Japan Govt. View on Economy: Ideas Later.

Japan keeps view on economy for Aug., cautions about quake, rain impact

Article to be deleted after ideas.

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government retained the view Thursday that the economy is recovering at a moderate pace in its monthly assessment for August but called for caution over the impact of the recent massive earthquake in southwestern Japan and torrential rain near Tokyo.

"Attention should be given to the impact of the situation in the Middle East and natural disasters," the Cabinet Office said in the monthly economic report, in the wake of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck southwestern Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture and heavy rain that hit Chiba Prefecture.

With areas hit by the July 28 earthquake hosting numerous automotive and semiconductor-related factories, disruptions in output could impact supply chains including for production by major automakers, the Cabinet Office said.

The torrential rain in Chiba in mid-August damaged facilities related to agriculture and fisheries, it said.

By category, the government raised the assessment for corporate profits to "improving," and for housing construction to generally "flat."

For private consumption, which accounts for half of the country's gross domestic product, the government maintained the assessment that it "shows movements of picking up."

While preliminary GDP data for the April-June quarter showed that private consumption fell for the first time in eight quarters, the government said it was down to special factors such as government subsidies to cover school lunches.

By keeping its assessment of a moderate recovery for August, the government provisionally signaled that the economy has marked 75 straight months of expansion since June 2020, surpassing the postwar record of 73 consecutive months.

The final determination of the length of the current economic expansion and whether it has exceeded the previous record set between February 2002 and February 2008 will be made retrospectively by a Cabinet Office panel of economists and other experts a year or more later.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260827/p2g/00m/0bu/049000c

Japan July Jobless Rate: Updated Aug. 29, 2026.

Japan's July jobless rate falls to 2.4%, 1st improvement in 3 months

Ideas

The Japanese economy has one of the best unemployment rates in the world but at the same time, it has one of the highest economies with workers who work either part-time jobs and or contract jobs, which means less benefits compared to full-time large company name-brand workers.

At the same time its estimated that up to 70 percent of the Japanese workforce doesn't work for large Japanese companies but small and mid-size companies which make up, an estimated 90 percent or more of companies in Japan.

However, despite some of the supposed negatives in the Japanese economy it is a very stable economy despite the structural challenges that exist for some in the economy.

It's quite possible if given a choice these days, less people are opting for retirement due to the idea that either they need to keep working and either they just want to keep working instead of just sitting at home maybe doing nothing.

And the idea of workers involuntarily leaving their jobs as maybe as surveyed to situation but didn't find anything better out there as maybe many of the better jobs are now taken and they felt it was best just to stay where they are at for the time being.

In years past, it was rare or very unheard of for Japanese companies to dismiss workers but even in Japan now times change and whether good or not so good, many Japanese companies have adopted western style practices such as laying off workers as a way to cut expenses and make sure they meet their shareholder's quarterly expectations.

In an economy has large as Japans its not uncommon for workers to voluntarily leave their jobs for any number of reasons which might include taking time to look for another job, part-time workers changing part-time jobs and mother of children taking a leave from their job to raise their children.

Even though there might be 118 jobs for every 100 jobs doesn't mean all of the jobs being offered are the large Japanese name-brand company jobs as some might be jobs that, unfortunately some potential workers might not like such as the salary being too low, the hours being too many.

There is a supposed labor shortage in Japan now which means potential workers have a choice but even if have a choice that doesn't mean they are going to find the job that it best for them as always workers sometimes and many times, have to take the best possible choice out there and it might not be what a worker wants or needs.

Its interesting that the accommodation sector saw a drops in job openings when at the present time there are record foreign tourists coming to Japan and you would think that hotels and other places would be hiring more workers as there are more tourists now entering Japan.

At the same time its possible that the wholesale and retail sectors are having challenges with their profits margins and costs and they just don't have the extra funds needed to hire any more workers even though they might need workers.

With the other sectors it's possible that their profits margins are somewhat stable which means they have room to not only advertise for new workers but maybe even, due to the labor shortage, offer better wages or salaries to lure more workers to their companies.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260828/p2g/00m/0bu/020000c

Japan July Core Consumer Inflation. Updated Aug. 26, 2026.

  

Japan's July core consumer inflation rises 1.8%, up for 2nd month

Ideas

Japan's core consumer prices have continued to increase ever since the end of the pandemic and it seems like they are not coming down anytime soon.

Globally, it seems to be a problem for most if not all countries and consumer prices just keep increasing and again it doesn't seem like its going to end anytime soon, and high prices may now be the new normal for Japan and the global economy.

And yes, the BOJ might take action in September, as suggested by some due the increase in prices of many things including what is happiness with AI.

At 1.6 percent for the consumer price index it means that inflation in Japan is maybe not increasing but at least remaining somewhat stable for the past seven months.

At the same time, even at 1.6 percent it might still be a little too high for those who work part time, or contract work, or even those on fixed incomes in Japan.

Many countries prefer to keep the inflation level at 2 percent or less as it seems to be a manageable percent for most central banks globally.

Of course the challenge with plastic materials is going to be major problem for many companies in Japan especially food and supermarkets.

Even with an increase of 3 percent for the price of food some households in Japan might still feel the price increases while those in maybe the middle income or higher groups might not even notice the increase, as it might not be dent their food budgets.

But hamburger prices, while usually not a main food product in Japan might have seen supply chains disruptions and the reason for the increase in prices along with maybe supply challenges.

Yes, the shortage of plastic materials meaning any plastic that is used for many things might have been significantly challenged with shortage and or course supply chain disruptions in the Middle East.

It seems semiconductors, now days, is used is most electronic products and the increase in demand for AI products related to semiconductors, over the past year or so has significantly increased the price of tables and notebook computers.

And no doubt the Middle East situation, whether direct or not has had an affect on a ll energy commodities and energy companies, as usual are quick to increase prices even if their commodity products are not related to the Middle East situation.

Electricity and gas, whether used by households or companies can easily turn into a major monthly expense or at least an expense that can be controlled somewhat but not completely.

Of course, as needed and very important energy subsidies can help the average household and especially those who do need to use a car in the major metro areas but especially in the rural areas where people have to drive a lot to get from one point to another.

Government, state, and local subsidies are very much needed in Japan to defer the increased costs of the volatile global energy situation, but its sometimes debated as to how much should governments intervene or provide subsidies and how much does it disrupt normal market operations in an economy.

In economics subsidies are always being debated about the positives and negatives of them as there are good and not so good ideas related to subsidies, as they tend to help households and consumers but at the same time drive up the government debt which as of now Japan's debt to GDP is significantly higher than it should be.

Every so often statistical agencies will change the base year as what was evaluated years ago might not be relevant for today so the reason for agencies moving the base year from 2020 to 2025 as even a six year difference can mean a significant different in consumer spending and and the products bought over time.

Finally, even a 1.9 percent in the core-core CPI can have a major impact on some groups in Japan such as the fixed income groups, the part time worker groups, the contract worker groups and especially the single mom who has to take care of her children on a limited income.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260821/p2g/00m/0bu/018000c

Japan Convenience Store Sales: Updated Aug. 21, 2026.

Japan convenience store sales up 0.7% on promotional efforts in July

Ideas

Japanese convenience stores or conbinis as they are called in Japan are an out of this world experience as they are not like convenience stores in any other country.

While they are not like real dollar stores or even like Daiso, which is a popular 100 yen store in Japan, they carry a lot of products and not to mention most fresh food and you can almost exist exclusively on food from a Japanese convenience store everyday, if you are on a reduced budget.

The Japanese convenience, for the most part, have been created to fill the need of the busy metro office worker in Japan as most of the convenience stores are in the large metro areas in Japan.

And they have more than just fresh food and snacks but also fax services, some bank services, ATM services and so on for the busy office worker. And you can get your Amazon or even Rakuten online order shipped to a nearby convenience store, pick it up at the store, and then catch the train back to your home too.

It's been noted in other articles that most of the part-time workers are now foreign students and not Japanese students as for some reason Japanese students don't want to work at a convenience store as maybe the pay is either too low or the hours are not good for them or they just don't want to do what is needed as a part time convenience store worker.

Whenever I visit Japan, mostly in Yokohama and go to a convenience store, you can see the name tags of the part time workers which is written in the katakana script used is mostly used for foreign words in Japan.

What should be admired about Japan is its business culture even though there is a lot competition among the seven major convenience store operators, it doesn't seem to be like the the competition in the US as it seems there is a layer of cooperation among the seven convenience store operators like there is among Japanese car makers and Japanese airline companies as its more of a shared culture of we are all in this together even though we are competitors.

Once again, it seems, at least in the major metro areas such as Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, and the Tokyo metro area, that there is convenience stores on almost every corner to meet the needs of the busy metro company workers.

For many of these convenience stores they almost have 24 hour re-stocking of some products as its all computerized now and when a product begins to run low they re-stock the products quickly and even though some fresh food products might be re-stocked every hour they are re-stocked fast enough for at least the main rush hour worker times of in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening too.

And yes, due to the inflation challenge in Japan now, its quite possible that office workers in Japan are not visiting a convenience store as much as before as they too have cut-back on how many times they might visit a convenience in a day or even a week now.

All told visiting a Japanese convenience store might not be like a visit to a 7 wonders of the world experience but its worth visiting to see just what goes on in a Japanese conbini and see all the fresh food and all the daily products they have available and not to mention the ice coffee machines which of course is much cheaper than a Starbucks in Japan and you can get  hot coffee or ice coffee for around 100 yen or maybe 150 yen at the most.

Have a nice nice day!

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260820/p2g/00m/0bu/033000c

Japan Current Account: Updated Aug. 27, 2026.

Japan logs 635 bil. yen trade deficit in July, weak yen swells oil imports

Ideas

Japan is a resource-poor country which means it has to import much if not all it needs and as a result is subject to global price fluctuations and then add in the weak Japanese yen, which increases the price of imports which actually distorts the volume difference between exports and imports.

It seems as if Japan has fee free trade agreements that actually help the economy when global prices are fluctuating too much and again Japan has to import much of what it needs which its subject to what is happening globally maybe more than any other economy globally.

Japan and the US, for many reasons, even though they are supposed trade partners and allies have never really had a bilateral free trade agreement, even though they made some mini agreements but again not a real comprehensive type agreement.

As a result oil shipments from the US, due to shipping and logistical supply chain situations, and of course the weak Japanese yen, have increased the price of energy and oil from the US recently.

It remains to be seen, after adding in shipping, supply chain costs and other costs, whether getting oil from the US is worth or good for the short-term due to the Middle East situation.

Yes, Japan might need to continue to get energy and oil from the US but is the cost worth it compared to the cost to ship it from the Middle East now and in the future.

However, related to security issues it might just be worth the cost to get the energy and oil it needs from the US and avoid, if possible. the Middle East all together.

Most likely the value of shipments of semiconductors, globally, due the high demand related to the AI explosion is going to continue on from some time until the demand settles down, if it ever will?

And because semiconductors are now used in all or most electronic products all of those products are now going to see prices increases, globally, and not just in Japan.

It should be remembered or considered there is import value, the price of imports and the volume of imports which both are of course very different but it seems the value of cost of imports might be the real challenge for the Japanese economy, as most likely the volume of imports probably hasn't changed that much.

The US tariff situation has been reduced to 15 percent which means most likely Japanese car companies might be absorbing the tariffs due to the fact that the US is one of Japan's largest car export countries and they can afford to absorb the tariff costs and still earn substantial profits for their shareholders.

And it seems that maybe just maybe exports to China have begun to improve as it was a little down there for a while to the usual diplomatic on again off again issues.

Yes, it seems, again most likely due to the weak Japanese yen, that an increase in value of the imports from the US to Japan has decreased the current account surplus with the US.

It seems, ever since the pandemic or end of the pandemic China's economy has been in a challenging situation and trade with China, while a major consumer and manufacturing economy, has not been at its best recently.

But its good that Japan continues trade with China, as the famous quote, most likely from the book "The Art of War," keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer, which might a good idea for Japan to continue to trade with China despite the current on gain off again, diplomatic challenges at hand.

And of course, as expected both the US and China continue to be important trade partners even though they might not see eye to eye on everything these days and trade is beneficial for both countries and for the consumers of both countries.

Have a nice day!

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260820/p2g/00m/0bu/010000c

Foreign Visitors to Japan: Updated Aug. 20, 2026

Foreign visitors to Japan hit 3.44 mil. in July, new record for month.

Ideas

By now after years of seeing significant increases in foreign Visitors to Japan, foreign tourism might be considered an economic driver as it perhaps now causes an increase in Japan's overall GDP growth. 

But at the same time, there are some in Japan who think maybe now Japan has hit the over-tourism stage in some areas such and Kyoto and Osaka, which is causing some Japanese residents to be unsure of larger increases in foreign tourism in Japan.

It was not too long ago, just before the pandemic that many in South Korea were boycotting Japanese products and traveling to Japan for a short weekend vacation was not very popular.

But as times change, many South Korean don't even think twice about taking a weekend trip to Japan as the flight from Seoul Gimpo to Tokyo Haneda is only a two hour flight and now company employees in South Korea can easily extend the trip to three days with a day off on Friday or Monday.

And Taiwan, being just a little farther can do the same too as both Taiwan and South Korea can enjoy greater purchasing power with the weak Japanese yen which means everything is cheaper for them.

Unfortunately, there always seems to be some kind of diplomatic challenge between China and Japan as whether warranted or not Japan seems to be sometimes says things that China doesn't seem to like.

However, even though the Chinese government cautioned Chinese citizens from traveling to Japan, which is like directive not to go, it seems that 482,200 Chinese citizens ignored the supposed order and still went to Japan.

Maybe like Spain and France in Europe, Japan is the new hot spot to go to in Asia as it seems 17 markets set new visitor records which might have been unheard of even back ten years or so ago.

Yes, but the dates might be a little off as the rumor about a natural disaster was actually in the summer of 2024 not 2025, but then again the article might be talking about another possible natural disaster which could be true as Japan seems to get a lot natural disasters and rumors of natural disasters.

While foreign tourism is up there are other areas of concern in Japan such as the new or latest immigration rules which are beginning to turn away those who want to live and work in Japan which maybe many foreign tourists know nothing about.

As Japan wants and needs foreign tourism money they don't want any more foreigners, it seems, living and working Japan at this time. 

Unfortunately, there are always going to be foreign tourists in every country that don't have manners and do things that the local population doesn't like, such as noise and garbage disposal which is very important in Japan and doing it correctly is important.

Yes, foreign tourists should know and understand that they are guests in Japan and should act like guests and be respectful of the local population and its customs and try to do things that the average Japanese citizen would do everyday.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260819/p2g/00m/0sc/035000c

Japan Economy Growth: Update Aug. 24, 2026

Japan economy up 1.1% in April-June on subsidies, private consumption weak

Ideas

Annualized growth at 1.1 percent sounds good but annualized growth is always just an estimate about what could happen if all the variables remained the same for a year, which of course never happens as there are just too many ups and downs that could change in a year.

And yes government spending to help reduce the increase in prices is good but at the same more government spending increases the overall government debt, but at the same time, governments know they sometimes need to step in a help society the best they can.

Domestics demand has always been a challenge for the Japanese economy as Japanese consumers just don't spend like US consumers do or used to do, but demand or consumer spending recently just hasn't been enough to really help the economy that much.

Overall, it seems the Middle East conflict hasn't affected the Japanese economy that much, yet, but overtime is could affect it even more as supply chains become more compromised and Middle East products begin to run low.

Economist, from time to time, like the optimistic and paint as somewhat rosy picture which usually never happens as they like to keep the financial markets happy and not pain a weary picture of what might happen.

An increase of 0.41 percent in private consumption or consumer spending might not be overly positive but it does indicate a level of measured optimism in consumer spending in Japan in the future.

Yes, GDP is made of of consumer spending + business spending/investment + government spending + exports - imports. And when consumer spending is less than good or needed and business spending is also less than needed, governments will from time to time step in and spend more as a way to boost GDP, which seems to be what the Japanese government often lately.

Its good that the government has a subsidiary program to reduce high school tuition and free or reduced school meals as Japanese households now or might have more disposable income to spend in the economy.

While the subsidies for school meals and high tuition was reduced or even made free, it should mean Japanese consumers now have some extra income to either save or spend some of it in the economy in the future.

And yes, unfortunately, Japan has a smoking rate of about 15 percent which means there is still a large number or smokers in Japan but hopefully the tax on heated tobacco products will maybe get some smokers to quit and have better health.

Expectations related to demand and prices hikes are always a risky situation as sometimes projections just don't happen as expected as consumers or even businesses just don't act the way as expected from time to time.

Consumers and businesses, for the most part, don''t like new requirements on whatever and will usually refrain from buying something if it makes their lives less than practical.

Business investments or spending is always a risky situation as you never really know exactly what businesses are thinking and even when or how much they might spend from quarter to quarter.

An increase of 0.5 percent in exports and a 1.5 percent decrease in imports is not that big of a deal as it could have been worse and its quite possible Japan has, for now, dodged a bullet related to the Middle East situation.

Yes, anytime there is a decrease in imports its increase GDP as part of GDP is exports - imports which means imports take away from exports.

Private consumption or consumer spending is always a murky situation in Japan as even though its about half of Japan's GDP, it never seems to live up to being half of GDP and again consumer spending in Japan just doesn't help with economic growth that much these days.

Of course the weak yen and Japan being a resource-poor country has to import much of what it it needs and they weak yen increase the prices of imports which means most Japanese companies are going to pass-on their increased costs to the next in the supply chain, which of course could eventually mean the final Japanese consumer.

While wage increases in Japan are good and needed they is also the challenge with households having to use some or all of the wage increase just to pay their bills which means some or many households have little disposable income left for either savings or even spending in the economy.

And it must be remembered that up to 70 percent to workers in Japan don't work for the large name-brand companies and work for small and mid-size companies which means they didn't get the same wage increase as the large company employees got which they had even less to use in the economy.

Usually whenever consumers know there are going to be price increases in the future they tend to spend now to avoid the price increase later.

That is what happened in Sept. of 2019 when the Japanese government decided they would increase the sales tax from 8 to 10 percent and there was a surge in consumer spending in Sept. before the new sales tax took affect.

However, today, due to already high prices of many products in Japan many consumers are not only cautious but maybe just don't have the extra disposable income to use now due to the possible increase in prices down the road.

The Bank of Japan is a very conservative group and if they don't see the economy in a good enough position now or just a little later they are not going to increase the key rate as they know there are just too many side affects that could cause harm to the economy.

There are always going to be positives and negatives to a key rate increase but for the most part, at least the past decade, the BOJ has erred on the side of caution and they always use to say the Japanese economy was not strong enough at there are just too many side affects and could affect too many businesses and households if we increased the key rate at this time.

However, this is a new BOJ in terms of leadership and it seems they are more willing to increase the key rate as needed, but again, they are very conservative and don't make move quickly as they will study the situation carefully before doing anything.

Have a nice day!

Article source:    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260817/p2g/00m/0bu/009000c