Press Conference by Minister Akazawa (Excerpt)

*Note: This is a provisional translation for reference purposes only.

5:08‒5:38 p.m.
Friday, November 28, 2025
Press Conference Room, METI Main Building

Opening Remarks

FY2025 draft supplementary budget related to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)

I will explain the FY2025 draft supplementary budget related to METI. The budget aims to protect people’s daily lives from inflation and to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in gaining the strength to achieve wage increases that outpace inflation. The public is particularly interested in our support for their electricity and gas bills during the severe winter season. The Government of Japan will provide an average household with 7,300 yen in subsidies over three months. In January and February, when the weather is especially harsh, the subsidies will exceed 3,000 yen per month, demonstrating our commitment to offering generous support. Regarding gasoline, we will gradually increase subsidies to phase out the provisional tax rates by the end of the year. The tax surcharge on diesel fuel will also be reduced in phases, but after its final reduction, the actual abolition of the provisional tax rate will need to wait until April 1 of next year. Next, we will make all-out efforts to help leading medium enterprises (LMEs), SMEs, and small business operators strengthen their growth power by boosting corporate growth and productivity, thereby enabling them to achieve wage increases that outpace inflation. We aim to motivate SMEs to grow stronger through changing their business behaviors and to build a society where people are rewarded for their efforts. We hope to shift towards a culture that rewards companies and individuals who embrace change, rather than rewarding those who try to maintain the status quo. We have allocated 836.4 billion yen in government spending for this purpose, up 300.0 billion yen from the previous fiscal year, which shows our commitment to building a strong economy. When unused portions of existing funds are included, the direct government expenditure amounts to 1.13 trillion yen, an increase of 100 billion yen from last year’s 1 trillion yen. To support growth-oriented companies aiming to achieve annual sales of 10 billion yen, we will help them scale up by offering investment subsidies, provided they meet specific wage-increase requirements. The support for scaling-up businesses has tripled from last year’s 100 billion yen to roughly 320 billion yen. We have also secured around 420 billion yen, including some balances from last year, to provide proactive and meticulous management support to companies aiming to upgrade their capabilities, even if they are not pursuing the level of scale mentioned earlier. Specifically, we will aim to improve productivity and restructure our subsidies for manufacturing, digitalization, AI implementation, labor-saving measures, small-scale business sustainability, and so forth. This category of support is also preconditioned on wage increases. In all, these budgets are for crisis management investment and growth investment aimed at achieving a strong economy. With regard to rare earths, a hot topic today, we have allocated 93.7 billion yen to mine development and smelting, as well as reinforcing national stockpiles to secure stable supplies of critical minerals, thereby strengthening Japan’s industrial supply chains. The spending for rare earths has increased slightly from last year’s level. We have earmarked 46.6 billion yen to drive domestic production of critical materials such as drones and permanent magnets with a focus on capital investments , a significant increase over last year’s 5.1 billion yen. For quantum computers, a next-generation R&D theme, we have designated more than 100 billion yen, approximately double last year’s level. We have newly allocated 20 billion yen, or 60 billion yen over multiple years, to fusion energy, including research by startups. This area could bring fundamental changes to Japan’s energy constraints. Japan’s content industry is highly competitive, with a domestic market of 15 trillion yen, as manga comics and other media spread worldwide. Upholding the goal of achieving 20 trillion yen in overseas sales by 2033, the Government of Japan plans to support and strengthen Japan’s international distribution platform, developing it into one comparable to Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. In addition, we have earmarked 35 billion yen, a threefold increase from last year, to support the production of large-scale, high-quality, and globally competitive content that could become international hits. As you know, the anime movie, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, is a huge hit, becoming the first Japanese anime movie to exceed 100 billion yen in global box office revenue. We hope to produce many globally competitive works like this and deliver them, not via Netflix but via a Japanese platform.

Now, regarding U.S. tariff measures. We will implement the investment initiative based on the tariff agreement between Japan and the United States, which is fully detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) posted on the Cabinet Secretariat’s website, to promote mutual benefits for both countries, ensure economic security, and significantly spur Japan’s economic growth. The initiative represents 550 billion dollars (approximately 80 trillion yen) in investments, loans, and loan guarantees by the Government of Japan.To enable Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) to execute its loan guarantees and to strengthen its financial foundation, the Government of Japan will invest 100 billion yen in the company for the time being. Simply put, loan guarantees require a certain amount of cash, and the government’s support covers this. Furthermore, while engaging with the United States, Japan will proceed to implement what I refer to as a “hybrid trade strategy,” aiming to step up initiatives to promote free trade and the rule of law in collaboration with like-minded nations. From this perspective, Japanese companies will expand their business operations into the Global South, cultivating new markets outside the United States. Former Prime Minister Ishiba held summit talks with many ASEAN and African countries at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). As his efforts indicate, Japan is working to develop new markets primarily in Africa and the ASEAN region.

All in all, including the measures I just explained, METI has budgeted 2.7 trillion yen to strengthen the growth power of Japanese companies and achieve a strong economy. This exceeds last fiscal year’s supplementary budget of 2.4 trillion yen. However, there were additional special factors as indicated in the remarks, including 1 trillion yen in subsidies for fuels, a one-time special factor, and 1 trillion yen for the newly established semiconductor/AI framework. This is why the actual supplementary budget for last year was 4.4 trillion, according to the information you have at hand. When such exceptional factors are excluded, last year’s supplementary budget was 2.4 trillion yen, so please consider that this year’s supplementary budget was significantly expanded from last year’s level.

Announcement of the follow-up survey results for the September 2025 Price Negotiation Promotion Month

Today, METI will announce the results of this year’s September Price Negotiation Promotion Month. The price pass-through rate increased by one percentage point from the previous period to 53.5%, and the pass-through rate for labor costs reached 50% for the first time. There is an overall improvement trend, but we are still halfway to reaching our goal. The pass-through rate we achieved in the end remains at 50%, so we intend to continue taking persistent steps to ensure that costs are appropriately passed on to customers and that proper business transactions are implemented. In the public sector, the pass-through rate was 52.1%, slightly down from 52.3% last period. As part of its economic measures, the Government of Japan will reconsider the unit prices of contracts awarded by the national and local governments to private companies, taking inflation and other factors into account. “Improvement of wage increase environment for SMEs and small-scale businesses” was added to the recommended programs eligible for  grants to local regions for prioritized assistance. This will have an immense impact. I would like to take this opportunity to ask local governments to proactively utilize the grant, including for measures to facilitate price pass-through in public procurement. Please ask the administrative staff for specific details.

Question-and-Answer Session

Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS)

Q: There have been media reports to the effect that overseas products that do not satisfy JIS will be removed from the market. Is this a fact? Will the Government of Japan take such an action to address the growing importance of economic security?

A: As you know, JIS is a voluntary national standard established under the Industrial Standardization Act, commonly known as the JIS law. As indicated in the media article you mentioned, METI plans to conduct a comprehensive review of JIS over five years. There are 11,000 JIS standards registered, so we will review 2,200 standards per year. In collaboration with relevant ministries and agencies, METI will conduct an exhaustive study on how JIS is used in public procurement. In addition, when procuring products that require objective assurance of reliability and safety, we will call for compliance with JIS and the acquisition of the JIS mark. The purpose of this initiative is to provide the public with objective assurances of product reliability and safety, to create new demand, and not to eliminate foreign products, as the article pointed out. There are no issues whatsoever with overseas products as long as they meet JIS standards, as they are present in our market. We will take appropriate actions in view of economic security and international rules. Through such measures, METI will ensure safety and security in daily life, as well as the quality of products, and expand business opportunities for companies by generating demand. Let me reiterate that our measure does not aim to eliminate foreign products.