What Japan is telling
the market now

Magazine-style cover photograph of a neat display of folded T-shirts, striped socks and towels inside a Japanese convenience store, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid.

Oct 16, 2026

Japan’s Convenience Stores Are Becoming Clothing Stores. Traffic Has Fallen for 14 Straight Months, So FamilyMart Wants ¥30 Billion in Apparel

Same-store traffic at Japan's convenience stores has fallen for 14 months. FamilyMart, Seven-Eleven and Lawson are betting on socks, T-shirts and fashion…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a glass of golden beer with white foam beside stacked unbranded beer cans in a Japanese supermarket aisle, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid.

Oct 15, 2026

Japan Just Made Real Beer Cheaper and Cheap Beer Dearer. Supermarket Beer Sales Jumped 19.5% in Three Days

On 1 October 2026 Japan taxed beer, happoshu and new-genre beer at one rate of 54.25 yen per can. What changed, how…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a delivery driver carrying parcels along a quiet Tokyo residential street at dawn beside an unmarked white van, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid.

Oct 14, 2026

Japan Post Just Raised Yu-Pack Rates by About 10%. Sagawa Follows in January at 13.8%, While Yamato Loses Volume

Japan Post raised Yu-Pack rates about 10% on 1 October; Sagawa follows at about 13.8% in January. What changed, who is gaining…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a traveller in a dark suit walking through a bright airport departure hall with shopping bags and a suitcase toward a row of white self-service kiosks, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid.

Oct 13, 2026

Japan Is Ending Instant Tax-Free Shopping on 1 November. Foreign Visitors Spent ¥9.46 Trillion Last Year Under the Old Rules

From 1 November 2026, foreign visitors in Japan pay full price and get the consumption tax back only after customs confirms the…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a minimalist flagship clothing store with a wall of neatly folded knitwear and a navy down jacket on a wooden table, a New York avenue with a yellow taxi visible through the window, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid.

Oct 12, 2026

Uniqlo Now Sells More in America and Europe Than in China. Inside the ¥3.96 Trillion Year That Moved Japan’s Biggest Clothing Brand West

Fast Retailing's fiscal 2026 results show Uniqlo's North America and Europe revenue overtaking Greater China for the first time. What the shift…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a hand reaching for a plain black-and-white potato chip bag on a Japanese supermarket shelf, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid on the left.

Oct 11, 2026

Japan Has Repriced 20,187 Food Items This Year. Calbee’s Chip Bags Went Black and White, Beer Got a New Tax Map — and Aeon Says Thrift Is Here to Stay

Japan's food makers have repriced 20,187 items in 2026. An oil shock turned Calbee's bags black and white, beer tax was unified…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a professional studio condenser microphone with a pop filter in a dark Tokyo recording booth beside a smartphone showing a glowing blue audio waveform, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid on the left.

Oct 5, 2026

A Jujutsu Kaisen Voice Actor Sued TikTok Over 188 AI-Cloned Videos. He Lost the Case — and Won Japan’s First Ruling That a Voice Is Protected Like a Face

A Tokyo court dismissed voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda's case against TikTok over 188 AI-narrated videos, yet ruled for the first time that…

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Magazine-style cover photograph of a white electric SUV with a roof-mounted sensor dome driving through a rain-slicked central Tokyo intersection at dusk, with Japan Market Pulse cover text overlaid on the left.

Sep 20, 2026

Waymo Gives 500,000 Rides a Week in America. In Tokyo, It Will Start With About 100 Cars — and a Taxi Company Founded Nearly 100 Years Ago

Waymo plans driverless paid rides in Tokyo in 2027 with about 100 cars. Instead of competing with drivers as it does in…

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Photograph of a woman checking in at an app-based QR kiosk inside an unstaffed chocoZAP gym in Japan, with exercise machines visible in the background.

Sep 19, 2026

The Gym With 1,962 Locations and No Trainers: How chocoZAP Quietly Beat Anytime Fitness in Japan — and Just Expanded to Malaysia

In under four years, Japan's unstaffed chocoZAP gym chain grew to more locations than Anytime Fitness has built in 15 years —…

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What Japan is tellingthe market now

From insight to launch

What Japan is telling
the market now