Japan sets aside ¥111.87bn to prepare its food tax cut

The Cabinet Office left its headline verdict untouched in its September monthly report, dated 29 September: the economy is recovering at a moderate pace, with attention needed on the Middle East and natural disasters. Three lines below it changed. The trade-and-services balance is now described as in deficit, where August called it broadly balanced. Production moves from flat to picking up as a whole. The public investment wording shifted from one word for firm to another meaning holding up. - The detail: The report's own trade detail is less bleak than the label: July's trade deficit narrowed because export value rose faster than import value. July industrial production still fell 0.2% from the previous month, and inventories rose 0.5%. - What did not change: Business investment stays at picking up, with April-June investment including software up 1.5% on the quarter. The report records the Bank of Japan's 18 September decision to keep the overnight call rate around 1.25% as a dated event, not a new decision. - Markets in the report: The yen ranged between 153 and 160 per dollar from 28 August to 25 September, and the 10-year government bond yield between 2.8% and 3.0%. -

What to watch: A manufacturers' survey cited in the report expects output to rise 6.4% in August and fall 4.2% in September, and the report flags downside risk from the Middle East and the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) recommended on 29 September that a Tokyo-based air-blast equipment maker pay 46 small subcontractors what it still owed them. The commission found the company paid late, mostly by handing over electronic recorded claims that could not be exchanged for the full cash amount by the due date. The delayed payments total ¥74.97mn, and the company had paid ¥64.93mn of that by August 2026. - What the company must do: Pay the remaining balance once the JFTC confirms it, plus late interest at 14.6% a year, and reimburse any fees subcontractors bore to receive the money. It must also pass a board resolution promising payment within 60 days of receipt and train purchasing staff on the law. -

Why it matters: The JFTC says the revised law, in force since 1 January 2026, bans paying by bill and paying with electronic claims that cannot be swapped for the full amount by the due date. Twenty of the 46 subcontractors qualified for protection only through the new employee-count test of 300 or fewer employees. -

What to watch: From 1 April 2027, manufacturing-type transactions outside the law's scope must also set payment due dates within 60 days of receipt, according to the JFTC's leaflet.

Japan's justice and health ministries revoked an Osaka cooperative's licence to supervise technical interns, citing false audit reports, and the Immigration Services Agency and health ministry cancelled training plans at 16 employers on 29 September 2026.

Kobe Bussan's board resolved on 29 September to issue a ¥60bn zero-coupon convertible bond due 2033 and to authorise a share buyback of up to ¥40bn, which the company describes as the largest in its history. About ¥30bn of the bond proceeds is earmarked for costs connected with the acquisition of shares in 15 in-flight catering companies in Asia-Pacific and North America, which the company says it has already acquired through MEAL HUB, a venture in which Kobe Bussan holds 75%. About ¥30bn goes to repurchases, topped up with about ¥10bn of the company's own cash. - The first day of buying: An off-auction order for 8:45am on 30 September covers 13,472,500 shares at ¥2,969, the 29 September close, for about ¥40bn in total. The company expects some overseas investors buying the bond to short its shares as a hedge, and says the purchase should absorb that selling. -

The catch: The conversion price is not set, so the company will not publish potential dilution until it is. Holders can convert only after the shares close above 150% of the conversion price (130% from 1 July 2032) for each of 20 trading days to a quarter-end, with exceptions. - Side note: J-Link Limited said it may buy part of the bond, with potential voting rights that could reach 9.18%. It said it will not exercise the rights or vote, and Kobe Bussan said it is not involved in that transaction. The next fixed dates are the 30 September buyback result and the 15 October payment date.

Kamgras 1 raised its tender offer for Kakaku.com shares by one yen, to ¥3,681 from ¥3,680, and extended the offer period by ten business days to October 14. Settlement now starts on October 21, up from October 6. Kamgras 1 says it made the change to raise the odds of success, and that Kakaku.com's share price was trading above the offer price as of September 29. The notice gives no price figure. - The rival: Kamgras 1 says BCPE Blitz Cayman, L.P. announced on September 16 a planned rival tender at ¥3,597 a share, and that its start date was changed from mid-September to undecided. Kamgras 1 argues the rival price cannot work while its own offer continues, because Kakaku.com can back a rival only at a price at least matching Kamgras 1's. These are Kamgras 1's positions, not findings by any authority. - The KDDI hurdle: The rival's conditional ¥3,720 depends on a no-tender agreement with KDDI. Kamgras 1 says that under its own agreement with KDDI, KDDI can tender to a rival only if the rival's price is at least 2% above Kamgras 1's, a threshold of ¥3,755 after the latest change. -

What to watch: Oasis said on August 18 it would not support an offer below ¥3,640. Kamgras 1 says it has held several discussions with Oasis since September 10 and nothing has been decided. The offer closes on October 14 unless extended again.

Kanadevia and Nippon Steel Engineering end merger talks, pushing Kanadevia's new plan to 2027 At board meetings on 29 September, Kanadevia and Nippon Steel Engineering each resolved to cancel by mutual agreement the basic memorandum on integration talks they signed on 5 February 2026, and to stop all discussion of a combination. The joint notice says the two concluded it would be difficult to agree on the terms of an integration. It does not say which terms were at issue. Kanadevia and Nippon Steel, the parent of Nippon Steel Engineering, both say the cancellation has no effect on consolidated results. - The plan slips: Kanadevia had held back a new medium-term plan because of the study. It now expects to publish the next plan around spring 2027 and will continue the basic policies of its previous plan, Forward 25, in the meantime. -

The number: Kanadevia's order backlog stood at about ¥2.5tn at the end of June 2026, roughly four times this year's forecast sales, according to the company. It also withdrew its 5 February extraordinary report, citing the end of the talks. -

What to watch: The spring 2027 plan is the next strategic update.

IRISO Electronics' third-party committee says it cannot conclusively establish that money paid to a local lawyer in an overseas labour dispute went to judges, though it says the circumstances make that possible. The connector maker published a partly redacted report on 29 September. The overseas subsidiary paid the lawyer about ¥27mn in March 2021, ahead of a high court ruling, and about ¥50mn in August 2025, in connection with a supreme court ruling in the same dispute. The committee found no direct evidence the money reached judges. - What is established: At a second overseas subsidiary, the committee confirmed long-running improper cash payments to customs officials. Its rough tally for April 2012 to March 2026 is about ¥123.5mn, a figure it warns could be too low or too high. - Accounting: Consolidated statements were prepared using figures from a subsidiary whose year-end closing was unfinished. Two subsidiaries booked March 2023 sales for goods shipped in April or later. The committee found nothing showing the other errors were made deliberately to manipulate profit. -

What to watch: The company plans to announce results for the year to March 2026, plus corrections to earlier earnings summaries, on 30 September, also the extended deadline for its annual securities report. Recurrence-prevention measures will follow later.

Kansai Electric Power decided on 29 September to revise electricity charges from 1 November and filed a change notification for its regulated retail terms with the economy and industry minister. The revision reflects changed grid wheeling charges. Modeled monthly bills for low-voltage households and small users rise between 4.3% and 6.9%, including consumption tax but excluding the fuel cost adjustment and the renewable energy levy. Regulated metered lighting plan A, modeled at 260 kWh a month, goes from ¥6,175 to ¥6,582, up 6.6%. - Bigger users: On the current standard menu, a modeled 820 kW high-voltage user drawing 230,000 kWh a month goes from about ¥5.49mn to about ¥5.61mn, up 2.3%. A 100 kW user rises 2.9%, and the extra-high-voltage examples 0.5%. -

The catch: These are modeled bills at stated contract sizes and usage. Charges for the Tokyo-area low-voltage segment are not in this notice, and Kansai says it will announce them separately. - Other terms: From 1 April 2027, in the liberalized segment, invoice-issuance fees can be billed with the following month's charge, but only where bank-account or credit-card payment fails and Kansai issues a payment slip.