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BOJ Hikes to 1.25%, Cabinet Resigns, and Tokyo's Books Get Audited
Japan's central bank raised rates a quarter point on a split vote and rewired its climate loans on a different clock, while the outgoing cabinet left tariff diplomacy unfinished for the next occupant.
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Tokyo equities softened while the 10Y JGB yield nudged lower.
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Bank of Japan Raises Rates and Rewires Climate Lending
Bank of Japan Raises Policy Rate to 1.25% on a 7-2 Vote, Reworks Its Climate-Lending Terms
The Bank of Japan's Policy Board voted 7-2 on September 18 to raise its guideline for the uncollateralized overnight call rate to around 1.25%, a quarter-point increase from around 1.0%. The new rate takes effect September 24. Governor Kazuo Ueda and six other board members backed the hike; Toichiro Asada and Ayano Sato dissented, with Asada pointing to core inflation excluding fresh food running below 2% and Sato arguing price and activity trends have not accelerated enough to justify tightening now.
What changed: The Bank also lifted the rate it pays banks on reserves to match the new guideline, and unanimously converted its ¥50tn climate-lending facility from fixed to floating terms. Each bank's borrowing limit under the facility is now tied to its own climate loan book, capped at ¥10tn. That climate-facility overhaul took effect September 18, a week before the policy-rate change itself takes hold.
Why it matters: A quarter-point hike on a 7-2 vote, with two dissents citing soft inflation, tells lenders and borrowers the BOJ is normalizing policy even as some board members flag the case is not yet airtight. Converting the climate-lending facility to floating terms, from the fixed rate it carried since launch, means banks now face variable borrowing costs on that green-lending window, capped per bank at ¥10tn.
What to watch: The ¥10tn per-bank cap becomes the practical ceiling on how much any single lender can draw under the new floating terms. The climate-facility change is already in force, while the broader policy-rate move does not take effect until September 24.
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Tokyo's Policy Crossroads: Yen, Budget and Tariffs
Katayama Vows More Yen Intervention as Japan Drops Its Budget Ceiling
Japan's finance minister says Tokyo will not hesitate to join Washington in further coordinated yen-buying, and his ministry has replaced next year's budget-request ceiling with a test that scores each request by its effect on private investment and GDP.
Japan's Cabinet Resigns, and the Departing Trade Minister Flags a Conditional Tariff Truce With Washington
Japan's cabinet resigned en masse on September 17, and outgoing Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akazawa used his final post-cabinet briefing to warn that faithful execution of the Japan-US Strategic Investment Initiative is essential to avoid renewed tariff increases. The initiative is one of the conditions behind Washington's cut of more than ¥2tn in threatened tariffs.
The catch: the record ¥51-per-liter fuel subsidy Akazawa's ministry has run still has no confirmed exit date, an open-ended cost his successor now inherits alongside the tariff truce. Also: Akazawa noted his ministry passed three amendment bills this year - the Industrial Competitiveness Enhancement Act, the Industrial Technology Enhancement Act and the Electricity Business Act - after fielding roughly 400 Diet questions during deliberations.
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Dealmaking and Capital Moves
Kanematsu Pays About ¥39.4bn for Simulation-Software House IDAJ
Kanematsu Electronics, the manufacturing-IT subsidiary of trading house Kanematsu, signed a share transfer agreement for full control of IDAJ, a Yokohama-based specialist in model-based development and simulation-analysis software for manufacturers, for about ¥39.4bn - ¥39.0bn for the shares plus roughly ¥0.36bn in advisory fees.
The catch: two of IDAJ's smaller units are lossmaking with negative net worth, and the final price is still subject to adjustment when the deal closes October 1, pending regulatory approvals.
Why it matters: the bet is that a trading house's manufacturing-IT arm can move upstream into engineering design software, not just distribution and systems integration.
Oasis Pushes Infomart Stake Past 20% and Puts a Broader Boardroom Shake-Up on the Table
Oasis Management's stake in Infomart has climbed to 20.13% from 19.00%, an amended large-shareholding report filed with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau shows. The Cayman Islands-based fund now holds 53,838,600 shares of Infomart's 267,507,864 shares outstanding as of August 13, 2026, financed entirely with its own fund capital, roughly ¥29.3bn, with no borrowed money. This is the fund's 13th change report on the position.
What to watch: Oasis has already proposed asset disposals and a board reshuffle, and its filing reserves the right to push for delisting or a transaction handing an outside party majority voting control within the next year.
Cosel Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance 72% on AI Chip-Equipment Demand
Cosel raised full-year operating-profit guidance 72% to ¥2.3bn, just three months after its last forecast, citing a 155% jump in quarterly orders tied to AI-related semiconductor manufacturing equipment demand. The numbers: full-year sales guidance rose 10% to ¥31.8bn, net profit climbed 62% to ¥2.6bn, and per-share earnings jumped to ¥63.21 from a prior estimate of ¥38.99.
Why it matters: a power-supply maker's order book is turning into one more data point for how far AI capital spending is spreading through Japan's component supply chain.
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Accounting and Governance Under the Microscope
Advance Create slides into negative equity after accounting probe deepens losses
Advance Create cut its full-year profit forecast for the year to September 2026 to a ¥391mn net loss, reversing a previously guided ¥450mn profit - an ¥841mn swing - after a third-party investigation into improper accounting at an advertising subsidiary forced write-downs and a restatement of prior results.
The number: shareholders' equity turned negative by ¥276mn, and the revised guidance also cut sales 10.0% to ¥7.15bn and operating profit 34.9% to ¥423mn.
Why it matters: the Osaka insurance agency now carries negative net worth heading into its fiscal year-end.
Sanyo Trading Investigates Suspected $3.9mn Fraud at US Subsidiary
Sanyo Trading said a former finance chief at its US subsidiary, Sanyo Corporation of America, is suspected of diverting about $3.9mn - roughly ¥609mn at current exchange rates - between June and September, caught only when staff reconciled the subsidiary's bank records against its accounting books. The response: the parent has empanelled an outside investigation led by Daisuke Yuki, a New York-qualified attorney and certified fraud examiner, to establish the facts, check for similar issues elsewhere in the group, and recommend recurrence-prevention steps.
What to watch: the earnings hit and any recovery of the missing funds remain undetermined.
OTAKE Probe Finds Likely Antimonopoly Act Breach, Trims Sales by ¥477mn
OTAKE Corporation published its special investigation committee's finding that trades routed through a competitor probably breach Japan's Antimonopoly Act, a conclusion that forces a ¥477mn cut to reported sales for the year to May 2026.
The catch: the correction leaves ordinary profit unchanged, since the sales were offset against purchases with the profit portion rebooked as non-operating income, and OTAKE has yet to detail recurrence-prevention measures.
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Quick Hits: Capital and Corporate Moves
FANUC Wraps Up ¥50bn Buyback More Than Seven Months Ahead of Schedule
Read moreFANUC completed its share-buyback program on September 17, 2026, having spent ¥49,999,790,800 of its ¥50bn cap, well ahead of the April 2027 deadline the board originally set.
Bridgestone Cancels 42.65 Million Treasury Shares, Trimming Its Share Count to 1.29 Billion
Read moreBridgestone retired 42,649,100 treasury shares on September 18, cutting its outstanding share count to 1,291,387,942 under a board plan approved in February, a cancellation of shares held in treasury rather than a new buyback.
Nippon Seiki's ¥9.98bn Buyback Closes as Alps Alpine Plans a ¥6bn Gain
Read moreNippon Seiki closed its ¥9.98bn ToSTNeT-3 share buyback on September 18 at essentially its board-approved ceiling, and Alps Alpine sold its full 3,000,000-share block into the deal. Alps Alpine plans to record a roughly ¥6bn special gain for the quarter, a figure that could still shift once transaction costs are finalized; separately, the effect on its full-year forecast remains under review.
akippa's Profit Runs 78% Ahead of Plan, But Guidance Stays Put
Read moreakippa's first earnings disclosure as a Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard company showed first-half operating profit running 78% ahead of its internal budget, past the 30% overall threshold it uses to trigger forecast revisions, yet the parking marketplace held its full-year guidance steady, with the board set to review the numbers once August results and autumn event bookings are known.
Quantum Solutions Unwinds $8.3mn GPU Deal After Supplier Warns of 36-Week Delay
Read moreQuantum Solutions canceled its first AI data-center hardware contract days after paying $8.3 million upfront, after the supplier said supply constraints would push delivery out to about 36 weeks, and the refund is still working its way back to the company's account.
LaSalle Logiport's Warehouse Sales Fund a Third More Distribution Guidance
Read moreLaSalle Logiport REIT is selling four logistics buildings in deals closing between this month and September 2027, and used the same disclosure day to raise its distribution forecast for the period to next February by a third to ¥4,282 per unit, crediting the sale gains and a unit buyback that shrinks its outstanding count to about 1.6 million units.
Ichigo Office REIT Sells Its Last Two Retail Buildings, Lifts Payout Forecast 28%
Read moreIchigo Office REIT is selling its last two retail buildings, in Shibuya and Kamata, for as much as 1.8 times their book value, and using an estimated ¥2.5bn in combined gains to lift its per-unit distribution forecast 28% to ¥7,293, completing a pure-play office portfolio of 80 buildings.
Rakuten Registers ¥600bn Bond Shelf, Including Perpetual Subordinated Debt
Read moreRakuten Group has registered up to ¥600bn in bond capacity running through September 2028, covering ordinary unsecured notes as well as dated and perpetual subordinated structures, though the filing leaves every coupon, price and issue size undetermined until specific offerings are priced.
Satsudora Swings to a Loss as Its MBO Clears the Way for Delisting
Read moreSatsudora Holdings swung to a ¥157mn operating loss and dropped its full-year outlook as the drugstore chain's buyout tender offer clears the way for delisting, with store traffic, inbound sales and margins all softening in the quarter.
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More to Know: Enforcement and Safety
Kansai Electric Halts Mihama Unit 3 Reactor Over a Leak It Could Not Isolate
Read moreKansai Electric powered down the Mihama Unit 3 reactor after workers found water dripping at three drops a second from a feedwater-heater valve fitting they could not isolate without a shutdown, and the utility has not set a restart date or identified a cause.
Tokyo Individual Ordered to Pay ¥6.27mn Over Manipulation of BASE FOOD, Gunosy, and Nippon Gear Shares
Read moreAn individual identified only as "A" ran a layering scheme across three brokerages to move prices in three listed stocks over ten weeks in late 2023, and Japan's securities regulator now wants ¥6.27mn back by November 17.
FSA Fines Growth-Market ENECHANGE ¥91.5mn Over False Filings Behind a ¥4.0bn Share Sale
Read moreJapan's securities regulator says ENECHANGE Co., Ltd. understated a quarterly loss and then used that same filing to underpin a February 2024 offering that raised nearly ¥4.0bn from share buyers.
FSA Orders ¥6.56mn Penalty Over Insider Trades Ahead of Vehicle Dealer's Tender Offer
Read moreAn individual identified only as 'A' bought ¥19.1mn of shares in a Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth-market vehicle dealer in the days before its tender offer became public, and Japan's markets regulator now wants ¥6.56mn of that trade's gain back by November 17, 2026.
Japan's Nuclear Regulator Seeks to Quadruple Its Inspection-Fee Ceiling
Read moreJapan's Nuclear Regulation Authority is proposing to lift the statutory cap on the fees it charges nuclear operators for regulatory inspections from ¥9.41mn to ¥40.72mn, adding labor costs that were never counted before and updating materials and travel unit prices, with public comment open until October 17 and the change slated to take effect in April 2027.
Information Strategy and Technology Moves to Fire Director Over WhiteBox Contract Rerouting
Read moreAn outside-lawyer investigation found the director rerouted subsidiary WhiteBox's marketing contracts to a company he personally controlled, and Information Strategy and Technology has set an October 9 record date for a shareholder vote on dismissing him, even as the company says further allegations remain under review.