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, THU., OCT. 8, 2026No. 4 · 6:00 p.m. JST6 p.m. JST
日経平均69,042.11▼1.42%10/8TOPIX4,091.46▼1.51%10/8ドル円158.17▲0.07円10/8S&P 5007,801.77▼0.22%10/7WTI$88.28▼1.30%10/7金$4,140.70▼1.11%10/7
PoliticsPress ✓ 5 outlets · remarks attributed to speakers; PR-budget answer wording from one outlet only

Takaichi keeps farm minister Yana: remark “inappropriate,” he was “sternly warned.” Tax cut to be funded “without deficit bonds”

Upper house questioning began. The farm minister who spoke of “cutting” road budgets stays. The prime minister said a cut in the consumption tax on food would be funded by reviewing both spending and revenue, but gave no figures. A tenfold budget request by the cabinet's PR office also drew questions

The House of Councillors on Oct. 8 opened interpellations on the policy speech of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (高市早苗). They run through Oct. 9. One focus was Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana (簗和生). Bunshun Online and Shukan Shincho reported that he said he had “sharply cut the fiscal 2026 road budget” for Nasukarasuyama (那須烏山) and Nakagawa (那珂川), two towns in his home district in Tochigi Prefecture whose mayors backed his opponent in the February lower house election. On Oct. 5 he retracted the remark and apologized, saying he never pressed the ministry in charge to cut anything. On Oct. 6 the land ministry said Yana had made no request or pressure to reduce funds, but disclosed that he had asked about road budgets in mid-February. In her answer, Takaichi called the remark “inappropriate” and said she had “sternly warned” him. She ruled out his dismissal and kept him on. On Oct. 7 she had said it was “a matter of course not to bring political support or opposition into budget allocation.” Yana told the chamber he would “do his utmost in his duties.” Yuichiro Tamaki (玉木雄一郎), leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said the real question was whether administration had been distorted, and called for a probe across all ministries. Fumitake Fujita (藤田文武), co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai, also criticized him sharply. Inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Koichi Hagiuda (萩生田光一), the acting secretary-general, urged Yana to explain himself.

On the consumption tax cut, Takaichi answered Masayo Tanabu (田名部匡代), secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party, that the money would be found “without relying on deficit-financing bonds, by reviewing both spending and revenue.” According to NHK, she also said social security funding would not be affected. She gave no figures on what would be cut, by how much, or where new revenue would come from. She used the same “without relying on deficit-financing bonds” line in her Oct. 5 policy speech, and Kyodo News reported that no concrete funding plan emerged in lower house questioning either. The related bill will be a focus of this Diet session. The other issue is public relations spending. The Cabinet Public Relations Office asked for about ¥7.2 billion in its fiscal 2027 budget request, more than 10 times this year's roughly ¥700 million. About ¥6.5 billion would go to “strengthening domestic outreach.” Together with the Cabinet Office's ¥28.05 billion for government PR, the total comes to about ¥35 billion. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (木原稔) said in September that old methods made it hard to reach all generations. The Kyoto Shimbun said in an editorial that the plan put one-way messaging ahead of explanations to the Diet. The increase came up again on Oct. 8, but DailyDrop could not confirm the exact wording of the prime minister's answer with two outlets.

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By the numbers
¥7.2 billionThe cabinet PR office's fiscal 2027 request. About ¥700 million this year
¥35 billionTotal PR-related request including the ¥28.05 billion government PR budget
2 townsMunicipalities Yana reportedly named as places where he “cut the road budget”
Economy · MarketsPress ✓ 2 outlets · morning figures and causes attributed to Nikkei and NHK

Nikkei falls again, drops below 70,000. Down 662 points by midday, more than 800 at one point

The Nikkei Stock Average fell for a second day in Tokyo on Oct. 8. At the morning close it stood at 69,373.40, down 662.31 points, or 0.95%. At one point the loss topped 800 points. According to the Nikkei newspaper, just under 90% of stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market declined. In New York the day before, the 10-year Treasury yield briefly hit its highest level since 2002, and the Dow fell back. A 10-year Treasury auction drew strong demand, and the yield eased from its peak to the 5.2% range, but selling in Tokyo did not stop. Worry over rising global interest rates drove the selling, and some chip-related stocks that had been bought heavily saw profit-taking (NHK). The Nikkei also reported that shifts in supply and demand tied to the move to the New TOPIX prompted selling of Mitsubishi Corp. That selling came from the index being rebuilt, not from earnings. The Nikkei had already closed 648 points lower on Oct. 7. It lost the 70,000 level, regained on Oct. 6 for the first time in three months, within two days. The two-day drop exceeds 1,000 points. The sheer number of decliners shows the selling spread across the whole market, not just chip stocks. For the afternoon moves and the closing level, see the market box at top.

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Word of the day
New TOPIXMARKETS

Japan Exchange Group's overhaul of TOPIX, the Tokyo Stock Price Index. It narrows the index using criteria such as the market value of tradable shares, and gradually lowers the weight of stocks that fall short. Funds that track the index trade mechanically to match the changes. Stocks whose weights change see buying and selling that has nothing to do with earnings.

Economy · FinancePress ✓ 6 outlets · headcounts and amounts from the company

Prudential Life fires 64 sales agents. Report blames “obsession with sales results”; president and others return 30% of pay

Prudential Life Insurance Japan on Oct. 8 released the report of a third-party committee of outside lawyers into sales agents who swindled money from customers. The report concluded that a culture prizing sales results bred the misconduct, and that management knew the risks but failed to act or fix them. The company put losses from improper money transfers at about ¥5.2 billion. It disciplined 157 agents involved, including some who had left. Of those, 64 received disciplinary dismissal or dismissal with notice, 68 were suspended and 25 got reprimands or similar penalties.

President Tokumaru (得丸博充) and two other executives will voluntarily return 30% of their monthly pay for three months. At an afternoon news conference he admitted “a structural problem as a company” and apologized. To prevent a recurrence, the company will revise a pay system weighted toward commissions, add a guaranteed minimum salary and cut its branches by more than half next year. The Financial Services Agency plans to issue a partial business suspension order under the Insurance Business Act soon, reportedly for three months. A business improvement order for the parent company is also under consideration. The ¥5.2 billion in losses far exceeds the roughly ¥3.1 billion reported earlier. The company has voluntarily halted new policy sales since February.

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Society · TechnologyPress ✓ 4 outlets · number affected from the company

Ransomware hits SoftBank unit's cloud. 495 companies and local governments affected; frozen-food shipments halted

IDC Frontier, a SoftBank subsidiary, said a system failure in East Japan Region 1 of its IDCF Cloud service around 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 7 was caused by a ransomware attack. The failure occurred at a data center in Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture. To keep the damage from spreading, the company cut the site off from the network and shut down systems. As a result, 495 client companies and local governments cannot use the service.

The impact continued on Oct. 8. A group company of the food maker Nissui cannot receive or ship frozen foods, with no recovery date in sight. At the child-care service Poppins, the member page and app used to book babysitters are down, and bookings are being taken by email and phone. Related reports say websites of Ibaraki Prefecture and its police could not be viewed (not confirmed by DailyDrop). How the attackers got in and whether data was taken are under investigation. There has been no report on whether a ransom was demanded. The full extent is not yet clear. After last week's breaches at the Yakiniku King restaurant chain and a Daiwa Securities contractor, this time the infrastructure that runs companies' daily work stopped.

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Society · ElectionsPress ✓ 4 outlets · ruling details attributed to reports; ruling not final

Tokyo High Court overturns ruling that voided Nasu mayor's win. Ballots mixing surnames and given names flip result again

In the March 22 mayoral election in Nasu (那須), Tochigi Prefecture, incumbent Yukihiro Hirayama (平山幸宏) won with 5,099 votes, just one more than runner-up Noriyuki Oyamada (小山田典之). On a petition from Oyamada's side, the Tochigi prefectural election commission rechecked every ballot, found Oyamada ahead by two votes, and voided Hirayama's win. Hirayama sued at the Tokyo High Court to overturn that annulment, arguing that ballots unclear as to which candidate was meant should be invalid. At issue were mixed-name ballots such as “Hirayama Noriyuki” (平山のりゆき) and “Oyamada Yukihiro” (小山田ゆきひろ), which combine one candidate's surname with the other's given name.

On Oct. 8 the Tokyo High Court, under Presiding Judge Ehara (江原健志), overturned the commission's decision. It ruled some mixed ballots invalid, and counted as valid for Hirayama ballots such as “Hirayama Hiroyuki” and a part-kana “Hirayama Fumihiro” that the commission had thrown out. According to the Shimotsuke Shimbun and others, the recount puts Hirayama three votes ahead, making him the winner again. The margin has swung from one vote to two to three with each decision. The court drew a line: ballots whose intent cannot be read are not counted. But the ruling is not final. Whether the commission files a final appeal to the Supreme Court will decide what happens to the town government.

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In brief
  • Samsung Electronics' preliminary July-September operating profit was 107.4 trillion won (about ¥12.6 trillion), 8.8 times a year earlier and a record. It topped 100 trillion won in a quarter for the first timeNikkei · NHK · Kyodo · Jiji
  • Japan ran a current account surplus of ¥4.062 trillion in August (Finance Ministry). Dividends from overseas subsidiaries swelled the primary income surplus to ¥5.1332 trillion, while trade was in deficitNHK · ABEMA · Reuters
  • Takaichi told the lower house that “this is not a phase that calls for reflationary policy.” Answering Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People, she said Japan's economy is not in deflationAsahi · Bloomberg · Reuters
  • The Dow fell 341 points on Oct. 7 to 51,179, its first loss in five sessionsYomiuri · Reuters
  • Strong demand at a 10-year Treasury auction. The long-term yield eased from a 24-year high to the 5.2% rangeNikkei · Reuters
  • The Brewers beat the Padres 3-1 in their series, setting up an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers. Padres reliever Yuki Matsui (松井裕樹) pitched well two days runningYahoo! News · Nikkan Sports
Seven minutes every evening, one front page — see About

Unverified — what we could not confirm

“The U.S. military has set a date to strike Iran.” What was reported is an order to “finish preparations.” The outlet that reported it says no start date was included and the president has not made a final decision.
“Prudential has been ordered to suspend business.” The three-month partial suspension is still the FSA's “plan” and “expectation.” DailyDrop could not confirm a formal order as of the evening of Oct. 8.
“Hirayama is confirmed as Nasu mayor.” The high court only overturned the commission's decision. The ruling is not final. If appealed, the Supreme Court will decide.
Glossary · dotted words — economics, law, security and science terms explained in the context of the story. The list grows every day.
INSIDETakaichi keeps farm minister Yana: remark “inappropriate,” he was “sternly warned.” Tax cut to be funded “without deficit bonds”PoliticsNikkei falls again, drops below 70,000. Down 662 points by midday, more than 800 at one pointEconomy · MarketsPrudential Life fires 64 sales agents. Report blames “obsession with sales results”; president and others return 30% of payEconomy · FinanceRansomware hits SoftBank unit's cloud. 495 companies and local governments affected; frozen-food shipments haltedSociety · TechnologyTokyo High Court overturns ruling that voided Nasu mayor's win. Ballots mixing surnames and given names flip result againSociety · Elections