Japan Bankruptcies: Updated Dec. 17, 2025.

Japan bankruptcies likely to surpass 10,000 in 2025 for 2nd straight year

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251208/p2g/00m/0bu/026000c

Ideas
There are two ways to looks at the corporate bankruptcies in Japan. One might be that bankruptcies are a normal part of the market system where supply and demand determines which companies survive and which companies go out of business.

The other way to look at the bankruptcy situation in Japan is companies are made up of people and Japanese households and people are losing their jobs and putting people out of work. Yes, they might get unemployment benefits, but in most countries outside of the Northern European countries don't pay enough unemployment benefits.

There are also some possibilities for the increase in corporate bankruptcies such the continued inflation situation in Japan, the continued increase in raw material costs, the continued labor shortage in Japan which might be affecting small and mid-size companies more than large name-brand companies which probably have enough resources overcome all of the negative factors.

Small businesses and in particular maybe service type of companies have few resources and thinner profits margins than larger companies or even mid-size companies. As inflation continues it takes its toll on small companies and as wages increase in Japan, small companies can't pay the wages that their current staff wants and needs and they can't pay the wages that new workers might want, so they not only lose worker, who go to other companies, but they can't hire new workers for their companies.

Yes, as suggested, as suggested the services sector has very thin profits margins and any increase in raw material prices and or wage increase expectations places a service company under a lot of stress and as again as wages increase and raw material prices increase it compounds for time, and eventually companies just go out of business since they can't do anything to solve the situation.

But then again, some might say this is part of the normal business cycle where some companies thrive and some companies just don't make it. And then there is the idea of maybe just too many companies in a specific market and the bankruptcies is leveling out the market to where there is more equilibrium in the market and prices can get back to some kind of normalcy.

Yes the weak Japanese yen might have something to do with the bankruptcies as the weak Japanese yen increases the price of imports, which are then passed-on by importers and wholesalers to the next in the supply chain and in this case small companies which can't control what they need to buy, or can't find substitutes, which have increased prices too, and then of course the final retail customer.

Japan is very much a resource-poor country and has to import much of what it needs including the raw materials needed to make food products in Japan. 

Whatever the reason for the bankruptcies they unfortunately affect Japanese households and families and whatever the Japanese government can do to help these unfortunate families is needed here.

Have a nice day!