Latest news with #PhilipFong
GMA Network
4 days ago
- Automotive
- GMA Network
Trump tariffs split Japan Inc. as Toyota cuts forecast while Sony, Honda raise
A general view of Tokyo's skyline is pictured from the Tokyo Skytree's lightning observation research site, October 7, 2024. As Trump's levies on global shipments into the US kicked in on Thursday, Japan's top companies offered a mixed picture of the impact of his signature economic policy and of the stronger yen on his country's fifth-largest trading partner. Philip Fong/ AFP TOKYO — US President Donald Trump's tariffs are cleaving Japan Inc., as some big exporters like Toyota Motor slash their profit forecasts while Sony and Honda are among those saying the impact will be less than they had feared. As Trump's levies on global shipments into the US kicked in on Thursday, Japan's top companies offered a mixed picture of the impact of his signature economic policy and of the stronger yen on his country's fifth-largest trading partner. Uncertainty over the tariffs and their erratic implementation have unnerved companies globally as governments work feverishly to strike deals and avert a crisis for their big exporters. While glimmers of optimism have emerged for Japanese companies, the outlook remains overshadowed by uncertainty over when Trump will lower his tariffs on Japanese automobiles and new questions about duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. A Trump broadside on semiconductors, with 100% tariffs on some chip imports to the US, hit Japanese chip supply-chain firms on Thursday, while shares of companies elsewhere with US expansion plans jumped. Tokyo urged Washington on Thursday to swiftly implement last month's bilateral agreement lowering tariffs on US imports of Japanese cars to 15% from the 27.5% in total levies in place since Trump raised tariffs in April. Two weeks after Trump announced the deal, which he said included $550 billion in Japanese investment and loans in the US, Tokyo is scrambling to clarify specifics, complicating business planning for the nation's biggest firms. 'Difficult to predict' "It's honestly very difficult for us to predict what will happen regarding the market environment," Takanori Azuma, head of finance for Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, said on Thursday. Toyota cut its operating-profit forecast for the business year to March by 16% to 3.2 trillion yen ($21.7 billion), citing the tariffs and the yen. The company will keep making cars for US customers regardless of any impact from the tariffs, Azuma told a briefing on the business results. "Even at this point, incentives are very low and inventory is limited, so many customers are waiting. That's true not only in the US, but also in Japan." Japan's carmakers are among the hardest hit in the trade war as they resist raising prices, squeezing their profit margins. In contrast to Toyota, Sony raised its full-year profit forecast by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen ($9 billion), with the impact from US tariffs now expected to be 70 billion yen, down from the 100 billion yen it forecast in May. Subaru Corp said the tariff impact on its vehicles has been reduced but remains significant. Made in USA exemption Toyota shares fell 1.5%, while Sony jumped 4.1% and Subaru rose 2.6%. Honda on Wednesday cut its expected tariff impact by 31% to 450 billion yen but said "there are still many unknowns." On chips, Trump offered a big exemption: the 100% tariff will not apply to companies that manufacture in the US or have committed to do so. While Japan is the largest foreign investor in the United States at $819 billion at the end of 2024, according to US government data, its chip industry has shied away from making big US investments. Shares of Japan chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 2.7% and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest dropped nearly 1% on Thursday. Chipmakers with big US expansion plans, however, jumped, with Taiwan's TSMC up 5% and South Korea's Samsung rising 2.5%. Japan has said the US agreed not to give it a worse tariff rate than other countries on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Tokyo ran a bilateral trade surplus of nearly $70 billion last year on US-Japan trade of nearly $230 billion. — Reuters
Sinar Daily
30-07-2025
- Climate
- Sinar Daily
Over 356,000 people ordered to evacuate in Japan amid tsunami threat
Earlier in the day, an earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka, becoming the strongest in the region since 1952. 30 Jul 2025 03:28pm One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's sparsely populated Far East, causing tsunamis of up to four metres (12 feet) across the Pacific and sparking evacuations from Hawaii to Japan. Photo by US Geological Survey/AFP TOKYO - More than 356,000 people in Japan have been ordered to evacuate after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula raised fears of a destructive tsunami, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, according to Sputnik/RIA Novosti. Earlier in the day, an earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka, becoming the strongest in the region since 1952. The Tokyo Skytree (R) is pictured from across Tokyo Bay after much of coastal Japan went on tsunami alert following a 8.7 magnitude quake in the sea off eastern Russia, in Chiba City, Chiba prefecture. Photo by Philip Fong/AFP The Sakhalin Region government said that a state of emergency had been declared in the Severo-Kurilsky District following the earthquake and tsunami. Evacuation orders have been issued in at least six Japanese prefectures as a precaution against potential tsunamis. Initially, a tsunami advisory was issued in Japan, followed by a warning for nearly the entire eastern Pacific coast of the country. Waves of up to three meters (9.8 feet) were expected in many regions. As of now, tsunami waves measuring 30 to 50 centimeters (12-20 inches) have already been observed in some areas. A crisis headquarters has been established under the Japanese prime minister's office. Meanwhile, no abnormalities at nuclear power plants have been reported following the earthquake, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a press conference. Additionally, train services on 41 rail routes in Japan have been suspended, and Sendai Airport's runway remains closed, Hayashi confirmed. - BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI More Like This
UPI
21-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Japan's ruling coalition gov't loses majority in Upper House
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a press conference at the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, the day after the prime minister's coalition lost its upper house majority. Photo by Philip Fong/EPA July 21 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and his Liberal Democratic Party were projected to lose their majority coalition government in Japan's Upper House of Parliament on Monday, according to reports that show gains made by a far-right, populist party. The election was held Sunday, when 125 of the 248 Upper House seats were up for election to a six year term. Preliminary results on Monday showed LDP and its Komeito coalition party had won 47 seats, three shy of the minimum 50 required for the coalition to maintain its majority, The Asahi Shimbun reported. Together, LDP and Komeito had a total of 75 uncontested seats. The coalition also lost 19 seats from what they had prior to the vote. The election also comes on the heels of the LDP coalition losing its majority in the lower house in October, meaning this will be the first time in the party's 70-year history that it has led a coalition government without holding a majority in either house. The upset comes as the LDP struggles to overcome public distrust following a major corruption scandal involving millions in campaign financing slush funds and the rising cost of living in the Asian nation. Meanwhile, the center-right Democratic Party for the People gained 17 seats. And Japan's far-right Sanseito Party with its "Japanese First" motto -- which is characterized as the Japanese version of the United States' Make America Great Again movement -- earned 14 seats, up from one before the election. The gains for Sanseito make it a more significant party in parliament, and it can now submit a bill without a budget attached. Despite the loss, Ishiba vowed during a Monday press conference that he would remain head of state and head of the LDP, public broadcaster NHK reported. "It is extremely regrettable that many of our capable colleagues from the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, have los their seats," he said. "As president of the Liberal Democratic Party, I offer my sincere apologies." As a lesson from the election, he remarked, "We must listen carefully to the voices of the people and fulfill our responsibility as the leading party in the Upper House, as well as our responsibility to the people of the country to prevent politics from becoming stalled, or from falling into disarray."
Newsweek
05-06-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Japan's Birth Rate Crisis Worsens
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Births in Japan fell to a record low last year, according to newly released government data, as the country faces a deepening demographic crisis. Newsweek has contacted the Japanese Foreign Ministry for comment by email. Why It Matters Japan's steadily declining births and overall aging population present serious long-term risks, threatening to sap the world's fifth-largest economy of vitality and strain its social welfare system. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has labeled the trend a "quiet emergency" and made reversing it a central pillar of his agenda. What To Know The number of babies born to Japanese citizens in 2024 fell to 686,061, a 5.7 percent drop from the previous year, according to statistics the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released on Wednesday. It marked the first time since 1899, when record-keeping began, that annual births fell below 700,000. A mother and child at the "crying baby sumo" match at Sensoji temple in Tokyo on April 28, 2024. A mother and child at the "crying baby sumo" match at Sensoji temple in Tokyo on April 28, 2024. Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images For the 18th consecutive year, deaths outpaced births, resulting in a net population loss of 919,237, the ministry said. Japan's fertility rate also declined, falling to 1.15 expected births per woman—down from 1.2 in 2023. A rate of 2.1 is widely considered the replacement threshold for a stable population without large-scale immigration. Japan is not alone. China and Taiwan face similar demographic declines, while South Korea—which has the distinction of having the world's lowest fertility rate—joined Japan last year as a "super-aged society," meaning people 65 and older make up 20 percent of the population. What People Have Said Kei Nishiuchi, the CEO of SoujouData Inc., a data science consultancy in Tokyo, told the Fuji News Network: "As the number of elderly increases and the working-age population shrinks, we're starting to see an impact on the economy's overall productivity. Even the very assumptions behind how our society redistributes resources—such as who pays taxes and who provides eldercare—are being called into question. "This is not a crisis that's still on the horizon—it's one that has already begun. I think we need to recognize that." Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a parliamentary speech in October: "The low birth rate and the resulting population decline are a challenge to the very foundations of the country—a quiet emergency, so to speak." What Happens Next Health officials have warned that Japan has only until the 2030s to reverse course. However, measures such as childcare subsidies and fertility treatment coverage have had little effect. Some analysts have suggested that Japan's outlook may be less dire than feared, citing its heavy investment in automation technologies—such as industrial robots—to offset its shrinking workforce.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Japan's Fukushima nuclear wastewater 'pose major environmental, human rights risks'
Storage tanks for contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in Okuma of Fukushima prefecture in 20 January 2023. Photo: Philip Fong / AFP The United Nations (UN) human rights experts have written to the Japanese government to express their concerns about the release of more than one million metric tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. In August 2023, Japan began discharging wastewaster from about 1000 storage tanks of contaminated water collected after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that caused the meltdown of its Fukushima nuclear plant. In the formal communication, available publicly , UN Human Rights Council special rappoteurs addressed the the management of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) by the Japan government and TEPCO (Tokio Electric Power), and the ongoing discharge of such waters into the Pacific Ocean. They said "we are alarmed that the implementation of contaminated water release operations of into the ocean may pose major environmental and human rights risks, exposing people, especially children, to threats of further contamination in Japan and beyond." "We wish to raise our concern about the allegations of the failure to assess the consequences on health of the release of wastewater against the best available scientific evidence," the special rappoteurs write. "Against this backdrop, we would like to highlight that the threats to the enjoyment of the right to adequate food do not concern only local people within the borders of Japan. "Given the migratory nature of fish, their contamination represents a risk also for people living beyond the Japanese borders, including Indigenous Peoples across the Pacific Ocean which, according to their culture and traditions, mainly rely on seafood as their primary livelihood." The letter follows a complaint submitted by Ocean Vision Legal in August 2023 on behalf of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and endorsed by over 50 civil society groups in the Pacific and beyond. In a statement on Tuesday, PANG hailed it as "a landmark move for ocean justice and human rights". The organisation said that the destructive legacy of nuclear contamination through nuclear testing is still strongly felt across the region. It said this legacy is marked by severe health impacts across generations and the ongoing failure to properly clean up test sites, which continue to contaminate the islands and waterways that Pacific peoples depend on. "As Pacific groups, we remain disappointed in the Japanese Government and TEPCO's shameless disregard of the calls by numerous Pacific leaders and civil society groups to hold off on any further release," PANG's coordinator Joey Tau said. "Their ignorance constitutes a brazen threat to Pacific peoples' livelihoods, safety, health and well-being, and the sovereignty of Pacific nations," he added. Joey Tau Photo: RNZ Pacific / Lydia Lewis Japan has consistently maintained that the release is safe. The UN human rights experts have asked for further information from Japan, including on the allegations raised, and on how the Radiological Environmental Impact Assessment has been conducted according to the best available scientific evidence. This communication sends a clear message: Ocean issues must be understood as human rights issues, requiring precautionary and informed action aligned with international environmental law to safeguard both people and the marine environment. Ocean Vision Legal founder and CEO Anna von Rebay said while the communication is not legally binding, it is a crucial milestone. "It informs the interpretation of human rights and environmental law in response to contemporary threats, contributing to the development of customary international law and strengthens accountability for any actor harming the Ocean," she said. "Ultimately, it paves the way towards a future where the Ocean's health is fully recognised as fundamental to human dignity, justice, and intergenerational equity."
