ECONOMY

Japan has offered to import more rice from the United States in response to strident calls from Washington to make a concession toward concluding Pacific Rim free trade talks, negotiation sources said Friday. (Kyodo)

Japan's Nikkei share average rose on Friday as strong company earnings led by Nomura Holdings and Advantest Corp buoyed the sentiment, but a sell-off in index-heavyweight SoftBank Corp limited the gains. (thehindubusinessline.com)

Japan's job availability rose in December to its best level in 22 years while the unemployment rate improved to 3.4 percent, suggesting that companies are willing to hire more workers as corporate profits recover, the government said Friday. (Kyodo)

Tokyo stocks closed 1.06 percent lower on Thursday, with videogame giant Nintendo and Canon tumbling after their latest earnings disappointed investors, and after Wall Street fell sharply. (globalpost.com)

The top leaders of Japan's biggest business group and labor union umbrella body held a meeting Thursday, marking the start of "shunto" wage negotiations this year. (Jiji Press)

The top US trade official says he expects countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal to reach agreement on agricultural tariffs within several months. (NHK)

Japan Inc has changed too much for traditional monetary and fiscal incentives to work on their own. So the ripest targets for the Bank of Japan could well lie outside Tokyo and the headquarters of the country's once world-beating companies (business-standard.com)

Japan stocks gained further on Wednesday to a fresh one-month high, as the yen weakened versus the greenback ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the day. (marketwatch.com)

Japanese stocks pulled back on Monday as investors worried about Greece remaining in the eurozone after an anti-austerity party won Sunday's election. (morningstar.com)

Japan logged a customs-cleared trade deficit of 660.7 billion yen in December, much smaller than the year-before deficit of 1,307.2 billion yen, the Ministry of Finance said Monday. (Jiji Press)