Japan in February 2026: the most important developments in economy
Japan's economy in February 2026 was marked by a change of leadership at Toyota. The company named its finance chief, Kenta Kon, as chief executive, replacing the president after three years. The announcement came with a 43% fall in profit, including a $9 billion cost from US tariffs, and a raised full-year operating profit forecast. Toyota also rejected pressure from the investor Elliott Management to raise its $34 billion offer to take affiliate Toyota Industries private, and launched its most powerful electric SUV. Toyota Industries, Mazda and Mitsubishi Motors agreed in full to union wage demands in the spring labour talks.
Chips and critical minerals formed a second theme. TSMC said it will produce 3-nanometer chips at its Kumamoto plant, with reported investment of about $17 billion, and Rapidus received a further 267.6 billion yen in funding. The United States, the European Union, Mexico and Japan announced a critical minerals partnership. Japan began extracting rare-earth mud from the Pacific seabed. China added Japanese entities, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to an export control list, between 20 and 40 in reports; Tokyo protested and demanded withdrawal, while Beijing called the measure justified.
Markets moved after Sanae Takaichi's landslide election victory. The Nikkei 225 set records, approaching 58,000 points, and the yen strengthened after falling to about 157 per dollar early in the month. National debt reached a record 1,342 trillion yen, and the government submitted a record draft budget for fiscal 2026. The IMF urged Japan to keep raising interest rates. President Donald Trump announced the first Japanese investments under the $550 billion US-Japan trade deal, including $36 billion for energy and industrial projects.
Results at other companies varied. Honda's quarterly operating profit fell more than 60% on electric vehicle restructuring costs. Nissan forecast a net loss of $4.2 billion and recalled about 643,000 Rogue SUVs in the United States. SoftBank posted a record nine-month net profit on gains from OpenAI. Panasonic is handing its US and European television sales to China's Skyworth. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, the world's largest, resumed operation.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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