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Anxiety over U.S. tariffs has been spreading across Japan, a central bank report shows, sending a worrying signal about the corporate outlook as trade uncertainty deepens, the Wall Street Journal reported. At a branch managers’ meeting held Thursday, the Bank of Japan’s local heads said that growing worries over higher U.S. tariffs have turned companies cautious about investment plans. Orders from the U.S. have also declined for some companies, a summary of the meeting showed.
The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan in the first half of 2025 rose to the highest level in 11 years, with those hurt by a labor shortage showing a notable increase, a survey by a credit research company showed Tuesday, Japan Today reported. The failures involving debts of at least 10 million yen were up 1.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, rising for the fourth consecutive year and reaching their highest level since 2014, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Sentiment in Japan's service sector improved slightly in June, a government survey showed on Tuesday, as solid demand for summer clothing and leisure offset the gloom from U.S. tariffs, Reuters reported. But corporate bankruptcy cases in the first half of this year rose 2.4% from a year earlier to hit a 12-year high of 5,003, a survey by private think tank Teikoku Databank showed, as rising raw material and labour costs hit margins. The batch of data highlight the fragile nature of Japan's economy, which is expected to see the strain from U.S.