Bankruptcies among Japan's bento shops are surging, with 83 businesses failing in the first eight months of 2026, putting the industry on course to surpass last year's record of 89 as rising ingredient costs and intensifying competition from supermarkets, convenience stores and drugstores squeeze smaller operators.
Tokyo’s stock market was closed on September 21 for Respect for the Aged Day, leaving the Nikkei 225 without a cash close after finishing the previous session at 65,019, while currency and futures markets focused on the yen, the Bank of Japan’s latest rate hike and intervention risks during Japan’s Silver Week holiday.
Japan's first five-day Silver Week holiday in 11 years has put renewed attention on household finances, with persistently high food prices and a weakening yen threatening to erode the benefits of the government's planned consumption tax cut on food.
A list of providers with identical promises turns selection into brute-force sorting. The differences do exist; they are just hidden somewhere other than the homepage.
The yen strengthened by more than 1 yen against the dollar in a short period late on September 18 after the Bank of Japan conducted a rate check, a step commonly taken in preparation for possible intervention in the foreign exchange market.
Tokyo stocks rose sharply on September 18, with the Nikkei 225 climbing to around 65,350 in afternoon trading after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to 1.25%, as the yen weakened and investors bought artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related shares.
The Bank of Japan raised its policy interest rate from 1.0% to 1.25% on September 18, lifting borrowing costs to their highest level in 31 years as policymakers moved to contain growing inflation risks, but the yen weakened sharply after the decision as markets focused on two dissenting votes and uncertainty over the pace of further increases.
A market spread is generally the difference between two market prices. Most commonly, traders use the term to describe the bid-ask spread: the difference between the highest price a buyer is currently prepared to pay and the lowest price a seller is prepared to accept.