Web View
Japan's trade gap nearly doubles as imports outrun exports
Japan bought more than it sold in September, even as exports grew 16.7%. Plus a Rapidus funding request, a Chinese spending drop, and a BASE shareholder who may vote against directors.
MARKETS
Market pulse
Tokyo equities advanced while the 10Y JGB yield nudged lower.
Sourced from Nikkei, JPX, BOJ, MOF - values, not commentary.
lead
Imports Outrun Exports
Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled in September as imports outran exports
Japan ran a trade deficit of ¥536.6bn in September, almost double the ¥277.7bn gap a year earlier. Exports rose 16.7% to ¥10.97tn, but imports rose 18.9% to ¥11.51tn, according to the Ministry of Finance's preliminary customs figures released on 21 October. It was the fifth straight monthly deficit.
The number: Value outran volume. Export volume rose 1.9%, while import volume fell 1.6%. The price indices moved further apart: export prices rose 14.5% and import prices 20.8%.
What changed: Crude oil imports rose 51.1% to ¥1.11tn, although volume rose only 3.1%. LNG imports rose 39.2% to ¥590.6bn while volume fell 7.3%. On the export side, semiconductors and other electronic parts rose 49.4% to ¥933.7bn, the largest single contribution to export growth, and cars rose 15.1% to ¥1.72tn.
Zoom out: The surplus with the United States shrank 23.4% to ¥392.8bn, the tenth straight monthly fall, as imports from the US rose 44.8% against export growth of 22.9%. The deficit with China widened 32.5% to ¥1.03tn, and car exports to China fell 59.8% to ¥37.4bn.
The catch: All values are nominal and preliminary, so revisions would change the exact gap. On a seasonally adjusted basis the deficit was ¥704.0bn.
secondary
Macro and Policy
Inbound spending edges up 3.2% even as Chinese outlay falls 39.8%
Preliminary figures put July to September inbound spending at ¥2.2076tn, up 3.2%, as higher per-head spending and gains from Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong outweighed a 39.8% fall in Chinese spending.
Tokyo seeks ¥400bn of Rapidus investment and presses EU on EV preferences
METI is requesting government industrial investment in Rapidus over 2027 to 2029, which the minister put at ¥400bn on his recollection, and says Tokyo is pressing the EU to treat Japanese EVs as equivalent to EU-made ones.
Katayama knows of no fraud from leaked ID images, but FSA wants chip-based identity checks
Japan's finance minister said the government is not aware of loans or bank accounts opened using leaked identity documents, yet the FSA has already asked financial institutions to verify customers by reading ID chips and to police their contractors.
Japan's FSA sets early 2027 target for on-chain finance roadmap in tokenisation study group agenda
A second meeting in early 2027 is meant to produce an interim summary and public-private roadmap on on-chain finance, after the FSA's study group was scheduled to hear Nomura and Securitize Japan on 20 October; four payment and settlement pilots remain trials.
secondary
Companies and Holders
Infroneer's priced share sale caps proceeds at ¥114bn, all for short-term loans
Infroneer priced 47.8 million new shares at ¥2,179.5, a 3.00% discount to its reference price, and now expects net proceeds of up to ¥114.1bn, all for short-term loan repayment by December 2026.
BASE's top shareholder reaches 28.36% and says he may vote against directors
BASE's largest shareholder puts his stake at 28.36% in an amended report, with ¥10.52bn of margin credit in the funding, and says he may vote against directors and plans to propose a nominating-committee board once SBINM's tender offer ends.
Olympus says FDA import alerts will not dent its profit guidance
Olympus expects no additional hit to results for the year to March 2027 from FDA import alerts that restrict certain products from three of its facilities from entering the US until further notice.
Yamazen lifts profit guidance as chip, AI and defence demand beats its plan
Yamazen lifted its full-year operating profit forecast to ¥17.9bn from ¥15.0bn, saying chip, AI, data-centre and defence demand ran above plan and that some products are due to ship earlier than expected.
quick hits
Quick Hits
Japan's September arrivals fall 5.0% as China drops 44.5%, while seven markets set records
Read moreVisitors to Japan fell 5.0% to 3,103,700 in September on JNTO's preliminary estimate, with China down 44.5%; South Korea, Taiwan and the Middle East set September records that offset only part of the drop.
Digital Arts finds intruder traces dating to July 2025 in cloud operations, asks all cloud users to change passwords
Read moreDigital Arts says stolen operating credentials gave a third party access to its cloud environment, with traces dating to around July 2025; as of noon on October 21 it had not confirmed data exfiltration, and it asks users of six cloud services to change passwords.
Koike Sanso Kogyo postpones interim results after cyberattack, now expected past the 45-day statutory deadline
Read moreKoike Sanso Kogyo has postponed its November 9 interim results because systems remain disrupted after an October 5 cyberattack, and it expects the announcement to pass the 45-day statutory deadline; the notice gives no new date.
Effissimo raises Tamron stake to 18.90%, leaves door open to more buying
Read moreEffissimo Capital Management reports an 18.90% Tamron holding, up from 18.54%, and says it has no specific plan to add more than 5 percentage points, though takeover proposals including Sony's could lead it to buy more.
Japan proposes adding 35 substances to chemical label and SDS duties from April 2029
Read moreDraft health ministry amendments would extend labeling and safety-data-sheet duties to 35 more substances from April 2029, while diethyl phthalate would leave the list and its exposure rules from February 2027; comments are due 18 November.
Japan proposes nationwide geographical indication for honkaku shochu, with distillation and bottling required in Japan
Read moreOnly shochu fermented and distilled in Japan in single-distillation stills, then stored and bottled there, could carry the honkaku label under a draft the tax agency opened for comment until 20 November.
Japan Metropolitan Fund guides to a 17% profit drop but a ¥3,000 payout
Read moreA large diversified J-REIT lifted its distribution slightly to ¥3,012 per unit for the half to August 2026, and guides to ¥3,000 for the next half even as forecast net income falls 17.1%, with reserve reversals filling the gap.
Fuji Seal board resolves to start union talks on closing French subsidiary
Read moreFuji Seal International's board resolved to begin union consultations toward closing Fuji Seal France, with the final decision to follow talks under local law and the consolidated earnings impact still under review.