The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan in fiscal 2024 climbed 12.0% from the previous year to 10,144, topping 10,000 for the first time in 11 years, Tokyo Shoko Research said Tuesday. The annual figure rose for the third consecutive year, the Japan Times reported. The result reflected a surge in the number of bankruptcies due to labor shortages, particularly among small and midsize companies, and rising prices. The number of business failures linked to soaring labor costs and labor shortages increased 1.6 times to 309, the highest since fiscal 2013.

Japan’s households cut back on spending as inflation remained elevated, in a sign of vulnerability in a key pocket of the economy before sweeping U.S. tariffs hit the country, Bloomberg News reported. Household outlays, adjusted for inflation, declined 0.5% in February from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry reported Friday. The result compared with the median economist estimate of a 0.8% decline. The drop was led by falling outlays on clothes and footwear, housing and food.

Japanese banks may need to offer business turnaround support to companies hit by tariffs imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the head of the country's banking lobby said, Reuters reported. Many large Japanese firms, including major exporters and manufacturers, are grappling with U.S. duties on imports of steel and aluminium and a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks starting this week. "We think tariffs could lead to a deterioration in corporate earnings," the new chair of the Japan Banks Association, Junichi Hanzawa, told Reuters in an interview.

Japan, South Korea and China agreed on Sunday to continue trilateral economic and trade cooperation to address “emerging challenges,” a partnership that has become more crucial than ever as the U.S. trade war shatters the global order. Trade minister Yoji Muto, his South Korean counterpart, Ahn Duk-geun, and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met in Seoul for the first trilateral meeting among the three countries’ trade ministers in over five years, the Japan Times reported.

Employees at major Japanese companies have been promised the biggest pay increases in 34 years. That’s a good sign for the economy, but forces smaller firms with smaller budgets to get creative to stay competitive in the labor market, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rather than raising base salaries, which can be costly enough to strain a company’s finances to the point of bankruptcy, small and medium-sized enterprises are looking at boosting benefits.

Japan’s consumer inflation slowed slightly in February due to energy subsidies but continued trending up amid a record spike in rice prices and indications of strong wage growth, keeping interest-rate hike expectations intact, the Wall Street Journal reported. Overall consumer prices rose 3.7% in February from a year earlier, compared with the 4.0% growth seen in January, government data showed Friday. Energy prices rose 6.9% on the year, much slower than the 10.8% increase seen the previous month, as the government reintroduced subsidies for electricity and gas bills.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady on Wednesday and warned of heightening global economic uncertainty, suggesting the timing of further rate hikes will depend largely on the fallout from potentially higher U.S. tariffs, Reuters reported. But Governor Kazuo Ueda also said rising food costs and stronger-than-expected wage growth could push up underlying inflation, highlighting the central bank's attention to mounting domestic price pressures. "Japan's wage and price conditions are on track, possibly stronger than expected. But the uncertain U.S.

Japan’s largest labor union group said its workers secured the highest pay deal in more than three decades, supporting the case for further gradual interest rate hikes from the Bank of Japan, Bloomberg News reported. Some 760 affiliated unions under the trade union federation Rengo have so far secured an average pay gain of 5.46% in ongoing annual wage negotiations, according to its initial tally released on Friday. That’s the highest level since 1991 when compared with past final tally figures, and exceeded last year’s initial reading of 5.28%.

Japan’s trade minister has failed to win an immediate exemption from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign even as he doubled down on the request in his first in-person discussions with U.S. counterparts, Bloomberg News reported. "We have requested that Japan should not be subject to the tariff measures that the U.S. government has announced so far,” trade minister Yoji Muto said.