From the front line of change, moving further forward together.

In the previous paper, "Redefining Japanese Companies’ Energy Chains in Light of the Strait of Hormuz Crisis" we examined how geopolitical risk propagates simultaneously through both the price and the volume of fuel and electricity. Constraints on fuel supply push up the cost of power generation and heat supply, which in turn reach end users through electricity and gas tariffs and contract terms. If companies simply revert to their previous procurement structures once a crisis has passed, the same vulnerabilities will resurface in the next one. The question companies should be asking is not merely whether their procurement prices are high or low, but how far their business operations depend on externally purchased electricity, fuel, and heat—and how much volatility or disruption in that supply they can withstand.

The Trump administration is advancing a Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) drug pricing policy aimed at curbing pharmaceutical spending in the United States. The policy benchmarks U.S. drug prices against those of other developed countries (adjusted for GDP per capita) and lowers U.S. prices to the level of the lowest-priced country, with specific price-adjustment mechanisms already laid out. Japan is among the reference countries, yet its drug prices are already low by developed-country standards. As other nations move to mitigate their exposure to this referencing, Japan risks becoming the floor for MFN reference prices unless it reforms its own pricing system—raising concerns of a resurgence of drug lag and drug loss. This paper outlines the structure of the MFN policy and the responses of other countries, and then discusses the measures Japan should take ahead of its next drug pricing system reform.

Competitiveness in space infrastructure is no longer decided by how many satellites one owns. In the first half of 2026, a rapid succession of developments—the Ministry of Defense's contract for its "Tri-Sat" satellite program, the reorganization into the Japan Aerospace Self-Defense Force, and the selection of J-LEO to carry communications autonomy—moved Japan's space infrastructure from the stage of "concept" to that of "implementation." The real question is who links the information gained from space to decisions, when, and in what order of priority. Drawing on the author's own experience operating satellite communications within the Japan Self-Defense Forces, this article examines the design of a next-generation space infrastructure that keeps national security and commercial space in mutual circulation.

Regional banks in Japan face structural challenges: shrinking local economies driven by population decline, prolonged pressure on interest margins, and declining visibility into commerce flows as payments and customer touchpoints shift to external platforms. Traditional banking models reliant on financial statements and ex-post transaction data are increasingly unable to capture real-time local dynamics or provide practical, high-value client support. One potential lever is the combination of BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) services and advanced data analytics. This paper examines local economic contraction and the information-infrastructure constraints facing regional banks, with particular attention to the structural problem of limited commerce-flow visibility.