Japan's nursing homes plunge into deficit for first time

Osaka Metro announced that its interim financial results reached a record high, driven by an increase in ridership linked to the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

The Mekari Shrine near the Kanmon Strait, connecting Honshu and Kyushu, has overcome a financial crisis through an unconventional initiative: a marine ash scattering business. Drawing on local customs, the shrine began offering plans starting from 70,000 yen, allowing families to have ashes scattered at sea in a ceremony managed by the shrine itself.

The Nikkei Average has surged past 50,000, yet many individual investors say their portfolios have barely moved, underscoring how narrowly led the rally has become as the NT ratio—Nikkei divided by TOPIX—climbs to a record, reflecting outsized strength in a handful of high-priced technology names while a broad swath of stocks lags behind, and even within the Nikkei 225 the gap between the strongest and weakest deciles over the past six months has widened to extreme levels, pushing the headline index higher while leaving many constituents flat.

The outlook for rice prices over the next three months has declined sharply amid expectations that an increase in new rice harvests will ease supply and demand pressures.

The Niseko area at the foot of Mount Yotei, about a two-hour drive from Sapporo, is now in the spotlight once again as one of Japan’s top resort destinations prepares for the peak ski season. Fueled by surging inbound demand, construction of hotels and leisure facilities is rapidly expanding across the region—but local residents are increasingly alarmed by the rise in illegal land development and unauthorized building extensions.

Gasoline prices rose for the first time in four weeks to 173.60 yen per liter as of 2 p.m. on November 6th, up just 0.10 yen from the previous week. However, with the government’s decision on November 5th to abolish the provisional gasoline tax by the end of the year, prices are expected to fall in stages before the abolition takes full effect.

Nissan Motor announced on November 6th that it will sell its Yokohama headquarters building for 97 billion yen as part of a broader restructuring plan, while continuing to occupy the property under a lease agreement.

Around 1,200 investors have filed a class-action lawsuit with the Osaka District Court seeking the return of more than 11.4 billion yen from the real estate fund “Minna de Ooya-san,” which has been delaying distribution payments to its investors.