Japanese robotics firms are gaining momentum in the next automation cycle as manufacturers look for reliable systems that can offset labour shortages, reduce quality defects and support more flexible production. While global excitement has shifted toward artificial intelligence software, Japan’s advantage lies in the machinery that turns digital instructions into factory output. The current cycle…
WTI crude’s breach of 100 per barrel, with Brent spot prices reaching 41, has introduced a cost variable into AI data center siting decisions that was irrelevant three months ago. The total cost of ownership for an AI data center is dominated by three factors: capital construction costs, power costs, and cooling costs. The second…
Japan’s mergers and acquisitions market hit a level in 2025 that most dealmakers would not have predicted five years ago: 3,472 transactions totaling $218.5 billion, an 83.9% increase in deal value compared to 2024. That number alone would be notable. The composition of those deals is what makes it significant. Private equity firms are no…
The Bank of Japan held its policy rate steady at 0.75% at its January meeting, a decision that was widely expected but that carried additional significance given Prime Minister Takaichi’s announcement three days earlier that she would dissolve parliament and call a snap election for February 8. The 8-1 vote, with board member Hajime Takata…
Japan has long been an anomaly among developed economies in its reliance on cash transactions. As recently as 2019, cash accounted for approximately 80% of consumer payments, a figure that placed Japan behind not only its regional peers in South Korea (approximately 30% cash) and China (less than 20%) but behind many developing economies that…
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has finalized regulatory changes that allow vehicles certified by U.S. safety regulators to enter the Japanese domestic market without undergoing Japan’s separate testing and certification process. The revision, which takes effect immediately, removes one of the longstanding non-tariff barriers that U.S. trade negotiators have identified as a…
