Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday private credit does not pose a major issue domestically at present but noted risks linked to the $2 trillion industry could be discussed at next week's G7 finance meeting, Reuters reported. "Japan's exposure to the private credit market is not particularly large. It's not that there is no investment at all, but we do not view this as a major issue domestically at this point," she said at a regular press conference.
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Japan's financial regulator has been conducting checks on private credit exposure at major financial institutions, a source told Reuters on Thursday, as concerns mount over strains in the $2 trillion global private credit industry. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) is examining lending and investment ties to private credit, the source familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified as the matter is private. The move was first reported by Kyodo News.
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The Japanese business mood worsened in March to levels not seen since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, a government survey showed, a sign surging oil costs and supply disruptions from the Middle East war were taking a toll on the fragile economy, Reuters reported. A separate survey by a private think tank also showed corporate bankruptcy cases rose for the fourth straight year in fiscal 2025 with further increases expected from around summer as surging costs from the conflict squeeze profits.
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Japan’s households reduced spending for a third straight month even after real wages turned positive, underscoring the fragile state of domestic demand, Bloomberg News reported. Outlays by households adjusted for inflation fell 1.8% in February from a year earlier, a faster decline compared with January’s 1% retreat, the internal affairs ministry reported Tuesday. The weak year-on-year data underscore the challenges for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as she attempts to buoy domestic demand with fiscal steps meant to soften the blow from rising prices.
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The International Monetary Fund urged the Bank of Japan to continue raising interest rates, even as the Middle East war posed "significant new risks" to the country's economic outlook, Reuters reported. The proposal comes amid market expectations the BOJ will raise interest rates as soon as April in the face of mounting inflationary pressure from the conflict-induced spike in oil prices, and higher import costs blamed on the weak yen.
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The Bank of Japan will keep raising interest rates if its economic forecasts hold, a senior central bank official said, reinforcing a tightening bias even as fresh surveys show firms feeling the pinch of rising fuel costs linked to the Iran war, Reuters reported. While higher oil prices pose risks to economic growth, they could also push up underlying inflation by raising long-term inflation expectations, said Koji Nakamura, the BOJ's executive director overseeing monetary policy, in parliament on Friday.
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The Financial Services Agency plans to conditionally ease capital adequacy regulations for banks to encourage investment in companies. The plan is to reduce capital buffers against loss risks while still maintaining fiscal soundness, informed sources said on Friday, the Japan Times reported. By revitalizing the supply of funds, the FSA aims to promote industrial reorganization and support startups and midsize companies in rural areas.
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The Asahi Food bankruptcy on April 2, 2026, highlights funding stress across Japan’s construction ecosystem, Meyka reported. The company, a contractor for construction site cafeterias and kiosks at logistics facilities, filed at the Tokyo District Court with about JPY 3.13 billion in liabilities. Asahi Food filed for bankruptcy protection at the Tokyo District Court on April 2, 2026, citing about JPY 3.13 billion in liabilities tied to rapid, debt-funded expansion. The company operated cafeterias and kiosks at construction and logistics sites, often under long-term service contracts.
For more than a decade, Japanese home builders have been tiptoeing into the U.S. housing market with small, discreet acquisitions of private American construction companies, the Wall Street Journal reported. Their quiet era is over. Japanese builders have announced or closed acquisitions of 23 U.S. single-family home builders since 2020, more than double the number from 2013 to 2019. That doesn’t include the multifamily developers and construction-supply companies they have also bought. By some estimates, Japanese builders are now set to own about 6% of the U.S. home-construction market.
The workforce impact of Takeda’s recently announced reorganization has become clearer: The Japan-based pharma estimates the restructuring will affect around 634 U.S. employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice, BioSpace reported. Takeda began notifying employees on March 25, the same day it announced a business transformation, which includes streamlining corporate functions. However, the company noted in the WARN notice that the total number affected could change as staff pursue and accept redeployment opportunities across its global network.