New York Times (July 12)
“Russian spies appear to be operating right under the noses of the Japanese authorities.” Just 10 minutes on foot from the National Police Agency, Aeroflot’s office in Tokyo shelters the 20th Directorate, a military intelligence unit, which “finds the high-tech equipment that Russia needs to wage war.” Japan’s “weak espionage laws and flourishing high-tech industry have made it a crucial piece of the Russian war effort.” The Ukrainian government estimates that Japanese components are found in roughly 90% of Russian missiles and drones.
Tags: Aeroflot, Authorities, Components, Crucial, Drones, Espionage laws, High-tech equipment, High-tech industry, Japan, Military intelligence unit, Missiles, National Police Agency, Russia, Spies, Tokyo, Ukraine, War, War effort
Reuters (July 1)
“Japan spent a record 11.7 trillion yen ($72 billion) intervening in foreign exchange markets between late April and early May. But the brief boost to the yen was quickly wiped out…. It slumped to a 40-year low of 162.66 per dollar on Tuesday.” The Ministry of Finance is reportedly changing tactics. “Japanese officials are abandoning their habit of telegraphing intervention risks, instead signalling a more targeted campaign to squeeze speculators and raise the cost of betting against the battered yen.”
Tags: $72 billion, Battered yen, Cost, Forex, Intervening, Intervention risks, Japan, Markets, MoF, Officials, Record, Slumped, Speculators, Squeeze, Tactics, Telegraphing, Wiped out
Wall Street Journal (June 18)
The Japanese yen “has now passed the closely watched 160-per-dollar level at which officials have previously intervened.” There are, however, reasons “why yen interventions this time around may prove trickier.” Even though the BoJ increased “rates to their highest level since 1995 this week,” the interest rate differential persists between Japan and the U.S., and this continues to punish the currency, as does the situation in the Middle East.
Tags: 160-per-dollar, 1995, BOJ, Currency, Differential, Interest rate, Intervened, Interventions, Japan, Middle East, Officials, Punish, Trickier, U.S., Yen
South China Morning Post (June 15)
“Japan is falling into a trap in defending its currency against the US dollar, like Thailand in 1996. Japan’s large forex reserves make the yen a juicy target, rather than deterring currency predators. Its fundamentals are weak and deteriorating, making the yen’s further decline inevitable.”
Tags: 1996. Forex reserves, Currency, Decline, Defending, Deteriorating, Dollar, Fundamentals, Japan, Predators, Target, Thailand, Trap, U.S., Weak, Yen
Seoul Economic Daily (June 1)
“Chinese imported cars overtook Japanese vehicles in Korea’s import market for the first time in April…. The result is striking, considering that all Chinese imports came from a single brand, BYD.” The “Red Tech threat” extends beyond EVs and looks poised “to engulf the AI and advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Before it is too late, the public and private sectors must mobilize all their capabilities to drive structural reform of mainstay industries such as steel and petrochemicals, where competitiveness is weakening, and to nurture new industries. If we fail to confront the reality of the crisis and respond complacently, we will surrender not only future growth engines but also industrial leadership itself.”
Tags: Advanced manufacturing, AI, BYD, China, Competitiveness, Confront, Crisis, EVs, Future, Growth engines, Industrial leadership, Japan, Korea, Mainstay industries, Mobilize, Petrochemicals, Red Tech threat, Steel, Structural reform, Surrender
New York Times (May 24)
Americans may be blind to “the war-driven supply shock already roiling manufacturing in Asia” which is especially “disrupting manufacturing and retail goods in Japan and South Korea” due to disrupted naphtha supply. “Because it serves as the building block for so many chemical products, naphtha is often called the ‘flour’ or ‘rice’ of industry.” So when the Iran War essentially “choked off” Persian Gulf shipping lanes, “more than 80 percent of Japan’s traditional supply lines for finished naphtha products” were “abruptly severed.” By some accounts, Japan and South Korea are consequently “the countries most exposed to the current supply disruptions.”
Tags: Asia, Blind, Exposed, Iran war, Japan, Manufacturing, Naphtha, Persian Gulf, Retail goods, Roiling, Shipping lanes, Shock, South Korea, U.S.
The Economist (May 18)
“Since Donald Trump took office in January last year, America’s economy has continued to be the envy of the rich world. In 2025, while Britain, France and Japan eked out annual GDP growth of 1%, give or take, and Germany all but stood still, American output grew by 2.1%.” That growth could have been far more impressive. The Economist calculates that without the drag created by “fitful presidential policymaking,” the U.S. “might be rocketing ahead at nearly 5% annualised growth.”
Tags: 2025, 5%, Drag, Economy, Envy, Fitful, France, GDP growth, Germany, Japan, Policymaking, Rich world, Trump, U.S., UK
Barron’s (April 5)
The global economy is in for a “crude awakening.” Even under the best (or least worst) scenario, the Iran “war will shave about a percentage point off global economic growth, taking it down to 2% this year. Growth forecasts for large, developed economies—Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—were modest before the war at around 1%. If the conflict extends past June, GDP growth for these countries could evaporate, while inflation keeps rising.”
Tags: 2%, Conflict, Crude awakening, Developed economies, Economic growth, Forecasts, France, GDP, Germany, Global economy, Inflation, Iran war, Italy, Japan, Scenario, UK
Fortune (March 23)
“The great toilet paper panic is back as Japan starts stockpiling. As the U.S.-Israeli-Iran conflict rattles oil markets, Japanese consumers are stockpiling toilet paper—a product with no connection to the disruptions whatsoever, but that has caused enough problems for the country that the Japanese government has urged citizens to stop buying ahead of time.”
Tags: Citizens, Conflict, Consumers, Disruptions, Government, Iran, Israeli, Japan, Oil markets, Panic, Problems, Rattles, Stockpiling, Toilet paper, U.S.
Reuters (February 9)
“Sanae Takaichi has curb-stomped the competition. Her Liberal Democratic Party took 316 out of 465 seats…delivering the arch-conservative prime minister her country’s first post-war single-party supermajority.” While “investors may hope the ruling party’s historic comeback relieves pressure to cooperate with a fiscally profligate opposition,” that is unlikely. Her desire to revive “the heavily indebted $4 trillion economy” and return to fiscal stimulus will prove costly. Her “desire for a regular army makes expensive militarisation look more certain.” All of these “stated ambitions” augur “more turmoil for markets.”
Tags: Army, Conservative, Curb-stomped, Economy, Expensive, Fiscal stimulus, Hope, Indebted, Investors, Japan, LDP, Militarisation, Prime minister, Supermajority, Takaichi, Turmoil
