Around 60 percent of hospitals across Japan are operating in the red, creating a critical situation where closures and bankruptcies are no longer a distant threat. Behind the figures lies a deepening financial crisis that is raising questions about whether patients can continue to rely on stable access to medical care. (News On Japan)

A system failure caused by a cyberattack at beverage giant Asahi Group shows no sign of resolution, disrupting deliveries and leaving some supermarket shelves empty. (News On Japan)

Forever 21, the American fast fashion brand that once led a global boom in affordable clothing, has decided to withdraw from Japan for the third time after its US parent company filed for bankruptcy and supply from the United States came to a halt. (News On Japan)

The wave of price increases continued into October, with more than 3,000 items, including beverages and food, set to rise in price, leaving supermarkets and retailers grappling with how to respond. (News On Japan)

From October, Japan’s minimum wage will rise across the country to exceed 1,000 yen for the first time, a development welcomed by workers but one that is expected to squeeze retailers such as discount supermarkets where higher personnel costs could lead to losses. (News On Japan)

NTT, which had previously announced plans to gradually phase out fixed-line metal cables over the next decade, said at a briefing on September 30th that it will raise basic charges from next fiscal year to temporarily maintain the service. (News On Japan)

Office rents in Osaka are rising at the fastest pace in the world, driven by a wave of new developments in Umeda such as the recently opened Grand Green Osaka, which has brought fresh momentum to the city’s commercial real estate market. (News On Japan)

Asahi Group Holdings said on September 29th that a cyberattack had caused a major system failure which has yet to be restored and shows no signs of resolution, with the impact now spreading across its operations even as the company stressed that no leaks of personal information or customer data have been confirmed. (News On Japan)

FamilyMart has put Shohei Ohtani at the center of its latest push, casting the global baseball star in a nationwide TV campaign tied to a revamped onigiri line. During a two-hour shoot in Los Angeles in December, Ohtani—whom President Kensuke Hosomi describes as soft-spoken and “sun-bright”—sampled 19 rice balls and even asked to take the leftovers home. (News On Japan)

A toy trade fair was held in Osaka ahead of the year-end shopping season, bringing together 84 manufacturers from Japan and abroad who showcased products ranging from educational toys to collectibles. (News On Japan)

A 24-year-old entrepreneur is drawing attention with a new business model that relies on goats to provide weed control, a service that could also help sustain life in depopulated communities. (News On Japan)

Seven Bank has announced plans to replace all 16,000 ATMs currently installed in FamilyMart stores nationwide through agreements with E-Net and Japan Post Bank with its own machines. (News On Japan)

Japan's National Tax Agency announced on Friday that the average annual salary for private-sector employees in 2023 rose to 4.78 million yen, the highest level since the survey began, marking the fourth consecutive year of increases. (News On Japan)

While corporate profits continue to reach record highs, employee wages remain stagnant, leaving a growing segment of Japan’s workforce struggling. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, non-regular employment has steadily increased, creating a widening gap between regular and non-regular workers. Today, 15.4% of the population earns less than half the median standard of living, the second-highest proportion among the G7 countries after the United States. (News On Japan)

Tokyo consumer prices rose 2.5% in September compared with a year earlier, with the index excluding fresh food—often subject to sharp fluctuations—reaching 110.0 across the capital’s wards, while the pace of growth remained unchanged from the previous month. (News On Japan)

Panasonic Holdings will begin soliciting early retirement applications next month at one of its core operating companies as part of broader restructuring efforts. (News On Japan)

Japan counts only eight unicorns -- unlisted startups valued at over 150 billion yen -- compared with 690 in the United States, and has yet to produce a single 'hectocorn,' the term for companies worth more than 100 billion dollars such as ByteDance’s TikTok, OpenAI, or SpaceX. (News On Japan)

Japan and Saudi Arabia announced a new memorandum of understanding for economic cooperation on September 24th at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, with a strong emphasis on expanding entertainment and content industries. (News On Japan)

Residents in Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, have decided to file for pollution mediation against chemical manufacturer Daikin Industries, whose plant is located in the area, after groundwater was found to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), some of which are suspected of being carcinogenic. (News On Japan)

Ferrari Japan unveiled the new plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) ‘849 Testarossa’ in Tokyo on September 24th, carrying forward the name of the legendary Testarossa. (News On Japan)