Category Archives: Tokyo Observer

The 138th edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the Japanese schoolboy’s death in China, Kishida’s last diplomatic trip to the United States, North Korea’s latest missile launch, the LDP presidential election, Komeito’s change in leadership, the BOJ’s decision to maintain interest rates, the reported Japan-U.S. agreement on chip-related export controls related to China, the AI Safety Institute’s AI safety guide, the GOJ’s Monthly Economic Report, and more.

The 137th edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on Kishida’s final diplomatic trip, deepening Japan-ROK defense ties, the LDP presidential election campaign, the sentencing of another politician receiving kickbacks, the Nippon Steel issue, the GOJ’s pick for the next ADB governor, business sentiment among Japanese businesses, and more.

Special edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics! This edition focuses on the LDP Presidential Election (Sept. 27) and the policies of the nine candidates running in the race.

The 136th edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the Japan-Australia “2+2,” the Kishida-Yoon summit, Japan’s potential bid for the Australian frigate project, Koizumi Shinjiro’s candidacy announcement, the FY 2025 budget request, the main opposition party’s leadership election, the Biden administration’s reported decision to block the U.S. Steel buyout, Nvidia’s huge investment in Sakana AI, the GOJ’s reskilling promotion efforts, record-high corporate current earnings, and more.

The 135th edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the first violation of Japanese territorial airspace by Chinese military aircraft, Japan’s legislative exchanges with the PRC, additional designation of airports and ports for contingency preparation, LDP presidential election updates, CDP leadership election updates, SBI Holdings’ investment in domestic chip manufacturing, nuclear power-related developments, trends in cross-shareholding among Japanese companies, and more.

The 134th edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the Japan-India “2+2,” Kishida’s last diplomatic travel schedule, the Japan-Taiwan ruling party “2+2,” the first formal candidacy announcements in the LDP presidential race, main opposition party election updates, Kioxia’s awaited listing, a one year update on the Fukushima seafood import ban, trade and consumer price data, and more.

The 133rd edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the LDP Youth Division’s planned visit to Taiwan, the cross-party delegation’s visit to Taiwan to talk security issues, the 79th anniversary of the end of World War II, Kishida’s shocking decision to not seek re-election, potential and existing political scandals involving the LDP, new economic security measures on foreign acquisition, the volatile stock market, a record-high nominal GDP, and more.

The 132nd edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the expert panel findings on active cyber defense, the prime minister’s canceled trip to Central America, the MOD’s request for self-inspections by defense contractors, the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs, the LDP’s discussions on constitutional amendments, the LDP and CDP leadership elections, the stock market response to the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision, new subsidies for domestic storage batteries, a record-high primary income surplus, the FY 2024 (first half) current account surplus, and more.

The 131st edition of the weekly newsletter aggregating news on Japanese politics. This week focuses on the Japan-U.S. “2+2,” the Quad foreign ministers meeting; the ASEAN-related meetings, plans to hold “2+2” meetings with India and Australia, the all-but-confirmed CDP leadership election, the BOJ hiking interest rates, the PM requesting consideration of an AI regulation, METI’s warning to Amazon Japan and Apple on business transparency, the consumer price index as well as labor statistics, and more.