Tokyo, Japan – Hiroshi Kawaguchi, the operator of a tour company in Kyoto, felt a wave of relief at the news that Japan would welcome the return of foreign tourists after more than two years of closed borders. (Al Jazeera)

An agency designed to address workplace grievances and provide general assistance for foreign workers began operating Monday under a joint initiative by eight Japanese companies including Toyota Motor and Seven & i Holdings. (Nikkei)

A panel to the Japanese financial regulator gave the green light Monday for a proposal requiring listed companies to disclose any gender gaps in their workforce in line with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's aim of addressing Japan's gender pay inequality, one of the worst among developed countries. (Kyodo)

The Japan Casino Regulatory Commission opened public comments on 19 May regarding screening standards for proceedings such as casino licensing based on the 2016 Act on Promotion of Development of Specified Complex Tourist Facilities Areas. (asgam.com)

It can take 4 years to make one batch of barrel-aged soy sauce. The natural fermentation process was the norm in Japan for centuries, but when industrialization swept the nation, almost all the country's wooden barrels were replaced with steel ones. (Business Insider)

Naomi Koshi remembers handing out flyers outside a train station during her second mayoral campaign in 2016, when an older man walked up to her and said, “You are too strong for a woman,” and kicked her. (TIME)

Japan's core consumer prices posted their biggest jump in seven years in April, official data showed today, as global commodity prices soared and the yen slumped against the dollar. (RTE)

Japan is planning to open its first casino on 'Dream Island.' (newsonjapan.com)

TOKYO — Japan recorded a trade deficit in April as its imports ballooned 28% due to soaring energy costs and the yen’s weakness against the dollar. (marketwatch.com)

最近、誰もが投資ゲームに飛び込んでいるようです。 (newsonjapan.com)

Hyundai Motor's latest electric vehicle that hit the Japanese market this month can travel 220 km on a five-minute charge, a far cry from the lengthy charging Japanese EVs require using low-output chargers. (Nikkei)

Japan's gross domestic product contracted an annualized 1.0 percent in real terms from January to March, compared to the previous quarter. (NHK)

In Japan, grass-and-straw tatami mats – once a privilege reserved for the elite – have been a key feature of home design since the Middle Ages, crafted by gifted artisans. But now, with cheap knockoffs and changing lifestyles, the industry is at a crossroads. (CBS Sunday Morning)

Suntory Beverage and Food, one of Japan's top sellers of soft drinks, will serve up its most wide-ranging price hike yet in a move expected to push rivals to follow suit in an industry squeezed by higher costs. (Nikkei)

Saizeriya, a Japan-based chain of family-style Italian restaurants, has discontinued certain dishes over supply chain disruptions abroad and is turning to domestic procurement of certain ingredients. (Nikkei)

A Japanese court has ruled a local government broke the law by ordering a restaurant chain to shorten its business hours to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (NHK)

For over a year, the Federal Reserve insisted that the rise in U.S. inflation was "transitory," while evidence mounted to the contrary. It dropped the claim in November and the word is now a punchline for critics of the central bank, who say it should have acted to tame prices sooner. ()

Japan's wholesale prices in April jumped 10 per cent from the same month a year earlier, data showed on Monday (May 16), rising at a record rate as the Ukraine crisis and a weak yen pushed up the cost of energy and raw materials. (Business Times)

The term “Zen” has outgrown its origins as a sect of Buddhism, becoming an ubiquitous descriptor for design, lifestyle and even fashion, leaked from the East to the West and now prefixing a plethora of commodities, from “zen grey” paint to beauty products. (South China Morning Post)

Japanese audio equipment maker Onkyo Home Entertainment filed for bankruptcy at Osaka District Court on Friday, with total liabilities of around 3.1 billion yen ($24 million). (Nikkei)