Tokyo, Jan. 12 (Jiji Press)–Japan has logged a record current account surplus for November, buoyed by growth in Japanese companies’ dividend and interest receipts from aboard, government data showed Thursday.   The country’s current account surplus rose 16.4 pct from a year before to 1,803.6 billion yen last November after posting a deficit of 64.1 billion yen in October, the….Read more

TV Asahi reported on the decision by the Bank of Japan to expand the trading range for long-term Japanese government bond yields from the current range of minus 0.25% and 0.25% to minus 0.5% and 0.5%. Because the step is equivalent to an interest rate hike, speculation is rife that it marks the “beginning of the end” of the Japanese….Read more

Foresight magazine reported online that former BOJ Deputy Governor Yamaguchi Hirohide is emerging as a leading candidate to take the helm of the central bank after incumbent Kuroda Haruhiko steps down next April, saying that the retired GOJ executive, now chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Government Pension Investment Fund, is known for his criticism of Kuroda’s ultra-easy….Read more

NHK reported that Finance Minister Suzuki told the press this morning that the ministry’s massive dollar-selling intervention last month aimed at shoring up the Japanese currency was “effective to a certain degree.” On the fact that the GOJ spent a record 6.35 trillion yen ($43 billion) during several rounds of foreign exchange market intervention in October alone, the minister said:….Read more

Tokyo, Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)–Yoichi Miyazawa, tax policy chief of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Monday suggested the possibility of using income or corporate tax to finance a proposed increase in the country’s defense expenditures.   In an interview with media organizations, Miyazawa, chairman of the LDP’s Research Commission on the Tax System, referred to the two taxes while….Read more

YUTA SAITO, Nikkei staff writer   WASHINGTON — Mizuho Financial Group will expand its investment banking in the American market, President Masahiro Kihara tells Nikkei in an interview, seeing growth potential even as the Japanese lender works to mitigate risks from elevated U.S. inflation and interest rates.   “Many financial institutions, especially American ones, share the view that the U.S.….Read more

By Inagaki Chihaya and Nakajima Yoshikatsu   The Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) are requesting a review of the corporate taxation method in the fiscal 2023 tax system review. Specifically, the FSA and METI wish to revise the taxation method for cryptoassets used for financing by companies involved in blockchain technology. Under….Read more