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July 12, 2026
 

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ENERGY

Tanker trucks line up at an oil terminal in Yokohama earlier this month amid surging oil prices due to the Iran conflict.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2026
Iran war exposes the global economy’s vulnerability
Oil is the Achilles heel of the global economy. Skyrocketing gasoline prices get considerable attention with good reason, but their real impact is more extensive than imagined.
At 10:59 a.m. on Thursday, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security commenced the release of about 400,000 kiloliters of oil from the Kikuma National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 26, 2026
Oil starts flowing from Japan’s national reserves
The release is part of the country’s 80-million-barrel contribution to a coordinated global intervention.
A hydrogen-powered hotel in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, on Wednesday
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2026
World’s first hydrogen-powered hotel opens in Fukushima Prefecture
The town where the hotel is located is also home to one of the world’s largest hydrogen production bases.
The energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is strengthening the case for electric vehicles for some consumers. Chinese carmakers are expected to be the big winners.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2026
The oil shock is accelerating Asia’s EV revolution
EVs have already hit solid double-digit market shares in multiple emerging markets, as falling battery costs and tax incentives helped undercut conventional cars.
People queue to fill their two-wheelers in Ahmedabad, India, on March 23.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 26, 2026
Asia braces for worst-case energy scenarios as Iran war drags on
In the weeks since the Middle East conflict began, nations have shifted into emergency footing, highlighting the Strait of Hormuz’s importance to global energy flows.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol pose at the beginning of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2026
Takaichi asks IEA chief to prepare additional ‘coordinated release’ of oil
The head of the International Energy Agency has said he is “ready to move forward” with an additional release of oil reserves “if and when necessary.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency late Tuesday, saying there is an "imminent danger of a critically low energy supply.”
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 25, 2026
Philippines declares emergency as energy supplies run short
There is an “imminent danger of a critically low energy supply,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in an executive order late Tuesday.
An oil tanker anchors off Muscat, Oman, on March 7, as regional tensions amid the U.S.-Israeli-Iran conflict have virtually closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 25, 2026
War in the Persian Gulf means volatility in the global energy market
Japanese companies have long assumed a stable future energy supply. That assumption is no longer secure.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks with Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama during a plenary session of the House of Councilors in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2026
Takaichi prepares provisional budget as the nature of debate shifts
The development has provided ammunition for the opposition to accuse the Takaichi administration for political mismanagement.
An ethanol distillery plant at a sugar mill in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The ethanol industry is struggling as the supply of the fuel now outstrips demand.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2026
India’s ethanol producers feel the pinch of success
For the 2025 to 2026 ethanol supply year, Indian oil companies sought bids for about 10.50 billion liters of the fuel, but producers offered around 17.76 billion liters.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Trump and Modi discuss Strait of Hormuz as India faces gas shortage
The war in the Middle East has cut off flows of crude oil and liquefied natural gas, driving up prices and sparking volatility in global markets.
Prices are displayed at a gas station in Nagano last week. Japan's government is making efforts to prevent the prices of petroleum products rising excessively.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2026
Oil tankers that did not transit the Strait of Hormuz to arrive in Japan soon
One departed from the Red Sea and the other from a port just beyond the strait
Then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo (front) addresses the media at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port in December 2015 at a ceremony marking the launch of the first of five new floating power stations to meet the country’s growing demand for energy.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2026
Building the energy resilience ASEAN+3 needs
Strengthening energy resilience is not only an energy-policy priority; it is a macroeconomic imperative.
Japan’s core consumer prices, excluding fresh food, rose 1.6% year on year in February, the smallest increase since March 2022, the internal affairs ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 24, 2026
Japan’s inflation slips below BOJ’s target for the first time since 2022
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said he isn’t ruling out an interest rate hike at the next meeting in April, citing the need to monitor both upside and downside risks to prices.
Gantry cranes and shipping containers at the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on May 14, 2025.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 24, 2026
Some Chinese exporters lift prices on rising costs due to war
Exporters across the world’s second-largest economy began raising prices last week as oil-linked costs surged and the conflict showed no sign of easing.
On Saturday, ​Trump had ‌warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to "fully open" the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44 p.m. EDT on Monday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Trump delays threat to bomb Iran power plants as he touts progress in talks
The price of the Brent crude oil ​benchmark was down around 7% near $104.
A cargo ship in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, on March 11
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Iran defies Trump’s Hormuz ultimatum with naval mine threat
The ramped-up rhetoric came after stark warnings that the world faces an energy crisis worse than both 1970s oil shocks combined if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran drags on.
A vintage car drives along an empty street as Cuba begins efforts to restore power after its grid collapsed for the second time in a week, amid a U.S. oil blockade that has dealt a major blow to the island's already ailing energy infrastructure, in Havana on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 23, 2026
Power restored to Cuba after second nationwide blackout in a week
There have been seven nationwide blackouts since 2024, making life more difficult for Cubans, who fear food will spoil in refrigerators, among other problems.
Two men work next to a sign for CERAWeek in Houston, Texas, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 23, 2026
Middle East war to dominate Houston’s ‘Davos of Energy’
The attacks on critical energy facilities in Gulf countries have exacerbated a global oil and gas supply picture already upended by the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The liquefied natural gas production facility in Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 20, 2026
Weeks of war are reshaping the global gas market for years to come
Three weeks of conflict in the Middle East have upended the entire energy supply chain and LNG may be one of the most acute pain points in an expanding crisis.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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