Hideki Aota News Today

Hampered by its pacifist Constitution on offering military assistance, Japan is instead focusing on providing Ukraine with economic support from both the public and private sectors.

Mobile carrier KDDI Corp. will acquire a 50-percent stake in Lawson Inc. for nearly 500 billion yen ($3.37 billion) to help the nation’s third-largest convenience store chain incorporate digital technologies and offer new services.

In a rare display of unity in lifting Japan out of its prolonged deflation, leaders from labor and management jointly called for pay hikes exceeding inflation, during the annual “shunto” wage negotiations.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged an additional 20.7 billion yen ($141 million) to help the fishing industry cope with China’s blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports, but the plan was immediately met with skepticism.

A Japanese national taken into custody in China in March was reported to be in good health by a Japanese Embassy official in Beijing who was finally allowed to meet with him, according to the governments most senior spokesman.

To further improve bilateral relations between Tokyo and Seoul, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is considering visiting South Korea this summer, according to government sources.

On the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Japanese companies remain divided over whether to continue operating in or withdrawing from Russia.

Japan’s most influential business group signaled it would push for substantial wage increases as demanded by the largest labor organization in the nation during a meeting in Tokyo on Jan. 23.

Experts are warning consumers eyeing housing loans to brace themselves for higher interest rates, one of the ripple effects expected from the Bank of Japan’s surprise policy change.

Trading and other companies outside the manufacturing sector benefitted enormously from the steep fall in the value of the Japanese currency in recent months, whereas the performance of manufacturers was patchy due to a surge in prices of materials caused by the cheaper yen.