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Summary FY2023/24 budget likely hit record amount for 11th yearGovt to curb new JGB issuanceTax revenue seen hitting record above 69 trln yenTOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Japan will issue around 35.5 trillion yen ($258.52 billion) in new government bonds for the fiscal 2023/24 annual budget, government sources told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to the industrial world's heaviest public debt. The new borrowing is less than the 36.9 trillion yen last year, marking the second straight year of declines as authorities seek to curb borrowing costs, the sources said. Still, Japan's overall budget proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year would likely top 114 trillion yen ($831.27 billion) extending a record amount for the 11th straight year. Several rounds of heavy stimulus have bloated fiscal spending by 1.4 times the amount of an initial budget spending plan in the past three years. That has likely made it even more difficult to achieve a primary budget balance excluding new bond sales and debt servicing costs by the fiscal year through March 2026.

TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Japan is arranging the issue of new government bonds of around 35.5 trillion yen ($258.52 billion) for the fiscal 2023/24 annual budget, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to the industrial world's heaviest public debt. Japan's budget spending plan for the fiscal year starting from April could be as high as 114 trillion yen, largely financed with bond issuance and record tax revenues, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday. Japan is saddled with a debt burden of more than twice the size of its $5 trillion economy, the world's third largest. Several rounds of coronavirus stimulus spending measures have bloated fiscal spending by 1.4 times the amount of an initial budget spending plan. That has jeopardised the goal of achieving a primary budget balance excluding new bond sales and debt servicing by the fiscal year through March 2026.

☆ Majority of Japanese oppose raising taxes to fund military expansion -Kyodo
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

David Mareuil/Pool via REUTERSTOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The majority of Japanese people do not support raising taxes to fund military expansion, Kyodo reported on Sunday, citing a survey the news agency conducted after the government announced Japan's biggest military build-up since World War Two. He said Japan was at a "turning point in history" and that military expansion through cost-cutting and tax hikes was "my answer to the various security challenges that we face". Almost 65% of respondents in Kyodo's survey opposed raising taxes for military spending, while 87% said Kishida's explanation of the need to raise tax was insufficient. The survey also showed support for Kishida's administration was unchanged from a month earlier at 33.1%, the worst since it was launched in October last year. The government's five-year tax plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, would make the country the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.

The draft annual tax-code revision seen by Reuters is expected to be approved by Kishida's cabinet on Friday. read moreUnder his flagship initiative aimed at redistributing income, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has sought to shift Japan's 2,000 trillion yen ($14.52 trillion) in household assets away from savings and into investment. As part of this initiative, the government will make permanent a programme that offers tax breaks for households' stock investments. "It will be implemented at "an appropriate time" from 2024 onwards," LDP tax panel head Yoichi Miyazawa told reporters on Thursday. Tobacco tax will be also raised in stages by 3 yen per cigarette, the draft showed.

Meeting Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she expected greater defence cooperation with Japan. "Japan is making a late start, it is like we are 200 metres behind in a 400-metre sprint," he added. China defence spending overtook Japan's at the turn of the century, and now has a military budget more than four times larger. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies (RTX.N) to be part of its new deterrent force. To pay for the military build-up, Kishida's ruling bloc earlier on Friday said it will raise tobacco, corporate and disaster-reconstruction income taxes.

☆ As Kuroda bows out, Bank of Japan's rising hawks eye end to unloved yield cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

PUBLIC DISCONTENTAfter a tumultuous year for the world's third-largest economy, Japan's central bank and its leadership face a critical moment. While ruling out the need to ditch the yield cap now, Takata recently said he saw positive developments in wage growth. "The BOJ must start worrying about the possibility of inflation accelerating more than expected," he told Reuters, adding the BOJ may abandon its yield cap as early as next year. Such a reaction was seen in March when the BOJ was forced to pledge unlimited bond buying to defend its yield cap from speculative market attacks. "That's why the BOJ won't provide advance signals and remove the yield cap in a single step."

☆ Factbox: Japan tax reform to target low-emission cars, shift to investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Japan will extend tax breaks on low-emission cars and seek to shift its massive household savings into investment in the government's annual tax code revision to be approved on Friday. Below are key changes under the revised tax code, according to a draft of the document obtained by Reuters. As part of this initiative, the government will make permanent a programme that offers tax breaks for households' stock investments. CAPITAL GAINS TAXThe capital gains tax rate is uniform across income brackets in Japan, unlike the income tax, which is progressive. Profits from the sale of start-up shares will be exempt from income tax if they are reinvested in other venture businesses.

☆ New Japan law targets Unification Church fundraising abuses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Hideyuki Teshigawara, general manager of reform promotion headquarters of the Japan branch of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, bows at the beginning of a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2022. Japan's parliament on Saturday enacted a law to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups, which mainly targets the Unification Church, whose fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party caused public outrage. A revised national security strategy, which is expected to be released later this month, would allow Japan to develop a preemptive strike capability and deploy long-range missiles. "Our ongoing project will involve a major change to our national security and finance policies," Kishida said. The suspect who fatally shot Abe at an outdoor campaign rally in July told police he targeted the former prime minister because of his links to the Unification Church.

☆ Most Japanese firms don't support PM Kishida, citing leadership, prices: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dissatisfaction among major corporations mirrors public opinion polls showing dwindling support for Kishida amid scandals that have taken down three of his ministers. Among 400 companies polled, 63% of respondents said they did not support the administration. Almost 90% of companies polled said continuing inflation was the biggest risk they faced in 2023, and 68% said it should be a policy focus for the Kishida government. Still, that shows Japanese companies have got used to depreciation of the yen. The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research between Nov. 22 and Dec. 2, canvassed 495 big, non-financial Japanese firms on condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak more freely.

☆ Japan cautious on capital gains tax; must stick to increasing defence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Japan should avoid rushing into raising capital gains tax as doing so could send a wrong message to markets when Japan is encouraging financial investment, a senior government official said on Sunday. "Strengthening taxation could send a wrong signal that runs counter to our aim of expanding investment," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said in a programme on broadcaster FNN, referring to capital gains tax. The tax has been contentious since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida swept to power last year pledging to review what is seen an unfair tax that favours the rich earning hefty financial investment income. In Japan, differences between the income tax and capital gains tax rates causes what is known as the wall of 100 million yen, at which the effective tax rate on financial investment income starts to decline. "We must do what we should do regardless of whether there are funding sources or not," Kihara said.

☆ Japan PM Kishida's approval hits new low after ministers resign
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's public support slipped to a new low in a poll published on Sunday, as a series of cabinet resignations has compounded anger over the ruling party's ties to a controversial religious group. Support for Kishida's cabinet fell to 33.1% from 37.6% a month ago in the Kyodo news poll, his lowest in the agency's surveys since he took office in October 2021. Exacerbating the government's problems, scandals have forced three cabinet members from office since last month. The Kyodo poll found 62.4% of respondents disapproving of how Kishida had handled the resignations of Economic Revitalisation Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi and Internal Affairs Minister Minoru Terada. Kishida's approval failed to get a boost from a $200 billion economic support package to ease inflationary pains fuelled by the yen's plunge to 32-year-lows.

☆ Japanese prime minister under pressure over campaign expenditure report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday his office in western Hiroshima prefecture had found errors in receipts attached to a campaign expenditure report, after a magazine reported possible violations of election funding laws. The allegations are another blow to the prime minister, who has seen three cabinet minister quit within a month and whose public support is currently around 30% in recent polls, a level that may make it difficult for him to carry out his agenda. Weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun published a report on Tuesday saying Kishida's office had submitted 94 receipts in its campaign expenditure report with no addressee or description, which could amount to breaches of election funding laws. "I have instructed my office to make sure similar errors like this don't happen in the future," Kishida told reporters. The person in charge had filled in the items on the expenditure report but had overlooked adding the details into the attached receipts, he added.

☆ Japan govt begins Unification Church probe amid anger over ties with ruling party
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japan's government on Tuesday launched a probe into the Unification Church, the first step in a process that could strip the group of its legal status amid public anger over its links to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling party. The government will give the church until Dec. 9 to answer questions about its finances and organisation, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Keiko Nagaoka told a regular news conference. Once the government investigation is over it will be up to a court to decide whether to remove the Unification Church's legal standing and with it the tax exemptions that registered religious organisations enjoy in Japan. Widespread links between the church and lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came to light after former premier Shinzo Abe was shot and killed during an election campaign in July. Reporting by Tim Kelly and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Third Japanese cabinet minister in a month resigns in blow to PM
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's internal affairs minister resigned on Sunday in connection with a funding scandal, becoming the third cabinet member to leave in less than a month in a severe blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's already shaky support. Internal affairs minister Minoru Terada tendered his resignation to Kishida after media reports the premier was preparing to sack him. Kishida said he had accepted Terada's resignation in order to prioritise parliamentary debate, including discussions on a second extra budget for the fiscal year ending in March. Asked about the fact that three ministers have resigned since Oct. 24, Kishida said he would like to apologise. Hanashi and Terada's resignations are likely to be especially painful because they were members of Kishida's faction in the LDP.

☆ Japan PM Kishida plans to sack internal affairs minister Terada, Yomiuri reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is planning to sack internal affairs minister Minoru Terada, Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, the third cabinet minister to leave in under a month in a fresh blow for Kishida's battered support ratings. Kishida told a news conference in Bangkok on Saturday he would make a decision on Terada as needed, adding "cabinet ministers must fulfill their obligations to explain." The suspected killer has said his mother was bankrupted by the church and has blamed Abe for promoting it. The LDP has acknowledged many lawmakers have ties to the church but that there is no organisational link to the party. Further damage came from the resignation of justice minister Yasuhiro Hanashi last week for comments seen as making light of his work responsibilities, specifically signing off on executions.

[1/3] A cargo ship and containers are seen at an industrial port in Tokyo, Japan, February 15, 2022. The world's third-biggest economy has struggled to motor on despite the recent lifting of COVID curbs, and has faced intensifying pressure from red-hot global inflation, sweeping interest rate increases worldwide and the Ukraine war. GLOBAL RISKSHowever, the risks to Japan's outlook have risen as the global economy teeters on the brink of recession. Economy Minister Shigeyuki Goto said a global recession could hit households and businesses. "As for 2023, Japan will be dragged into a mild recession in H1 by a global downturn that will weigh on exports and business investment."

☆ Japan unicorn Opn buys MerchantE to enter U.S. online payment sector
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Opn, a rare Japanese unicorn, or startup worth more than $1 billion, said on Tuesday it had acquired MerchantE from U.S. investment firm Integrum Holdings, making inroads into the U.S. online payment sector. The deal comes as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government strives to accelerate investments in startups and digital transformation to spur economic growth. "Startups have been getting a tailwind since the start of Prime Minister Kishida's administration," Opn Chief Executive Jun Hasegawa told Reuters. "Besides financial institutions that participated in the financing (for the deal), Japan Bank for International Cooperation and governmental funds such as Japan Investment Corp gave us strong support this time around," he said. Opn, pronounced "open", has been offering services mainly in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

Addressing the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, Kishida said ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was important for regional security, voicing "serious concern" over the human rights situation of the Uyghur people, according to a statement from Japan's foreign ministry. "There has been continued, increasing actions by China in the East China Sea that violate Japan's sovereignty. China also continues to take actions that heighten regional tension in the South China Sea," Kishida told the meeting, according to the statement. Kishida's remarks follow those of U.S. President Joe Biden, who stressed to Asian leaders the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait and ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Kishida is in Cambodia to attend the East Asian summit, which groups 18 countries accounting for half of the global economy including the three biggest economies - the United States, China and Japan - and Southeast Asian nations.

☆ China stepping up actions hurting Japan's sovereignty, PM Kishida says -Jiji
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SEOUL, Nov 13 (Reuters) - China is continuously, and increasingly, taking actions that infringe on Japan's sovereignty, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said, Jiji Press reported on Sunday. Kishida's remarks came during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the news agency added. Reporting by Ju-min Parkand Sakura Murakami; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Japan's Kishida calls for constructive relations in talks with China's Li
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday he hoped the two countries could strive toward building a "constructive and stable" relationship, Japan's foreign ministry said on Saturday. In a speech at the ASEAN plus 3 meeting, Kishida reiterated Japan's view that North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches, including one that flew over Japan, were a clear and serious threat to the international community, and unacceptable. He also called for cooperation among the countries in achieving a complete dismantling of North Korea's ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported Kishida was making final arrangements to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC meeting in Bangkok. Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: G20 summit: Which leaders will attend Bali summit?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

It will also mark the first face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping since Biden became president. CHINA'S PRESIDENT XI JINPINGXi's visit to Southeast Asia will be only his second foreign trip since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY (VIRTUAL)Indonesia invited Zelenskiy to attend the summit as an obsever, although the Indonesian foreign ministry has said he will appear at the summit virtually. INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODIModi is due to symbolically take over the G20 presidency from current chair Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bali. He also committed to work closely with the Indonesian president to help deliver a successful summit.

☆ Japan's PM Kishida plans to sack justice minister - media
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has firmed up his intention to sack his justice minister, media reported on Friday, raising the possibility of a second minister leaving the cabinet because of a scandal in less than a month. Hanashi has come under widespread criticism over comments reported in the media in which he made light of his duties, specifically signing off on executions, which he referred to as "tedious". Hanashi's office declined to comment when asked about the media reports that the prime minister was preparing to sack him. Kishida has struggled to overcome revelations of deep and longstanding ties between the ruling party and the church in following the July assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Economic revitalisation minister Daishiro Yamagiwa resigned on Oct. 24 due to his ties to the religious group.

☆ Japan manufacturers' mood down amid weak yen, global risks - Reuters Tankan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | Anant Chandak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The monthly poll, which tracks the closely watched tankan quarterly survey of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), found that manufacturers expected their business conditions to improve over the coming three months while service-sector respondents expected little change. Economists estimate the world's number-three economy slowed sharply in the third quarter as yen falls pushed living costs higher and as risk of global slowdown rose. The index is expected to rebound to plus 7 in February after declining for a third month in a row in November. The service-sector index rose five points to plus 20, the best reading since the plus 25 registered in October 2019 shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, it showed. The index is expected to slip just one point to plus 19 over the coming three months.

☆ Japan hosts multilateral display of naval unity amid East Asia tension
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Tim Kelly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The naval parade in Sagami Bay near Tokyo involved 38 vessels, 18 from friendly countries such as the United States, South Korea, Britain, Australia, Singapore, India and Thailand. Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party has pledged to double Japan's defence budget to around 2% of gross domestic product within five years. Japan refused to join South Korea's fleet review in 2018 after Seoul asked it not to fly its rising sun ensign, which South Korea views as a symbol of Japanese wartime aggression. Tokyo declined to invite South Korea to a planned 2019 review. China, which has criticised Japan's defence spending plans, declined an invitation to join the review.

☆ Japan economy set to slow sharply as global inflation, recession risks hurt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Gross domestic product (GDP) data due 0850 local time Nov. 15 (2350 GMT Nov. 14) will likely show the world's No. 3 economy grew at an annualised rate of 1.1% in July-Septerber, sharply slower from the 3.5% expansion in the second quarter. "Supply-side restrictions have also curbed car output," he said, adding that "depending on the extent of slowdown in the global economy, Japan could follow suit and you cannot rule out the possibility that it slides into recession next year." Household spending data will be released 0830 JST Nov. 8/ 2330 GMT Nov. 7 and corporate goods price index is due 0850 JST Nov. 11/ 2350 GMT Nov. 10. Ministry of Finance (MOF) data, due out 0850 JST Nov. 9/ 2350 GMT Nov. 8 will likely show current account came to 234.5 billion yen ($1.58 billion) in September.

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