shortage and high prices, particularly affecting small and medium-sized enterprises, a survey by a credit research company showed Tuesday.

Business failures with debts of at least 10 million yen rose 2.9 percent from the previous year to 10,300, the highest level since 2013, with small-scale bankruptcies accounting for 76.6 percent of the cases, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.

Total liabilities were 1.59 trillion yen, down 32.1 percent from the previous year amid few large-scale bankruptcies.

By industry, the service sector, including restaurants, saw the highest number of bankruptcies at 3,478 cases, up 4.5 percent, followed by construction at 2,014, up 4.7 percent, and manufacturing at 1,186, up 3.9 percent.

The survey showed that bankruptcies resulting from labor shortages surged by 36.0 percent, reaching a record high of 397 cases. Additionally, business failures attributable to high prices increased by 9.3 percent, reaching 767 cases.

A Tokyo Shoko Research official predicted that corporate bankruptcies will "moderately increase" in 2026, citing rising interest rates, the impact of U.S. tariffs and deteriorating relations between Japan and China as notable concerns.
 


 

Japan's main stock index hit another intraday high on Wednesday to top the 54,000 mark for the first time.

Many investors believe that the stimulus policies of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae will support the economy and boost investment in growing sectors.

The Tokyo benchmark surged right after the opening to hit a record high two days in a row.

The bullish run comes amid speculation that Takaichi will dissolve the Lower House at the onset of the ordinary Diet session later this month.

Meanwhile, currency investors are selling the yen on expectations of ramped-up fiscal spending.

The currency weakened against the dollar to the mid-159 range. That's a level not seen in a year and a half.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond hit 2.18 percent at one stage for a 27-year high. Yields rise when prices fall.

The upward pressure also stems from the view that the stimulus by the Takaichi administration will continue.
 
 

Sales of products made by prisoners in Japan have risen for four straight years, driven in part by efforts to promote them on social media, a foundation supporting the country's correctional system said.

Sales totaled about 812 million yen in fiscal 2024, recovering from a sharp decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, after hitting a record low of 369 million yen in fiscal 2020, according to the Japanese Correctional Association.

Prisoners nationwide have produced goods such as woodcrafts, sewn products and traditional Japanese crafts under labor programs designed to foster disciplined work habits and improve concentration.

Although prison labor ceased to be mandatory in consideration of inmates' ages and other characteristics following an amendment to the Penal Code that took effect in June last year, it continues to serve as a central measure for rehabilitation.

The prison-made products are gaining popularity, with about 37,600 people visiting an annual sales event in December, up roughly 1,900 from the previous year.

Sales rose by about 7 million yen to 45 million yen at the event, with barbecue grills made at Abashiri prison in Hokkaido, men's shoes from a prison in Chiba near Tokyo and pasta produced at a Yokohama prison selling well.

According to a survey of visitors to the Justice Ministry-hosted event, more than 20 percent said they learned about it through social networking services or YouTube, while 57 percent said it was their first visit. The survey also showed an increase in visitors in their 30s or younger.

"Purchasing these products helps maintain inmates' motivation and promotes their rehabilitation," said Masami Suzuki, an official at the ministry's Correction Bureau.

The products, marketed under the brand name CAPIC, an acronym for Correctional Association prison industry cooperation, are also sold at shops attached to prisons across the country and online.
 
 

Major Japanese nonlife insurer MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings plans to consolidate its domestic bases ahead of the planned merger in April 2027 of its key subsidiaries, its president, Shinichiro Funabiki, said in a recent interview.

"Without a certain level of integration, we cannot achieve cost reductions," Funabiki said, suggesting the insurance group is set to consolidate its domestic bases from some 360 to 240 at the time of the merger.

When the two subsidiaries — Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance — are merged, the group is scheduled to change the name of the holding company to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group.

The company aims to achieve ¥700 billion in profit as the basis for shareholder returns in fiscal 2030, a level at which it expects to maintain a trend of dividend increases even after completing the sale of its cross-shareholdings.

"We will be able to provide new coverage and services" as the business scale increases, Funabiki said, expressing his willingness to achieve the target. In addition to the base integration, it plans to implement thorough cost-cutting measures, including the introduction of an early retirement program.

In response to a series of scandals in the nonlife insurance industry, including fraudulent insurance claims and price-fixing of insurance policies for corporate clients, the Financial Services Agency has been revising the insurance business law and supervisory guidelines in recent years.

"We need to rebuild a customer-oriented business model," Funabiki said, stressing that his company will continue to focus on restoring public trust.
 
 

ANA Holdings Inc. will start using drones for a nationwide logistics service by fiscal 2028, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

According to the plans, which would establish a transportation network, takeoff and landing bases across the country would be established. Each base would cover an area with a radius of about 500 kilometers.

The service will be used to deliver medicines and daily necessities to remote islands and other areas during normal times, and in the event of disasters, can be used to transport food and other supplies to isolated regions.

The service will utilize drones developed by U.S.-based Skyways Air Transportation Inc. that measure 3 meters long and have a 7-meter wingspan.

The drones, which can carry about 50 kilograms of cargo per flight and have a maximum range of about 1,600 kilometers, use motors to power eight propellers during takeoff and landing and will switch to engine-driven propellers when cruising. Operations will be mainly automated, with human operators providing remote monitoring and control.

ANA Holdings plans to increase the number of drone bases by one or two annually, deploying around 10 drones at each location. In the event of disasters, the drones will use onboard cameras to assess damage and deliver relief supplies to areas cut off from transportation. Multiple demonstrations of the service have already been conducted in Okinawa Prefecture and elsewhere.

“If we can deliver cargo within a 500-kilometer radius from each takeoff/landing base, the number of potential delivery destinations becomes virtually limitless,” said ANA Holdings Executive Vice President Yoshiaki Tsuda, who is in charge of the project. “We aim to develop this into future social infrastructure.”

Drone logistics operations are already in practical use in places like Shenzhen in China. In Japan, however, the focus has largely been on experimentation, with few practical implementations.

ANA Holdings anticipates constant demand in regions like Okinawa Prefecture and the Kyushu region, which have many remote islands, and plans to advance commercialization while verifying safety and other factors.
 

 

Japan's average rice price hit a new record high since statistics began in March 2022, following a small decline, according to agriculture ministry data.

In the week ended last Sunday, the average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets across Japan rose by ¥93 from the previous week to ¥4,416 per 5 kilograms, the data released by the ministry Friday showed.

The average price fell by ¥14 to ¥4,323 in the week ended Dec. 28 last year.
In the latest reporting week, the price of "brand rice," primarily newly harvested rice, grew by ¥21 to ¥4,516. Brand rice accounted for 74% of total rice sales, up 2 percentage points.

The price of relatively cheap blended rice climbed by ¥261, with the share of blended rice falling to 26%.

A separate survey of about 1,200 supermarkets showed that the average rice price went up ¥291 to ¥4,176.
 
 

New equipment includes jet trencher and Artemis tracker
Sekikaiji Industry has expanded its submarine cable installation capability with the purchase of new trenching equipment from SMD for use in the Japanese offshore wind market.

The company said the package, set for delivery in spring 2026, includes a high power jet trencher with a dedicated high sea state launch and recovery system and the SMD Artemis tracker.

SMD added that the vehicle system and tracker align with the demands of Japan’s emerging offshore wind sector.

“SEKIKAIJI has again put their trust in SMD equipment to expand its cable trenching capability ready for offshore wind. The new vehicle system and Artemis cable tracker; one of our key innovations for cable burial assurance, both align perfectly with the demands of Japan’s emerging offshore wind market,” said Matthew Woodward, business development manager at SMD.

“Our latest generation high power jet trencher is a powerful and versatile vehicle capable of delivering genuine 3m product burial for maximum cable protection. Operating across Japan’s varied seabed conditions, it offers faster burial speeds and is compatible with power cable, including bundles and pipelines.

“SMD Artemis has an unrivalled detection range unlike any other on the market. Using electromagnetic field technology, it accurately locates cables during construction phase of a windfarm, where there is no existing power or injected tone.

Artemis enables cable detection during multipass burial, proving confidence in burial depth beyond existing technologies.

Furthermore, it provides greater positional accuracy for post-burial surveys, or when trying to locate dead or inactive cables and pipelines.”

“This is a major milestone for us, strengthening our ability to meet the demands for larger power cables, deeper burial depths, and faster project timescales,” stated Masaru Seki, president of Sekikaiji.

“We chose SMD for this important contract because of its unrivalled experience in the offshore wind industry and its proven track record of delivering reliable, high-performance subsea technology.

“Having operated in Japanese waters for over half a century, we are committed to remaining one of the country’s leading submarine cable burial contractors. This means supporting the development of the emerging offshore renewable market, where safe and accurate cable burial is essential.

“We look forward to using the SMD QTrencher vehicle and SMD Artemis to support our clients with their complex subsea operations.”
 
 

Japan, regarded as one of the most competitive players in the promising space business, needs to establish commercial cargo operations and narrow the scope of service areas eligible for government financial aid to better catch up with leading global rivals, analysts say.

Japan is among the first five countries to land a probe on the Moon and ranks third in public investment in the space sector, while a growing number of companies are seeking to offer services ranging from communications and in-orbit servicing to space travel.

But Japanese service providers still rely on U.S. companies such as Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX, and Rocket Lab Corp for transportation, which is considered a fundamental service for the entire space business.

Japanese commercial cargo servicers are still in development or trial phases. Rocket launches from Japan will be vital for transporting cargoes at lower cost and with shorter lead times, analysts say.

Aside from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's H3 rocket, space venture Interstellar Technologies Inc. and startup Space One Co are among the frontrunners in developing private rockets, while Honda Motor Co has also joined the fray from the auto industry.

Honda's research arm successfully launched and landed an experimental reusable rocket that reached nearly 300 meters during a test flight in Hokkaido in June.

The automaker says no decision has been made on its future rocket business but aims for a suborbital launch by 2029.

"We are working on research to see if there is anything we can do to contribute to people's lives, at a time when supply and demand for space transportation vehicles is tight," said Kazuo Sakurahara, general manager at Honda R&D Co.'s Space Strategy Office.

Hidetaka Aoki, a space business consultant who calls himself a "space evangelist," said if rockets become available in Japan, the space business will gather momentum.

"I think this is a matter of time and could be realized in a few years," he said.
The Japanese government supports the industry through the Space Strategy Fund and plans to pump 1 trillion yen ($6.5 billion) into the market over the 10 years through March 2035. But its financial assistance pales in comparison with that of leading countries, analysts say.

"The scale of (Japan's) funding and state budget regarding the space industry is far behind the United States...The gap is big," said Yosuke Enomoto, senior manager at PwC Consulting. "The ecosystem of startups is also immature, leading to a substantial difference in the amount they can raise in Japan."

In 2024, Japan invested $6.8 billion in the space industry, the third largest among governments' spending in the sector. But it was far behind the United States' $79.7 billion and China's $19.9 billion, according to France-based space consulting firm Novaspace.

PwC's Enomoto said the Japanese government could consider focusing on specific areas to make better use of its budget.

"The space strategy fund works to expand players in the space industry, but on the flip side, it also spreads fund allocations," Enomoto said.

JAXA and major companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and NEC Corp have long led the industry, while startup firms have joined the fray in recent years, widening the range of services in the business.

The government is providing support with a goal of doubling the market value to 8 trillion yen by the early 2030s from 2020.

Companies are also making their own efforts to raise funds.
In August 2025, Axelspace Corp, which provides solutions using data collected from its microsatellites, went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Growth Market.

Among others, iSpace Inc., seeking to become Asia's first private firm to land a rover on the Moon, Astroscale Holdings Inc, which specializes in removing space debris, and iQPS Inc and Synspective Inc, both providers of high-resolution images from synthetic aperture radar satellites, have listed on the bourse for emerging companies in recent years.

Even so, analysts say the fundraising market for startups in Japan is small compared with that of the U.S. and other markets.

For long-term growth, attracting foreign investment will be crucial, as government support can spark demand mainly from the public sector in defense and research.

"The space strategy fund is essentially to support research and development. It only serves to help the initial start," said Atsushi Uchida, chief research manager at Mitsubishi Research Institute.

"Making such a transition -- from the research and development stage to a business -- is an area Japanese companies and industries are weak at," he said.
 
 

At a New Year’s celebration held by three major economic organisations in Tokyo on Tuesday, many participants expressed a positive outlook on the administration’s push for continued wage hikes.

Business leaders from three major economic organizations, including the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), recently expressed their approval of the economic policies of the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

At a New Year’s celebration event held by these groups in Tokyo on Tuesday, many participants expressed a positive outlook on the administration’s push for continued wage hikes.

However, there was also growing concern over international uncertainty, including the deterioration of Japan-China relations and U.S. military operations in Venezuela.


Growth strategy

At a joint press conference, Ken Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, indicated expectations that the Japanese economy will slowly move toward recovery, driven by rising wages and increased capital investment.

“This will be the year of a full-scale transition to a growth-oriented economy,” he said emphatically.

With the aim of building a “strong economy,” the Takaichi administration has implemented policies aimed at expanding public-private investment across 17 strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence and semiconductors, as part of its growth strategy.

Stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange have continued to rise, driven by high expectations for the success of these policies.

Keidanren Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui also endorsed the Takaichi administration’s approach, noting that it seems set to take a diversified growth strategy toward its investments. He added that Keidanren is committed to supporting the government’s efforts by strengthening public-private collaboration.

Noting the introduction of policies such as the use of the supplementary budget to boost consumption, Sumitomo Corp. President Shingo Ueno expressed high hopes for the revitalization of the Japanese economy.

Akihiko Ogino, the president of Daiwa Securities Group Inc., urged the government to continue its efforts to make the country a center for asset management and bolster Japan’s growth by accelerating the shift from savings to investment.


Wage hikes

Wage increases that outpace inflation are vital to the growth of the Japanese economy. According to a Keidanren survey, the average wage increase rate in the 2025 “shunto” spring wage negotiations exceeded 5% for the second consecutive year.

Looking ahead to the 2026 spring wage negotiations, Akio Yamaguchi, the chair of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), noted that about 80% of companies that responded to a questionnaire from the association said they plan to increase wages.

Lawson Inc. President Sadanobu Takemasu emphasized the importance of raising real wages, stating that the company is targeting an increase of around 5%.

Similarly, Kentaro Okuda, the president of Nomura Holdings Inc., indicated that his company is considering wage increases of 5% or more.
Concerns over global uncertainty

Business leaders are growing increasingly concerned about global instability and the current tensions between Japan and China. As China’s backlash to Takaichi’s remark on a possible Taiwan contingency intensifies, Junro Ito, the executive chairman of Seven & i Holdings Co., has called for a swift resolution.

He warns that prolonged friction between the two countries could dampen store revenues in tourist areas.

Ricoh Co. Chairperson Yoshinori Yamashita said, “We are working to anticipate what might happen to our production bases [in China] and be prepared for it.”

A business delegation to China which was originally planned for this month by major economic organizations has been postponed.

“While the postponement is regrettable, it is important to constantly seek opportunities for dialogue,” Tsutsui said.
 
 

Hitachi, Ltd. will launch an initiative to use artificial intelligence to support the efficient maintenance and operation of the Self-Defense Forces’ defense equipment.

The company will develop a system in which AI is used to analyze data collected from sensors installed on vehicles and naval vessels to detect signs of failure.

From as early as fiscal 2026, the company will work toward commercializing the envisaged system, hoping to secure continuous revenue after supplying it.

If the system is realized, it will help reduce the burden on SDF personnel involved in maintenance, providing significant benefits for the SDF, which face labor shortages.

Such a technology-based system is believed to be rarely used in helping to maintain defense equipment.

Currently, some defense equipment is routinely inspected by SDF personnel, with manufacturers responding when abnormalities are found.

Hitachi will apply its business expertise in maintaining and operating infrastructure using AI, an field in which the company excels in the civilian sector. It will create a system in which AI analyzes data such as operational rates and vibrations obtained through sensors, providing alerts before failures occur.

In light of the increasingly severe security environment in Asia, the government plans to spend ¥43 trillion on defense over the five years from fiscal 2023.

However, due to population decline and competition with private companies, the number of people joining the SDF remains low.

The fiscal 2023 figure for recruits was only about 50% of the target, the lowest on record. In fiscal 2024, it only reached 65% of the target.

The Defense Ministry has indicated a policy to reduce manpower in operations by using AI and other technologies.

In the defense equipment sector, Hitachi handles the SDF’s information systems, sonars installed on naval vessels as well as specialized vehicles for ammunition resupply.

Hitachi’s contract with the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency totaled ¥79.8 billion in fiscal 2024, about 3.5 times the amount in fiscal 2022.

With orders expected to continue increasing, Hitachi is reinforcing its development and production capabilities, such as by increasing employees in related businesses by 40%.
 
 

Business leaders in Japan made positive statements about continuing wage increases during a New Year event in Tokyo on Tuesday, with many hoping to achieve wage hikes at or above last year's results in this year's shuntō spring wage negotiations.

Kensuke Hosomi, president of convenience store chain operator FamilyMart, said, "We want to surpass last year's level" in the upcoming shuntō.

Last year, the average wage increase rate at major Japanese companies was 5.39%, exceeding 5% for the second consecutive year, according to a tally by the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, the country's biggest business lobby.

Keita Ishii, president of trading house Itochu, stressed the need to raise wage levels to secure human resources, saying, "We need to make Japan an ideal choice for foreign talent."

One of the key challenges in the upcoming shuntō is to extend the trend of significant wage increases beyond large companies.

"The (Japanese) economy will not be able to survive without small and midsize companies," electronics giant Fujitsu's president, Takahito Tokita, said.

The event was organized by Keidanren, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, or Keizai Doyukai.

"We will aim to further establish (the momentum for wage increases)," Keidanren Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui told a news conference on Tuesday.

Ken Kobayashi, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explained that the desire to raise wages is strong among small and midsize companies. He urged the government and the Bank of Japan to "defeat inflation."

Keizai Doyukai Chairman Akio Yamaguchi remarked, "If evolving artificial intelligence is combined with robots, high added value can be created." He advocated for productivity improvements to drive wage increases and growth investment.
 
 

 

 

Premium "Sato Nishiki" cherries from the northeastern Japan prefecture of Yamagata fetched record prices at the year's first auctions on Monday, including 1.8 million yen ($11,500) for a box at a Tokyo market, or more than 26,000 yen per cherry.

An auction in the city of Tendo in Yamagata, Japan's main cherry-producing prefecture, also sold a 68-cherry box for a record 1.55 million yen.

Cherries typically peak in early summer, but growers have advanced the harvest using "ultra-forced" cultivation, which chills trees to simulate winter before keeping them in greenhouses.

Kenichi Mannen, deputy sales manager at JA Tendo Foods, which won the top bid in Tendo, said, "I heard management was tough this year due to unstable weather, and we want to work hard to deliver products that make customers happy."

JA Tendo Foods plans to sell the cherries online.
 
 

Across Japan, foreign workers are keeping factories, fisheries, and workshops afloat. But as wages rise in neighboring countries, many business owners worry that Japan may no longer be an attractive destination for this workforce.

In Choshi, home to a large fishing port in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, one long-established cannery offers a glimpse into both Japan's dependence on foreign workers and efforts being made to retain them.

Ho Thi Thuy Nhung, 38, begins work at 8 a.m. on the assembly line. Her job rotates every few hours: operating a machine that cuts off fish heads and tails, removing foreign objects by hand, and carefully lifting fish from a grilling machine. Each task requires focus and precision.

"When I first started, I was confused because there were so many steps," she says. "But I learned quickly. The work changes often, and once I got used to it, I actually found it enjoyable."

Nhung is a Vietnamese technical intern trainee. She came to Japan last summer, leaving behind her husband and their eight-year-old son. Of the 80 people employed at the cannery, 16 are technical intern trainees from Vietnam.

Japan is replacing its controversial technical intern training program. Established in 1993, it has been accused of being a vehicle for obtaining cheap labor and drawn criticism for harsh working conditions and human rights abuses. A new system is to be launched in 2027.

"Choshi's main industry could not exist without foreign workers," says Yoshihisa Tawara, president of Tawara Canning Co., where Nhung works. "From fishing and unloading to wholesale and processing, they support every stage."

Choshi is not unique. Across Japan, many regional businesses rely on foreign labor to survive. To remain a destination of choice, business owners say companies must rethink how they welcome and support these workers.

Nhung decided to work in Japan for economic reasons. In Vietnam, even after working 14 hours a day, her monthly take-home pay was about 80,000 yen ($511) -- barely enough to cover living costs. The long hours left her exhausted, with little time to spend with her son.

When her husband's income fell and their situation worsened, she decided to work in Japan. She borrowed about 600,000 yen from relatives to cover the costs and applied to the Choshi cannery because it accepted applicants over the age of 30, which she said is rare.

Leaving her family behind was not easy.

"Coming alone to a foreign country and leaving my young child was a very hard decision," she says. "But I want to work hard now so I can spend more time with him when I return, and so I can give him a good education."

After rent and other expenses, her monthly take-home pay in Japan is about 130,000 yen. She sends 80,000 to 90,000 yen home each month and lives frugally on the rest in a dormitory with other Vietnamese trainees.

Every evening, after work and a shower, she video chats with her child. That time has become her daily comfort.

Tawara Canning was founded 96 years ago and produces between 50,000 and 100,000 cans a day. Inside the factory, instructions on dress code and hygiene are posted in both Japanese and Vietnamese. The company has been accepting technical intern trainees for about 20 years.

At around 7:40 a.m., the trainees leave their dormitory and head to the factory, greeting Japanese employees along the way. Dressed in white work uniforms, they take their places on the line. Packing fish into cans requires speed and accuracy and is handled mainly by experienced workers, with Vietnamese and Japanese employees working side by side.

The company began accepting trainees as its Japanese workforce aged and labor shortages worsened. Tawara, 70, has traveled to Vietnam many times for recruitment interviews. Learning that many Vietnamese mothers were unable to find work, Tawara began actively recruiting women over 30 three years ago.

The company provides housing near the factory. It purchased a vacant three-story building that once housed a hardware store and renovated it, adding a kitchen and improving living conditions.

The company also encourages ties with the local community. About twice a month, trainees join police officers from Choshi Police Station on neighborhood crime-prevention patrols. As they walk through town, smiling and greeting residents, people offer words of encouragement.

The patrols began as a response to a shortage of volunteers due to the aging population. They have also helped trainees connect with local residents.
"No matter the nationality, greeting each other warmly creates bonds," Tawara says.

Tawara Canning has weathered many crises. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, some trainees at other companies returned home. When trainees at Tawara's factory expressed anxiety, Tawara told them, "I'll stay here with you." They returned to work the next day.

Despite years of building trust with his trainees, Tawara worries about the future.

"Japan's economy is stagnant, while Vietnam is growing fast," he says. "There are countries where hourly wages are higher than Japan's. I don't know if they will keep choosing Japan."

He also hears of trainees at nearby companies disappearing and reappearing at other workplaces through personal connections. Seeking better conditions is natural, he says, but some are treated as disposable labor.

"Once they decide to work for us, I want to take responsibility," Tawara says. "While they're here, I watch over them like a father."

About one-third of trainees renew their status and continue working. After the three-year training period, some return home, while others change their residence status to "specified skilled worker" and remain in Japan.

Nhung hopes to return to Vietnam after three years, if finances allow. "But if things are still difficult, I may have to stay," she says.

Her colleague, Nguyen Thi Kim Thuan, 40, switched to specified skilled worker status in August. She has a 20-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son and sends about half her income home.

"I want my children to go to college," she says. "I couldn't." Her eldest child is now studying economics at university.

For many women over 30, renewing their contracts has become an increasingly common choice.

So what does it take for Japan to continue being chosen?

"It's not just 'labor' that comes here," Tawara says.

"They are people with their own lives and plans, and they have the right to choose. We want to respect those choices. And if they choose to stay, we want to keep supporting them, just as we always have."
 
 

Japanese opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda on Sunday criticized the government's draft fiscal 2026 budget with record general-account spending of some 122.3 trillion yen.

"Larger spending could fuel inflation," Noda, chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said at a press conference in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture, central Japan. "The size (of the draft budget) is problematic," he added.

The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi adopted the draft budget for fiscal 2026, which starts in April, late last month and will submit it to this year's ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, set to be convened Jan. 23. It aims to have the draft budget enacted by the March 31 end of fiscal 2025.

 

The CDP "aims to set itself apart from the Takaichi administration by (actively) submitting counterproposals" at the ordinary Diet session, Noda said. "We will focus on the strategy."

Citing the possibility of the prime minister dissolving the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, within this year for a snap general election, Noda said that his party will speed up the selection of its candidates for the potential Lower House election.
 
 

Japan's economy is likely to fall behind India's in 2026 to fifth place in the world, according to an International Monetary Fund's estimate, potentially diminishing the East Asian nation's presence on the global stage.

The subdued economic outlook makes Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's planned growth strategy, due out in the summer, all the more important to combat the burden from the country's shrinking population, economists say.

They call for productivity improvements and further efforts to tap into promising growth fields.

Japan's economy shrank for the first time in six quarters in the July-September period, due partly to weak exports amid higher U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, according to government data.

Economists expect the Japanese economy to return to a moderate recovery path in 2026, with uncertainty over U.S. trade policy easing following a bilateral deal.

Corporate profits are expected to remain resilient, providing impetus for capital spending and sustained wage hikes -- both key components of gross domestic product.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that Japan's economy is projected to grow 0.9 percent this year, helped by expansionary fiscal policy under Takaichi and private consumption growth supported by real disposable income gains.

But Yusuke Koshiyama, senior economist at Mizuho Research & Technologies, says the economy is facing two major risk factors -- the yen's depreciation and recent diplomatic rows with China.

The Japanese currency has been under selling pressure as concerns mount about Japan's fiscal health due to Takaichi's expansionary spending plans including funding for inflation relief measures for households.

Noting that a weaker yen could raise import costs and accelerate inflation, Koshiyama said, "There is no denying the risk of an intensifying stagflation phase -- meaning high inflation amid low growth -- if inflationary pressure from the yen's depreciation offsets the effects of measures against rising prices."

Bilateral ties between Japan and China have recently been strained over Takaichi's remarks in November suggesting Tokyo could get involved in the event of an attack on Taiwan by Beijing, which considers the self-ruled island part of its territory.

With China urging its citizens to avoid visiting Japan, a potential drop in inbound tourism could dent Japan's growth, weighing on corporate earnings and, eventually, affecting investment and wage hikes, Koshiyama said.

The IMF's global outlook released in October showed that Japan is set to fall behind India in nominal gross domestic product on a U.S. dollar basis, two years after being overtaken by Germany.

Acknowledging that the projection largely stems from the yen's weakness, Shinichiro Kobayashi, principal economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, said a lower ranking "would directly lead to a decline in the Japan's influence in global trade, the global economy and world politics."

"The fundamental issue is that productivity has not risen, despite past administrations seeking to raise it through various growth strategies," Kobayashi said.

Attention is on a new growth strategy the Takaichi administration plans to put together in the summer as the premier seeks to build a robust economy through public and private sector investments.

Under her slogan of "responsible and proactive public finances," Takaichi has designated 17 strategic fields to be supported under the scheme, including shipbuilding, artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

Hideo Kumano, executive chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, said Takaichi's plan overlooks several fields with strong growth potential, such as tourism, decarbonization, robotics and self-driving technologies.

"It would be desirable for the Takaichi administration to revise the contents gradually and flexibly," Kumano added.

Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, called on the Takaichi administration to address the declining birthrate as part of its growth strategy.

"Companies will become pessimistic about the potential growth of the Japanese market, where the decline in population is set to accelerate, and curb domestic investment, which will lower labor productivity," Kiuchi said.

Aggressive fiscal spending involving more bond issuances like the upcoming stimulus package will reduce the funds available for future generations and eventually curb economic activity, lowering Japan's potential growth, he warned.

"Demonstrating a commitment to medium- and long-term fiscal consolidation will stem declining growth expectations among domestic companies and prevent a further erosion of Japan's economic presence, which will serve as one of the key growth strategies," he added.
 
 

Most major department stores were closed for the New Year, as they sought to give their employees a holiday break. When they reopened for their first sales of the year, shoppers flocked to the stores.

All Sogo & Seibu Co. stores were closed on New Year’s Day, and they reopened on Friday. Customers began lining up outside the Sogo Yokohama store in Yokohama around 4 a.m. on Friday, and about 10,000 people entered in the 30 minutes after opening. Sales were up by more than 50% from Jan. 1, 2025, as was the number of customers.

The store sold “lucky bags” for the holiday season that offer customers special experiences. One ¥59,000 package offered a stay at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama and afternoon tea at the historic hotel’s banquet hall.

Given the bite of rising prices, there were also more affordable options, including lucky bags priced at ¥2,026 and containing a men’s jacket.

“I buy lucky bags every year as gifts for my family. [The offerings in the] lucky bags are cheaper than usual, and I’m happy because they’re a good deal,” said a woman in her 70s from Yokohama, who bought food and other lucky bags.

Tobu Department Store Co. kept its outlets closed on Jan. 1 and 2, for the first time in 49 years; they opened on Jan. 3. Takashimaya Co. and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co. also kept their stores closed on Jan. 1 and 2, as they did last year.

Similarly, Takashimaya’s Nihombashi store in Tokyo was closed on the first two days of the year, like last year. Takashimaya said monthly sales at the store in January last year still topped January 2024, when the store opened on Jan. 2.

“Our employees were able to return to their hometowns and have time to relax thanks to the days off, and we feel this had a positive effect [on our business],” the store’s deputy manager said.
 
 

A delegation of three major Japanese business lobbies has postponed its visit to China scheduled for January, amid a diplomatic row following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks on Taiwan.

The roughly 200-member delegation will not go ahead with its planned four-day trip to Beijing from Jan 20 after failing to secure a clear response to its request for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the groups said.

Members include Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japanese Business Federation, the country's most powerful business lobby, Kosei Shindo, head of the Japan-China Economic Association, and Ken Kobayashi, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The three groups informed their participants that the trip would be postponed on the grounds they would not "achieve substantial results," with no clear dates for when the trip would be rescheduled.

The postponement comes as Japan and China have been locked in a row since Takaichi's remarks in parliament in November that an attack on Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan.

The statement was widely interpreted as suggesting possible involvement of the Self-Defense Forces in support of the United States under the nation's right to collective self-defense.

Organized by the Japan-China Economic Association, the Beijing trip of the three business groups had been an almost annual event since fiscal 1975.

While the trip was postponed in September 2012 after the Japanese government's purchase of a significant part of the Senkaku Islands, which China claims, in the East China Sea from a private Japanese owner in that month, the business delegation visited China in March 2013.

When asked about the postponed trip, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing, "We urge the ruling authorities in Japan to...withdraw Prime Minister Takaichi's erroneous remarks in order to create the necessary conditions for normal exchanges between China and Japan."
 
 

Japan government will provide a grant to finance the construction and supply of the first-of-its-kind diving support vessel (DSV) for the Suez Canal Authority’s fleet. The grant project, provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is valued at $22m (equivalent to approximately EGP 1 billion).

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Egypt’s minister of planning, economic development and international cooperation Rania Al-Mashat and the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) admiral Osama Rabie, in the presence of the economic counsellor at the embassy of Japan Yusuke Suzuki.

The vessel will be deployed for multiple purposes, most notably enhancing navigational safety, towing operations, assisting vessels during manoeuvring, and strengthening rapid emergency response capabilities.

The vessel, which will be build in Japan, will measure 45 meters in length, 10 meters in width, with a draft of 4.5 meters and a total weight of 620 tons.
It will have a maximum speed of 12 knots and accommodation capacity for up to 29 personnel.

The unit features a dual-fuel engine system (diesel and natural gas) to reduce carbon emissions and ensure sustainable operations.

Also of importance is that the DSV will be equipped with advanced search and diving systems and essential equipment to support divers safely and efficiently, including two decompression chambers for diving, search, rescue, and recovery operations, as well as a waste treatment unit.

SCA chairman Rabie affirmed that the diving support vessel constitutes an unprecedented addition to the Authority’s fleet and will significantly enhance the maritime rescue team’s capabilities in diving operations, search and rescue missions, and emergency response, particularly as two rescue tugboats with a bollard pull of 190 tons are scheduled to join the fleet next year.

From her side, Al-Mashat emphasized that the agreement’s most significant aspect is its focus on enhancing the capabilities of the Suez Canal Authority, the global maritime corridor that serves approximately 12 percent of global trade.

She added that while regional tensions since October 2023 caused a significant decline in traffic, navigation activity recovered to record 8.6% growth in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025, following a peace agreement sponsored by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and a gradual return to stability in the Red Sea.
 
 
 

JAPAN TODAY




 

The number of newly built condominiums in the Tokyo metropolitan area is expected to increase by 2.2% in 2026 from the previous year, the Real Estate Economic Institute Co. said.

The institute predicts that the number of new condominiums put up for sale in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures will increase to 23,000.

The increase is expected to be particularly large in western Tokyo, excluding the central area, where the number of new released condos will increase by 33.3% to 4,000 units, and in Chiba Prefecture, where the number will rise by 16.7% to 3,500 units. This is due to the release of high-rise condos in Hachioji in western Tokyo and Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture.

The institute also predicted that securing land in central Tokyo will be difficult and that the supply of new condos will fall by 5.9% to 8,000 units.

There are many high-priced condos in central Tokyo, and the decrease in supply there is expected to slow down the rise in average prices across the entire metropolitan area.

The average price per newly built condo in the Tokyo metropolitan area from January to November 2025 was ¥94.18 million, 18% higher than the same period in the previous year.
 

 

The Nikkei stock index climbed 26 percent in 2025 from a year earlier to close at a record year-end high above 50,000 on Tuesday, helped by an artificial intelligence boom and expectations for economic measures under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Tokyo stocks, meanwhile, fell on the final trading day of 2025, with the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ending down 187.44 points, or 0.37 percent, from Monday at 50,339.48. The broader Topix index finished 17.55 points, or 0.51 percent, lower at 3,408.97.

Japanese financial markets will be closed from Wednesday through Friday for the New Year holidays.

Following a turbulent year of sharp swings, the Nikkei benchmark posted a record annual gain of more than 10,000 points, renewing an all-time high for the second year in a row.

The index began 2025 around 40,000 but faced headwinds after U.S. President Donald Trump rolled out an aggressive trade policy by imposing hefty tariffs, with the Nikkei suffering its third-largest point drop on record of 2,644 points on April 7 amid global sell-offs.

Stocks recovered after a Japan-U.S. trade deal in July that reduced auto and other tariff rates, and on easing trade frictions between the United States and China.

The market was further bolstered by solid earnings from Japanese companies and optimism that strong AI demand would spur buying of semiconductor and other related issues, sending the Nikkei above 45,000 in September.

"It's no exaggeration to say that the Nikkei's rise was led by chip shares throughout the year," said Wataru Akiyama, strategist in the Investment Content Department of Nomura Securities Co. "It was surprising to see tech companies keep expanding capital investment in AI."

The key index hit an all-time closing high of 52,411.34 in October after Takaichi took office earlier in the month, vowing to achieve a strong economy through stimulus measures under a slogan of "responsible and proactive public finances."

"The launch of the Takaichi government with its policy stance of expanding the economy through proactive fiscal measures also likely provided support to the market," Akiyama said, noting that the broader Topix index also renewed a record high recently.

On Tuesday, the Nikkei came under pressure as SoftBank Group fell on concern over its financial health after it announced plans to acquire U.S. data center investment firm DigitalBridge Group Inc. for roughly $4 billion.

On the top-tier Prime Market, the main decliners were securities house, nonferrous metal and service issues.

The U.S. dollar moved narrowly, mostly in the lower 156 yen range in Tokyo amid a lack of fresh trading cues and thin participation ahead of the New Year holidays, dealers said.

At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 155.97-99 yen compared with 156.01-11 yen in New York and 156.07-09 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Monday.

The euro was quoted at $1.1770-1771 and 183.58-62 yen against $1.1767-1777 and 183.67-77 yen in New York and $1.1776-1777 and 183.80-84 yen in Tokyo late Monday afternoon.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond ended up 0.015 percentage point from Monday's close at 2.070 percent as the debt was sold on speculation about additional interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.

The barometer of long-term interest rates surpassed 2.0 percent after the central bank raised its policy rate to a 30-year high of around 0.75 percent on Dec. 19.
 
 

Convenience store chain Lawson Inc. plans to launch as early as 2026 a delivery service for over-the-counter drugs at its stores with no pharmacists or registered sellers present, President Sadanobu Takemasu has said.

The service, which allows customers to order OTC drugs, such as cold medicines, online for home delivery, will be introduced after an easing of drug sales regulations for convenience stores.

“We want to sell drugs remotely and deliver them,” Takemasu said in a recent interview. He said that the service will start “next year or the year after” following consultations with relevant authorities.

Lawson plans to increase stores handling drugs from around 320, hoping to survive intensifying competition from drugstores by boosting customer convenience related to drug purchases.

Regarding a plan to raise the number of overseas stores to around 14,000 by fiscal 2030, Takemasu explained that about 12,000 of them would be in China. He also expressed a wish to expand the company’s store network in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Takemasu said Lawson has no plan to open stores in the U.S. mainland, where Japan’s Seven & i Holdings Co. leads the convenience store market.
 
 

The rising price of glutinous rice, which is used to make mochi rice cakes and mirin cooking rice wine, is casting a shadow over preparations for New Year’s celebrations.

This year’s purchase price for mochi manufacturers and distributors is more than double that of last year.

The reason is said to be the result of the decrease in the volume of glutinous rice on the market, as more glutinous rice farmers have switched to growing staple rice due to the rice shortage and price increases that have continued since 2024.

The demand for glutinous rice is at its highest around this time of year, as mochi rice cakes are essential for zoni soup dishes and mirin is indispensable for osechi New Year’s dishes. Retailers are struggling to keep prices in check.


3 times more expensive

Freshly made mochi rice cakes are lined up at a factory of Kouseido, a Japanese sweets company in Suminoe Ward, Osaka, on Dec. 17.

The purchase price of Saga Prefecture glutinous rice, which was used to make the mochi, was 2.5 to 3 times higher than last year.

“I’ve never seen such a surge in [glutinous rice] prices,” said Muneki Maeda, 60, the managing director of the company.

However, the company has only increased its small and cut mochi rice cake prices by about 10%, cutting into its profit margin, because it did not want to lose customers.

According to “Mochi no Tanaka-ya,” a mochi shop in Fukui City, this year’s purchase price of glutinous rice is about ¥1,000 per kilogram, about 2.5 times more expensive than three years ago. This year, the shop sells 1 “sho” (about 1.8 kilograms) of kagamimochi ceremonial rice cakes for ¥3,750, up from ¥3,000 last year.

“We’re in a difficult situation, but we’ll maintain affordable prices in order to protect the mochi food culture,” said Hidenobu Tanaka, 39, who runs the store.

The price of packed mochi also increased. According to a survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, the national average retail price in previous years was around ¥700 per kilogram. In November, the price was ¥948, an increase of ¥229 compared to the same period last year.



Demand surges in Dec.

The demand for mochi surges in December, when people prepare for New Year’s celebrations.

According to the ministry, the monthly purchase volume of mochi per household of two or more people was 939 grams in December 2024. The amount is 4 to 22 times more than the volume purchased in other months, ranging from 42 grams to 221 grams.

The main production areas for glutinous rice include Hokkaido, Niigata Prefecture and Saga Prefecture. In recent years, the annual production of glutinous rice in Japan has been about 300,000 tons, or about 4% of the total rice grown in paddies in the country.

Unlike non-glutinous rice, which is eaten as a staple food, such as Koshihikari and Akita Komachi rice brands, glutinous rice is stickier and more difficult to control in terms of temperature and humidity after milling.

According to Shunsuke Orikasa, chief researcher at the Tokyo-based Distribution Economics Institute of Japan who is familiar with issues of rice distribution, the surge in rice prices that began in summer 2024 has caused glutinous rice farmers to switch to growing staple rice since spring.

As a result, there is now a shortage of glutinous rice, leading to price increases.

“The price increase is expected to slow down in January or later, but there won’t be a large drop in price,” Orikasa said.

Sato Foods Co., a major mochi manufacturer based in Niigata City, has raised the price of its packed mochi two times this year and plans to raise the price again of the products to be shipped in March and later.
The company said it is due to the rising price of glutinous rice.


Kagamimochi sales slow

The price of mirin, often used in New Year’s dishes, is also rising.
“Some [mirin] manufacturers have already raised the prices of their products, but others have not been able to do so,” said a representative of the national mirin association located in Aichi Prefecture that comprises mirin manufacturers.

“We would like to share information with each other while carefully watching the situation in January and later.”

At an Echizen-ya supermarket in Nishinari Ward, Osaka, the retail price of mirin is 10% higher than last year and packed mochi rice cakes are 20% higher.

According to Kazuhiko Horiuchi, the head of the supermarket’s business department, sales of packed kagamimochi are slower compared to previous years, apparently due to the price increase.

“Mochi and mirin are essential for New Year season,” said a 64-year-old woman living nearby. “I’ll reduce the amount of kagamimochi [I buy] to cope with the price increase.”
 
 

Immersive Fort Tokyo, a theme park in Tokyo’s Odaiba district that lets visitors step into the roles of popular animated characters, will close at the end of February, the operator said Thursday.

The facility will have been open for less than two years.

“We’ve concluded that the facility’s size is too excessive [for our business model],” said a statement by Katana Inc., a marketing company in Osaka City that operates the indoor park.

Immersive Fort Tokyo opened in March 2024, occupying part of the former Venus Fort shopping center that closed in 2022.

The park re-creates the settings of popular animation and stories, giving visitors an immersive experience of playing characters and interacting with cast members.

“We’ll take advantage of the expertise we’ve gained through running the facility [for our future business],” the statement said.
 
 

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Thursday reiterated his readiness to continue raising interest rates from a 30-year high of around 0.75 percent, citing growing confidence in achieving the central bank's inflation target.

In a speech at a meeting of Japan's biggest business lobby in Tokyo, Ueda said the mechanism in which both wages and prices rise moderately -- a key factor affecting policy decisions -- will be maintained next year and beyond.

"Amid tightening labor market conditions, firms' wage- and price-setting behavior has changed significantly in recent years, and the achievement of the 2 percent price stability target, accompanied by wage increases, is steadily approaching," Ueda said at the event hosted by the Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren.

The speech came after the central bank last week raised its policy rate from around 0.5 percent to around 0.75 percent in a unanimous vote, and Ueda signaled possible further hikes depending on economic and price developments.

Ueda said Thursday that tight labor market conditions will boost the prospect of more pay hikes and inflation expectations have been heightening among households and companies.

Under such circumstances, the governor said the likelihood of Japan's economy returning to a "zero norm state," in which wages and prices hardly change, seems to have "decreased considerably."

Noting that real interest rates remain "at significantly low levels," Ueda said that if the bank's baseline scenario is realized, it will continue to raise the policy rate.

The bank expects underlying inflation, which strips away cost-push and other temporary factors, will be at a level consistent with its 2 percent target in the latter half of its three-year projection period until March 2028.

The BOJ faces the challenge of taking the policy rate to higher levels while carefully examining the effects of its gradual policy normalization after years of keeping borrowing costs depressed at rock-bottom levels to jolt the economy out of chronic deflation.

The governor said the central bank believes that adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation will support "long-term growth," thus providing confidence to businesses.

Ueda's latest remarks drew market attention after the yen weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar despite Friday's rate increase, a development that might otherwise have been expected to support the Japanese currency.

The initial market reaction to the speech was muted, with the dollar trading in the upper 155 yen range.

Since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office in October, the yen has been under pressure amid concerns that her expansionary spending policy would further worsen Japan's fiscal health, triggering the selling of the currency and government bonds.

The yen's slide accelerated amid growing expectations that the BOJ would lift borrowing costs at a slower-than-expected pace, as Ueda offered no clear guidance on the timing or pace of future hikes in a press conference after the central bank's policy gathering, dealers said.

A weak yen is seen as a boon to Japanese exporters given that it inflates their profits made overseas when repatriated. But the negative side of yen depreciation has become more evident in recent years as resource-poor Japan has seen rising import costs hurting both businesses and consumers.

Takaichi's government is seeking to ramp up investment to make the economy stronger while easing the inflation pain felt by households.

Earlier on Thursday, a government advisory panel on economic and fiscal policy began discussions to draft a new policy blueprint, with Takaichi vowing increased fiscal spending but in a "responsible" way.

The blueprint, the first of its kind under Takaichi, is expected to be finalized around June, feeding into the compilation of the budget for fiscal 2027.
 
 

Japan's business leaders have offered a mixed response to the government's draft budget for fiscal 2026, which was adopted at a cabinet meeting on Friday.

Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, the country's biggest organization of employers, said that the draft budget "includes many measures to realize a strong economy," which is a goal set by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The Keidanren chairman hailed the draft budget for embodying a direction in which the public and private sectors will collaborate to promote both crisis management investment and growth investment with the aim of boosting potential growth.

Tsutsui also stated that the partial implementation of social security system reforms reflected in the draft budget would curb the rise in insurance premiums for the working generation.

Ken Kobayashi, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the draft budget "involves policies to improve regional earning capabilities, such as providing support for startups and business succession."
 
 

Fast Retailing Co, the operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, said Monday its group will hike the starting salary of new employees in Japan to 370,000 yen from 330,000 yen, raising it for the second consecutive year to spur competitiveness.

Uniqlo, GU, PLST and Link Theory are set to take on roughly 480 new graduates in the spring and the 40,000 yen hike is for those hired in management candidate programs that often involve overseas transfers.

It is the fourth hike such employees have received since 2020, with their wages growing by 160,000 yen over the six years. Their annual income, including bonuses, is expected to be around 5.9 million yen, up 12 percent from the current rate.

Employees assuming jobs that do not require relocation will receive a starting salary of 280,000 yen, up from 255,000 yen.
 


 

The government has adopted a package of about 20 measures related to curbing mega solar power development projects to address concerns about environmental damage and potential disaster risks.

The measures, which were adopted on Tuesday at a meeting of relevant Cabinet members, include amending relevant legislation, bolstering monitoring systems and abolishing support for new large-scale solar power plants.

As part of measures to strengthen legal regulations, the government will lower the minimum 30,000-kilowatt threshold for mandatory environmental assessments, while also looking into expanding the scope of the inspections.

The government will also create a mechanism in which a government-certified organization will verify in advance if planned solar power plants comply with relevant technical standards.

To make this requirement mandatory for the operators of solar power plants with an output of 10 kilowatts or more, the government aims to submit a bill to amend the Electricity Business Law during the ordinary Diet session next year.

The package also includes expanding restricted areas in the Hokkaido’s Kushiro Shitsugen National Park, the Japan’s largest wetland and surrounding hills, and reviewing the applications of the Protection of Cultural Properties Law, the Landscape Law and other relevant laws.

Starting in fiscal 2027, mega solar power plants with an output of 1,000 kilowatts or more will become ineligible for the feed-in premium program, a support system in which producers receive a fixed premium on top of the market price for electricity generated.

On the other hand, the government will increase incentives for developing or introducing next-generation perovskite solar cells and rooftop solar systems, as they have a smaller environmental impact.

After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, mega solar power plants were built one after another across the country. In fiscal 2012, the administration led by the then Democratic Party of Japan introduced a support system in which power companies purchased electricity generated by renewable energy producers at higher than market price as part of efforts to promote renewable energy.

However, now that solar power generation has grown to account for about 10% of the overall electricity output in the country, the government decided to review the support system, and concluded that it has already to some extent played its role in expanding renewable energy usage.
 
 

Nippon Steel Corp. said Tuesday its wholly owned subsidiary, United States Steel Corp, will invest $350 million to revamp its largest blast furnace, part of the $11 billion investment the Japanese company promised to the U.S. government in winning approval for the acquisition of the U.S. steelmaker.

U.S. Steel said relining blast furnace No. 14 at the Gary Works plant in Indiana, which produces iron for high-strength steel, is "critical maintenance" needed to ensure long-term iron-making capabilities and capacities.

Seeing the United States as one of its key growth markets, Nippon Steel acquired the iconic U.S. steelmaker in June in a $14.1 billion transaction.

The deal was finalized after the Japanese steelmaker pledged to invest approximately $11 billion in the U.S. company through 2028 in an effort to win over support from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Nippon Steel said in its new medium- to long-term management plan released earlier this month that it aims to invest around 6 trillion yen ($38 billion) over the next five years domestically and globally to upgrade U.S. Steel facilities.
 
 

The Japanese government said Tuesday that it will resume bilateral economic aid for Syria after 15 years of suspension.

Through its official development assistance scheme, Japan plans to support the Middle Eastern country, now led by the interim government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, including in personnel training.

Yohei Onishi, Japanese parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, visited Damascus and notified the aid resumption on Monday.

Japan suspended its economic aid to Syria after the Syrian civil war started in 2011. Since then, it has only provided humanitarian aid through nongovernmental organizations and international institutions, including the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the interim government was launched in December 2024. The Japanese government believes that efforts toward national reconciliation are progressing in Syria.
 
 

Rakuten Group is expanding its AI team under the stewardship of a Google veteran and building models with a focus on cost efficiency.

Ting Cai, now three years into his tenure at the head of the e-commerce pioneer’s artificial intelligence team, has the task of creating AI systems that would augment the company’s many businesses and support the handling of commercial transactions at a minimal cost. He oversees a team that’s grown to 1,000 this year and has a battery of “thousands” of Nvidia chips to work with.

Tokyo-based Rakuten is wrestling with a struggling mobile business and constant competition in online shopping, both of which could get a significant boost from effective deployment of new AI tools.

But the emphasis on doing that profitably from early on is where the company stands out from other large tech firms.

“Rakuten is very business-focused, applying the latest tech to solve customer problems,” Cai, 53, said in an interview. “In order to do this at large scale, we have to deliver the maximum margin. That’s why reducing the cost is super important for us in deploying generative AI.”

Cai’s team last week unveiled version 3 of the company’s large language model, which it says is 90% cheaper to run than existing comparable LLMs.

The company segments tasks down to simpler jobs and develops smaller models catered to addressing specific needs for each of its services.

Version 3 activates about 40 billion parameters for each individual token within its 700 billion parameters, while the remaining parameters stay inactive for increased efficiency.

AI functions contributed ¥10.5 billion ($67 million) to operating income in 2024, and the company aims to double that figure this year. Intelligent ad targeting and placement have boosted the return-on-investment for sellers using Rakuten’s online storefront, while AI-powered semantic search and personalized recommendations have lifted user engagement and click-through rates.

“We have observed that users come back more often after using the Rakuten AI Ichiba,” Cai said, referring to the full name of Rakuten’s virtual shopping mall. “So what we need to do is further reduce the cost of these conversations. We want each purchase through conversation to be profitable.”

Before Rakuten, Cai worked on Google Maps and local search services at Alphabet, following a long stint as a software engineer at Microsoft.

He wasn’t too familiar with Rakuten when an executive at the Japanese company contacted him about a job. It was a “strange company” to Cai at first, he said, but after learning about founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and holding a few conversations with the man himself, Cai realized the two had a lot in common.

The job has turned out to be much more than what Cai believed he was signing up for, he said. His role has grown into a pivotal one for a company committed to integrating AI across its broad range of services, spanning everything from a mobile assistant to autonomous delivery vehicles.

He is proud of the work his team has accomplished building from the ground up, and Rakuten’s long-term vision includes having business customers tapping its AI tools and expertise.

“A lot of people are already depending on Rakuten. But I think we can do so much more than that,” Cai said. “Rakuten’s goal is to become Japan’s leading AI empowerment company.”
 
 

Fast Retailing Co, the operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, said Monday its group will hike the starting salary of new employees in Japan to 370,000 yen from 330,000 yen, raising it for the second consecutive year to spur competitiveness.

Uniqlo, GU, PLST and Link Theory are set to take on roughly 480 new graduates in the spring and the 40,000 yen hike is for those hired in management candidate programs that often involve overseas transfers.

It is the fourth hike such employees have received since 2020, with their wages growing by 160,000 yen over the six years. Their annual income, including bonuses, is expected to be around 5.9 million yen, up 12 percent from the current rate.

Employees assuming jobs that do not require relocation will receive a starting salary of 280,000 yen, up from 255,000 yen.
 

 

Japan will take "appropriate steps against excessive moves" in the yen, the country's top currency diplomat said Monday, after the currency fell sharply against the U.S. dollar even in the wake of the Bank of Japan further raising its policy interest rate last week.

"We are concerned about one-sided and rapid moves" of the yen, Atsushi Mimura, vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters after the yen slid to a one-month low of 157.78 against the dollar in New York on Friday.

Separately, Japan's top government spokesman Minoru Kihara echoed the sentiment, saying on Monday, "It is important for currencies to move in a stable manner reflecting (economic) fundamentals."

Kihara, the chief cabinet secretary, told a news conference the government would respond to foreign exchange developments, including those driven by "speculators."

Their remarks followed similar warnings issued by Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Friday, which some market participants viewed as jawboning to stem the yen's slide.

While a weaker yen inflates Japanese exporters' overseas earnings in yen terms, it also drives up import costs for the resource-poor nation, weighing on households through higher living costs.

The yen came under pressure after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda refrained from providing clear clues on future interest rate hikes after the central bank raised its policy rate to a 30-year high at around 0.75 percent.

At noon, the U.S. currency fetched 157.42-43 yen compared with 157.70-80 yen in New York and 156.73-75 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday.
 
 

 

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing will raise base salaries for new graduates in Japan by as much as 12%, stepping up efforts to secure and retain talent as the country’s workers grapple with inflation.

Annual pay will grow by about 12% to ¥5.9 million ($37,400) starting in March for university graduates in management-track programs, the Tokyo-based retailer said in a statement Monday.

Pay for other graduates will increase by about 10% to ¥4.5 million.
"By fostering a virtuous cycle of growth and wage increases, Fast Retailing aims to boost overall productivity and achieve sustainable growth for the company,” the company said.

Fast Retailing implemented a similar wage hike in 2023, bumping up annual pay for full-time employees in Japan by as much as 40%.

The firm’s moves underscore a broader shift toward higher salaries in corporate Japan as labor shortages intensify and consumer prices reach levels not seen in decades.

The average wage in Japan was $49,446 in 2024 — the lowest level of the Group of Seven nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data show — amid decades of economic stagnation.

The U.S. had the G7’s highest level, $82,993, according to the OECD.
 
 

Toyota Motor Corp said Friday it will aim to import to Japan three models built in the United States from next year, in an apparent response to U.S. President Donald Trump's calls to reduce his nation's trade deficit with Japan.

"By selling these three popular American models in Japan, Toyota will be able to meet the diverse needs of a broad range of customers, while also helping to improve Japan-U.S. trade relations," Toyota said in a press release, unveiling the plan to sell the Camry sedan, Highlander SUV and Tundra pickup truck in the company's home market.

Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co are also looking into shipping vehicles built in the United States to Japan for the same reason, sources close to the matter said earlier.

Toyota's Highlander and Camry were sold in the Japanese market until 2007 and 2023, respectively. The Tundra will be launched in Japan for the first time, with Toyota hoping to tap demand from outdoors enthusiasts attracted to the pickup's rugged image.

"As part of preparations to introduce these models to Japan, Toyota will also make use of a new system being considered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism following bilateral negotiations," Toyota said.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House following a summit between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in October, the Japanese government committed to a system that would "accept for sale" U.S.-manufactured and U.S. safety-certified vehicles "without additional testing."

"Toyota plans to export its U.S.-made vehicles to Japan and open its distribution platform in Japan to U.S. automakers," the fact sheet said.

Trump has long been critical of what he sees as trade barriers that restrict sales of American-made cars in the Japanese market, though industry experts point to factors such as consumer preferences as an explanation for the unpopularity of vehicles imported from the United States.

To address the trade imbalance, Trump imposed a tariff of 27.5 percent on imported Japanese cars, far higher than the previous 2.5 percent.

The rate on vehicles from Japan was negotiated down to 15 percent in September but still impacted the earnings of major Japanese automakers, including Toyota.
 
 

The government has estimated the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo generated an economic impact of about ¥3.6 trillion, more than ¥650 billon higher than the previous estimate conducted before the event, according to sources.

The latest estimate is the first to reflect the actual circumstances of the expo, such as visitor numbers and consumption trends during the event period from April to October. It will be used to assess the overall results of the Expo.

The government is making arrangements to submit the estimate to officials related to the Expo soon.

In 2024, the government estimated the Expo’s economic impact would be about ¥2.9 trillion. The surge in consumption, particularly of official merchandise, boosted the economic impact.

Similar to the previous estimate, the government analyzed the Expo’s impact on production and consumption based on three criteria: investments in construction, such as expenses for building the venue; effects from organizing the Expo and related events; and visitor spending. Visitor spending showed the greatest increase, reaching about ¥1.7 trillion, which exceeded the previous estimate by about ¥330 billion.

The previous estimate referred to data such as consumption patterns from the 2005 Aichi Expo, and projected the economic impact based on an assumption of achieving a target of about 28.2 million visitors.

In contrast, the latest survey took the actual attendance of about 25.58 million visitors into account. It estimated the consumption spending for shopping, dining and tourism both inside and outside the Expo based on a visitor survey.

Meanwhile, the impact from construction investment rose by about ¥300 billion from the previous estimate to about ¥1.1 trillion, and effects from organizing the Expo and related events rose by about ¥20 billion to around ¥700 billion. In total, the latest estimate rose by more than 20% from 2024.
 
 

 

Toyota Motor Corp has launched a new RAV4 model, installing for the first time a new software system that will enable customers to upgrade their vehicles without having to buy a new one.

The latest RAV4, symbolic of Toyota's push for software-centric vehicles, is available in plug-in hybrid, set to be launched within fiscal 2025, and hybrid electric models. The automaker does not provide a gasoline-powered version of the popular SUV.

Toyota said it plans to sell 3,000 units of the hybrid model per month in Japan, priced from 4.5 million yen.

The sixth-generation RAV4 can receive updates that add new features or enhance existing ones under the Arene software development platform, which was used to develop the cockpit system and advance safety technologies.

As part of safety functions designed to avoid and mitigate collisions, the vehicle can quickly detect deceleration by preceding vehicles and automatically apply the brakes, according to Toyota, which carried out the first revamp of the flagship SUV in over six years.

The launch comes amid the growth of software-centric vehicles from automakers including U.S.-based Tesla Inc and Chinese EV makers.

The RAV4, first released in 1994, helped drive the SUV trend and is especially popular in the United States. Toyota sold about 1.04 million units globally in 2024, accounting for around 10 percent of the automaker's total sales.