New rules, public consultations, subsidies and regulator actions in Japan, in English.
The third-round program offers partial support for obtaining patents, utility models, designs and trademarks abroad for SMEs and research institutions. The public listing does not give a subsidy rate, cap or deadline, so it is directionally useful but not yet a full budgeting document.
Japan's Financial Services Agency has proposed amending its supervisory guidelines so regional and smaller lenders are judged against scenario-based checks, not simple extensions of current conditions. The draft says supervisors should examine local economic and customer assumptions, future costs such as system replacements and impairments, the sustainability of lending and fee income, dividend policy, stress scenarios and whether the staff needed to execute plans are actually in place. The backdrop is blunt. The FSA says deposit balances at regional institutions are stagnating as populations shrink, that at shinkin banks and credit cooperatives the number of institutions with falling personal deposits has exceeded the number with rising balances since December 2023, and that securities valuation losses at shinkin banks and credit cooperatives continue to widen. The rule is still only a draft, and the packet cuts off before the full trigger language for tougher follow-up, but the message is clear: optimistic spreadsheets are no longer enough.
The FSA logged 15,765 consumer submissions in January to March, up 989 from the previous quarter. Investment products remained the largest category at 5,449, deposits and lending reached 4,226, insurance rose to 2,423, and crypto-related contacts were the only major bucket to fall, to 1,466. Website submissions also jumped to 6,196 from 4,707 even as phone intake slipped, a useful conduct-temperature check even if it is not an enforcement league table.
A new Environment Ministry-backed program invites applications until July 3 for projects that link data-center buildout to zero-emission and resilience goals. Useful read-through for cloud, power and infrastructure suppliers: Japan wants cleaner compute, not just more racks.
Japan's new call covers transport, logistics, wholesale and retail, fuel stations, auto maintenance, medical care and nursing care, with applications open from June 4 to June 25. The point is to fund demonstration projects that can improve profitability enough to be copied nationwide.
METI reopened applications for support aimed at technology transfer, research and studies tied to cleaner fossil-fuel infrastructure and lower-carbon fuel pathways in resource-rich countries. The round runs through June 22 and is framed as market creation plus supply security, not climate policy in isolation.
The nationwide program targets offices, commercial facilities and similar properties, and the summary says the business sector accounted for about 20% of Japan's CO2 emissions in 2023. The portal shows a ceiling of up to JPY 1 billion, but subsidy rates and eligible costs sit in the full guidelines, which is classic grant-program fine print.
A new nationwide subsidy call backs demonstration projects for low-CO2 recycling and recycled-material quality in solar panels, vehicle batteries, glass and metal-bearing electronics, with applications open from June 2 to July 1 and a maximum subsidy amount of JPY 278.2 million. The policy aim is industrial as much as environmental: better recovery and better-quality recycled inputs, not just more waste collection.
A prefectural subsidy open through June 30 offers up to JPY 10,000,000 for SMEs investing in new technology, services, DX and other revenue-building projects. The design is the interesting bit: it tries to make pay rises stick by underwriting productivity and competitiveness first.
Applications are open through June 30 for large demonstration projects in non-ASEAN markets, with subsidies capped at JPY 4 billion and rates of up to one-half, or up to two-thirds for SMEs. The ministry says the scheme should help Japanese firms find new markets, respond to US tariff pressure and reduce dependence on specific countries.
Japan's first application round backs projects using IoT, big-data tools, AI and drones, with applications open from June 4 to June 24 and projects running through February 26, 2027. For vendors and operators alike, the state is paying to see which tools work on live infrastructure rather than in slide decks.
The grant targets technology transfer, surveys and research tied to decarbonizing fossil-fuel infrastructure or supporting hydrogen, ammonia and biofuel markets in resource-rich countries. Applications run through June 22, with a maximum subsidy amount of JPY 1.2 billion and support rates of fixed amount, two-thirds or one-half.
The FSA has published a page that pulls together the ordinance for electronic payment instruments and crypto-asset service intermediation with a registry showing 27 registered crypto-asset exchange service providers as of April 30. Useful compliance plumbing, in other words, though the English page is machine translated and the roster is only a dated snapshot.
The new program backs demonstration projects to improve domestic recycling and recover non-ferrous and rare metals from renewable-energy products and related materials. Again, policy direction rather than awarded money.
The program offers subsidies of up to ¥4 billion for large overseas demonstrations outside ASEAN and is pitched as both market-making and supply-chain diversification. Useful policy money, but still only an application call.
The program supports training, technology transfer, petroleum infrastructure upgrades and development surveys in producer countries, explicitly linking overseas industrial work to fuel security at home. Applications are open, awards are not.
The second call backs decarbonization work at fossil-fuel infrastructure in resource-rich countries, along with technology transfer, surveys and research in fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels. Applications run from June 1 to June 22, so this is a funding window, not an award notice.
The new page links the governing ordinance for electronic payment instrument and crypto-asset intermediation to the register of 27 crypto-asset exchange service providers dated April 30. The useful catch is in the fine print: the English page is machine-translated and not necessarily correct, which compliance teams should treat as more than decorative honesty.
Comment results on revised supervisory guidance put more explicit weight on training insurance solicitors, auditing agencies, setting deadlines for fixes and giving the regulator room for off-site monitoring and in-depth hearings. The package also revisits the rule on special benefits in solicitation, though the public excerpts do not show every detail of the final wording.
The agency's draft for CPAs and audit firms explicitly adds proliferation financing to existing anti-money-laundering and terrorist-financing guidance and says the framework is aligned with FATF standards and a risk-based approach. The visible requirements stress customer due diligence, beneficial-owner checks, enhanced review for higher-risk transactions and record retention, which is bureaucratic language for 'please be ready to show your work.'
Japan's regulator created a reference page for electronic-payment-instrument and crypto-asset service intermediaries that links the governing Cabinet Office Ordinance and the official provider registry. The linked list shows 27 registered crypto-asset exchange service providers as of April 30, though the page also warns that machine-translated text may not be accurate.
The FSA's public-comment update keeps the familiar compliance requirements but puts more weight on day-to-day education, management guidance, agency audits and deadline-based remediation when problems are found. It also adds a clearer section on supervisory methods and responses, including in-depth hearings, off-site monitoring and report requests when needed.
March discussion points published by the FSA tell lenders to keep funding businesses facing higher prices, labour shortages, US tariff measures and Middle East tensions, stay ready for Nankai Trough disruption, and use revised guidance to step up regional succession, M&A and turnaround support. It is a meeting summary rather than a new rulebook, but it reads like a supervisor's to-do list for the months ahead.
In the FSA's latest tables through end-April, regional banks posted a 98.9% resolved-case rate on SME loan-term change requests, ahead of 96.9% at major banks. Housing cases were softer at 93.4% overall, and the agency warns the tables include some earlier applications, so this is a stocktake rather than a neat monthly trend.