The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan surpassed 10,000 for the second year in a row in 2025 as smaller businesses were hard hit by soaring labor costs and surging prices, Tokyo Shoko Research, a credit research firm, said on Monday, the Japan Times reported. The survey showed that the number of business failures with liabilities of ¥10 million or more grew 2.9% from the previous year to 10,300 in 2025, rising for the fourth consecutive year. Total liabilities left by failed companies dropped 32% to ¥1,592.3 billion.

Japan's plan to give authorities the power to order foreign investors to retroactively divest acquisitions is aimed at sheltering major firms and supply chains, though it is unlikely to curtail increased M&A interest, experts say, Reuters reported. Japan on Wednesday proposed amendments to its foreign investment screening law that would grant authorities an option to force foreigners to sell investments deemed to pose risks to national or economic security.

Bankers expect another blockbuster year for sales of yen-denominated corporate debt from Japanese companies following the record tally of bonds issued in 2025. Rising yields and lower volatility compared with government bonds saw investors snap up ¥16.5 trillion ($105 billion) of local-currency corporate debt in the 12 months through December, the most in records back to 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A business lobby representing small and midsize firms urged the government ​to address inflation, including the yen's weakness, saying ‌this was essential to achieving real wage growth, its chief said ‌on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Monday the central bank will continue to raise interest rates if economic and price developments move in line with its forecasts, Reuters reported. Japan's economy sustained a moderate recovery last year despite the hit to corporate profits from higher U.S. tariffs, Ueda said in a speech delivered to the country's banking sector lobby. "Wages and prices are highly likely to rise together moderately," Ueda said, adding that adjusting the degree of monetary support will help the economy achieve sustained growth.

Japan's manufacturing activity stalled in December as demand declined at a slower pace from the previous month, a private-sector survey showed, ending a five-month streak of deterioration, Reuters reported. The S&P Global Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was flat at 50.0 in December, improving from 48.7 in November and hitting the break-even point separating expansion from contraction. The decline in new orders in December was the softest since May 2024, the survey showed.

The annual number of companies delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange is set to hit a record high for the second straight year in 2025, as the exchange’s reforms have prompted listed companies to reconsider the advantages of remaining public, the Japan Times reported. The 2025 total is expected to increase by 31 from the previous year to 125, the highest figure since the 2013 stock market integration between the TSE and the then-Osaka Securities Exchange. Among delisting cases, management buyouts experienced a marked increase.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday that the central bank is getting closer to achieving its 2% inflation target, reaffirming his stance of seeking further interest-rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Amid tightening labor market conditions, firms’ wage- and price-setting behavior has changed significantly in recent years, and the achievement of the 2% price stability target, accompanied by wage increases, is steadily approaching,” Ueda said in a speech.

Japan is looking to the country's $7 trillion household savings hoard to support bond demand with plans to launch new products and incentives, building on hot recent retail sales and filling a void left by diminished central bank buying, Reuters reported. Efforts to attract Japanese households are not new -- in 2010, the finance ministry created a mascot Kokusai-sensei, or Professor JGB, to pitch the securities and later even offered gold coins to buyers of special reconstruction bonds. But where mascots and shiny metals struggled, higher yields have succeeded in drawing in buyers this year.