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July 02, 2026
 

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TAXES

The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
May 13, 2026
BOJ’s policy rate likely to reach 2% by end-2027, OECD says
The report marks the OECD’s first survey on Japan since January 2024, when the BOJ’s policy rate was still in negative territory.
Mathias Cormann (left), secretary-general of the OECD, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meet at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 13, 2026
OECD chief sees Japan’s zero consumption tax plan as costly
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration plans to reduce the consumption tax on food items to zero for two years to cope with inflation.
Internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi noted Tuesday that fees paid by local governments to intermediary operators as part of the <i>furusato nо̄zei</i> hometown tax donation program have reached a high level. The ministry plans to urge such portal site operators to lower their commission fees as part of plans to increase the amount of donated funds made available to local governments.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2026
Commission fees for furusato nōzei portal sites exceed 10% of donated funds
The ministry plans to urge such portal site operators to lower their fees, as part of plans to increase the amount of donated funds made available to local governments.
Some are calling for the food tax rate to be set at 1% instead of fully shelving the tax, so that changes needed for cash register systems becomes easier and require less time.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 29, 2026
Food tax rate of 1% pitched as industries push back on PM’s campaign promise
Although the government aims to implement the two-year tax cut to 0% within fiscal 2026, it would take a year to make cash register systems compatible with such a rate.
Keidanren Vice Chair Hideki Kobori speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 13, 2026
Keidanren proposes setting up fiscal institution in parliament
Japan’s biggest business lobby envisions the body to provide a basis for discussions on comprehensive tax, fiscal and social security reforms in the country.
Delegates attend the World Trade Organization 14th ministerial meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2026
WTO talks end in deadlock after Brazil blocks deal over e-commerce duties
The WTO countries are negotiating an extension to a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions such as digital downloads.
The Finance Ministry projected in December that revenue from tobacco tax increases would total ¥44 billion for the 2026 fiscal year and ¥116 billion in 2027.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 26, 2026
Tobacco and corporate tax hikes to help finance defense expansion
The new taxes are being introduced as the government is looking to secure over ¥9 trillion in defense spending for the 2026 fiscal year, reaching 2% of GDP.
Japan is set to impose a "singles tax" next month as part of financing for measures to boost fertility rates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2026
Japan’s ‘singles tax’ is just one battle after another
The plan has attracted vitriol due to its name and the fact that it burdens single-person households, which are now the most common type of household in Japan.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi discusses tax reduction at a national council in Tokyo on Feb. 26.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 10, 2026
CRA might join national council on consumption tax cut after all
Like the Democratic Party for the People, the party fears the political cost of not taking part in talks over the proposed consumption tax cut for food items.
Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 5, 2026
DPP to join panel on consumption tax cut
The Democratic Party for the People’s announcement comes after it, along with the Centrist Reform Alliance, skipped the panel’s inaugural meeting on Feb. 26.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Thursday. While Takaichi wants to use a nonpartisan panel to achieve consensus across party lines on how to pause consumption tax on groceries for two years, opposition parties are concerned about the political fallout of being seen as agreeing too much, or not enough, with her effort.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 26, 2026
Consumption tax panel kicks off without two opposition parties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had hoped to use the panel to achieve consensus across parties on how to lift the tax for two years.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech during the House of Representatives plenary session in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2026
Touting ‘responsible and proactive’ fiscal policy, Takaichi seeks to reassure markets
In her policy speech to parliament, the prime minister attempted to alleviate concerns that her policies are overly expansionary.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks in a news conference Wednesday night at the Prime Minister’s Office.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 19, 2026
Takaichi’s rocky road ahead to eliminate consumption tax on groceries
Before the Feb. 8 Lower House election, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to eliminate consumption tax on groceries for two years. How will she deliver?
The International Monetary Fund has issued a warning that a reduction of Japan's consumption tax would erode its fiscal space and add to fiscal risks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 18, 2026
IMF urges Japan to avoid cutting sales tax amid higher expected borrowing costs
The fund described such a move as “an untargeted measure that would erode fiscal space and add to fiscal risks.”
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a news conference on Monday following a landslide victory of her Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday’s Lower House election.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 12, 2026
Japan investors remain wary Takaichi will spur another meltdown
Worries that she would add to Japan’s mountain of public debt prompted yields to spike last month to the highest levels in decades.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
After stunning win, Takaichi looks to suspend food tax and revise Constitution
Suspending the consumption tax on food items and revising the Constitution will take time, which may prove challenging for a prime minister who often speaks of moving with urgency.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi giving a campaign speech in Shiroishi Town, Saga Prefecture, on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2026
Takaichi keeps mum on tax cut and Unification Church
Hoping to turn Takaichi’s silence into a focal point of the election campaign, opposition parties have ramped up their criticism.
Japan's foreign exchange fund special account, established to conduct currency market interventions, has often been referred to as an untapped resource.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2026
Japan’s forex fund special account eyed for tax cut funding
The foreign exchange fund special account is attracting attention as a possible source of funding for consumption tax reduction or elimination proposed by many parties.
Voters listen to a campaign speech for the Feb. 8 Lower House election in Kawasaki on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2026
Centrist Reform Alliance ready to join proposed national conference
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, also president of the ruling LDP, plans to launch the conference within January.
Voters listen to a speech by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, the first day of campaigning for the Feb. 8 Lower House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2026
Tax and inflation most common social media topics ahead of election
The policy area of consumption tax and rising prices was mentioned most, in some 330,000 posts, over a 17-day period.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men&#039;s restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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