Former defense minister and national security adviser of Japan, Yuriko Koike, expressed concern on Asia’s apathy to the protest in Thailand in a rare but very well written op-ed article on Project Syndicate. Koike warns that the current protest could...

The upcoming Tokyo Gubernatorial race is definitely the topic of the Day in Nagata-cho. Media reports about former PM Hosokawa possibly teaming up with former PM Koizumi on an anti-nuclear ticket has stirred a lot of discussions within the political ...

GR Japan Managing Director, Jakob Edberg, made a presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan on 1 October on the outlook for Abenomics and the Extraordinary Diet Session Autumn 2013.  To view the presentation slides, please click the...

The Nikkei Shimbun reports that at yesterday’s meeting of the Working Team on Civil Service Reform, both the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and the New Komeito Party confirmed intentions of establishing a “Special Advisor” at each Ministry. The re...

Several news outlets report today that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has solidified his decision to proceed with plans to increase the consumption tax rate to 8 percent in April. It had been widely reported that a 5 trillion yen stimulus package was bein...

NHK reports that private sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy plan to present a proposal at the next meeting of the council (to be held on 13 September) calling for the establishment of Tokyo as a special regulatory zone as par...

According to data released by the Cabinet Office today, Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the April-June period was on a quarter-to-quarter basis revised up to a 0.9 percent increase from a preliminary 0.6 percent. This amounts to an annual...

The Nikkei Shimbun reports that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will proceed with Diet reform plans this month. The objective of the reform is to lighten the burden of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet through measures such as increasing the time...

At a press conference yesterday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga revealed that no reshuffle of ministers posts will take place in a while and that Prime Minister Abe wants to keep his team "as is" at least until the end of the next ordinary Di...

According to Reuters, Minister of Finance Taro Aso stated that Japan will announce at the G-20 Summit it plans to proceed with the two-stage consumption tax increase. Additionally, Aso remarked that the government is considering compiling an extra bu...