The yen exchange rate on June 16 surged by more than 2 yen to the 103-yen-to-a-dollar level with the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) both foregoing monetary policy changes.

The governments of Japan and Thailand will jointly build large-scale auto testing facilities that will be the first of their kind in Thailand. The Thais will construct facilities according to a Japanese plan for test courses and crash-test machines in accordance with the quality standards of similar facilities in Japan. Japanese and other non-Japanese automakers in Thailand will share the….Read more

The steady economy in the U.S. has once again made it an attractive production and development base for Japanese manufacturers. In the Midwest states where many manufacturing facilities already exist, new employers are moving in and creating jobs.   Toyota is producing Lexus vehicles in the U.S. for the first time. The company invested about 40 billion yen in a….Read more

The economic partnership agreement (EPA) between Japan and Mongolia took effect on June 7. This agreement abolished around 50% of tariffs (in value terms) on Japanese exports of cars and other items to Mongolia. About 96% of tariffs will be eliminated in the next 10 years, which will be a great boost for Japanese exports.   Mongolia is the 15th….Read more

The steady economy in the U.S. has once again made it an attractive production and development base for Japanese manufacturers. In the Midwest states where many manufacturing facilities already exist, new employers are moving in and creating jobs.   Toyota is producing Lexus vehicles in the U.S. for the first time. The company invested about 40 billion yen in a….Read more

Saturday morning’s Nikkei took up President Obama’s remarks on Thursday, in which he emphasized the importance of “pushing back against either protectionism or competitive currency devaluations, or beggar-thy-neighbor strategies.” The paper noted that since the issue of foreign exchange was not a major discussion topic in the G7 summit, the U.S. leader’s reference to “currency wars” should be taken as….Read more

With the newly emerging economies entering an adjustment phase, it is the G7 that must exercise leadership and play the role of a driving force in global economic growth.

It was learned on May 24 that coordination is underway for the G7 Ise-Shima Summit declaration to affirm the importance of the TPP agreement and call for the participating nations to complete their ratification procedures at an early date. The declaration will also mention Japan and the European Union’s (EU) goal of reaching agreement on an economic partnership agreement (EPA)….Read more

The Cabinet approved the 2015 Energy White Paper on the 17th. The white paper advocates boosting investment in development of sluggish oil and gas fields affected by low crude prices, as well as the realization of a flexible and transparent liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, among other things.   As an example of more active public involvement, the paper promises….Read more

Donald Trump is threatening to withdraw U.S. forces if Japan, the ROK, and other allies do not pay for all the expenses for stationing U.S. troops.