• Created
  • Updated
  • Read time7 min read

31.03 Japan Research Institute

Japan Research Institute, Limited (JRI) is a leading “knowledge engineering” company, providing a wide range of high-value information services through its coordinated functions of information systems, consulting, and think-tank.
In 2003, The Japan Research Institute became a wholly owned subsidiary of SMBC Group, which owns several different businesses ranging from bank to securities companies.

Narrative summary

  • Topic filters keep macro, policy, and innovation separate. The theme index lets us pull targeted feeds (e.g., environment, growth strategy) when building sector dossiers without wading through macroeconomic updates.
  • Research Eye & Focus surface immediate policy debates. These medium-length columns often prefigure content that later appears in SMBC’s Monthly Review or Daiwa’s analysis, giving an early signal for 31.05 Daiwa Institute of Research.
  • English outputs remain lightweight but steady. Asia Monthly and Japan Economy briefs provide digestible summaries for non-Japanese stakeholders and dovetail with the Asia coverage inside 32.03 Research Episode — Japan’s Competitive Reset.

Economic and Policy Reports (JP)

View All Economic and Policy Reports

The Japanese-language catalogue underpins SMBC Group’s industry outlooks and augments the sector monitoring curated in 31.02 SMBC Industry Trends. Each stream below includes cadence and reader intent so corporate planners, policy teams, and research desks can line up the right deliverables with the SMBC companion note.

Reports Theme

  • Japanese Economy – Cadence: two to three drops per week mixing Research Eye, Focus, and Viewpoint briefs. Audience: domestic macro strategists and SMBC client advisers who need high-frequency reads on consumption, trade, and labour market pressures before they surface in the SMBC Monthly Review.
  • Western Economy – Cadence: weekly to biweekly updates. Audience: export-heavy corporates and treasury teams watching U.S./EU policy shifts; pair with the cross-border coverage logged in 31.02 to align macro assumptions.
  • Asian and Emerging Economies – Cadence: several posts per month. Audience: regional expansion leaders and SMBC Asia desks requiring on-the-ground demand signals and policy watchlists complementing SMBC’s Asia Topics bulletins.
  • Growth Strategies and Regional Revitalization – Cadence: monthly deep dives. Audience: local-government engagement teams and consultants shaping cluster revitalisation programmes adjacent to SMBC’s sector playbooks.
  • Tax and Fiscal Policy, Social Security – Cadence: one to two pieces per month around Diet sessions. Audience: public-affairs leads, HR planners, and SMBC fiduciary teams preparing employer guidance.
  • Environment and Energy – Cadence: two to three briefs per month. Audience: sustainability officers and energy traders aligning net-zero narratives with SMBC’s decarbonisation outlooks.
  • Finance and Corporations – Cadence: weekly insights. Audience: CFO circles, capital-markets teams, and SMBC relationship managers gauging governance, credit, and investment trends highlighted alongside 31.02’s industry scorecards.
  • IT and Innovation – Cadence: biweekly case studies. Audience: digital-transformation leads and venture scouts seeking supporting data for SMBC’s innovation financing conversations.

Economic Analysis and Policy Recommendations

  • Research Eye – Cadence: near-daily short takes reacting to macro and policy headlines. Audience: fast-moving research desks and SMBC advisory teams needing quotes and charts for client notes.
  • Research Focus – Cadence: weekly long-form explainer. Audience: corporate strategy groups and think-tank partners who require structured analysis for board briefings.
  • Research Reports – Cadence: ad hoc, typically tied to flagship surveys once per quarter. Audience: executives and policy makers evaluating structural industry shifts referenced alongside SMBC’s Industry Research Reports.
  • Viewpoints – Cadence: biweekly opinion columns. Audience: senior leadership and SMBC public-affairs teams synthesising expert commentary for speechwriting and op-eds.
  • Policy Observations – Cadence: monthly. Audience: regulatory affairs specialists and government-relations teams who track Diet deliberations to prepare SMBC lobbying stances.

Economic and Market Outlook

  • Japanese Economy Outlook – Cadence: monthly PDF deck. Audience: macro strategy teams and SMBC lending committees calibrating domestic baselines; queue translations so highlights can flow into English recaps alongside 31.02’s macro dashboards.
  • US Economy Outlook – Cadence: monthly. Audience: exporters, investor-relations teams, and SMBC New York desks anticipating policy swings that affect hedging strategies.
  • European Economy Outlook – Cadence: monthly. Audience: multinational planners watching ECB policy and EU regulation; pairs with SMBC’s European sector coverage when recalibrating growth cases.
  • Chinese Economy Outlook – Cadence: monthly. Audience: APAC supply-chain managers and SMBC trade finance specialists balancing China demand risk with ASEAN exposure tracked in 31.02.
  • Currency Market Outlook – Cadence: twice monthly. Audience: FX traders, treasury teams, and SMBC hedging advisors who need narrative support for rate and FX positioning memos.
  • Crude Oil Market Outlook – Cadence: monthly. Audience: energy buyers, commodity traders, and SMBC project-finance teams modelling energy price decks.
  • Recent Economic Indicators (Domestic) – Cadence: monthly statistical digest. Audience: analysts updating dashboards and SMBC economists refreshing data packs before releasing Monthly Review commentary.
  • Kansai Economic Trends – Cadence: monthly regional outlook. Audience: Osaka and Kansai regional bankers plus municipal partners requiring evidence to augment 31.02’s sector pulses.
  • Asia Monthly – Cadence: monthly magazine. Audience: APAC coverage bankers, corporate planners, and SMBC Asia teams looking for thematic narratives to complement SMBC’s Asia Topics briefs.
  • Western Economy Outlook (Up to December 2017) – Status: archive only. Audience: researchers compiling historical comparisons alongside SMBC’s legacy industry decks.
  • Emerging Economy Outlook (Up to March 2015) – Status: archive only. Audience: historians and analysts needing pre-2015 benchmarking when backtesting forecasts.
  • Asian Economic Trends (Up to February 2014) – Status: archive only. Audience: analysts examining long-run trend shifts prior to Asia Monthly’s current cadence.

Papers

  • JRI Review – Cadence: semiannual thematic journal. Audience: senior executives and academics using peer-reviewed essays to frame SMBC-wide research roadmaps.
  • RIM Pacific Business Information – Cadence: quarterly regional intelligence. Audience: APAC corporate planners and SMBC Singapore desks referencing deep-dive country cases.
  • Business & Economic Review (Up to September 2012) – Status: legacy archive. Audience: research teams looking for historical management commentary to enrich SMBC archival projects.

Special Columns

  • YouTube – Cadence: weekly video explainers. Audience: outreach teams preparing multimedia clips for SMBC client briefings.
  • Investigation Department X (Former Twitter) – Cadence: daily micro-updates. Audience: social teams, journalists, and SMBC comms staff who require rapid hooks before full PDF releases drop.
  • Economic and Policy Information Email Magazine – Cadence: weekly digest. Audience: subscribed SMBC corporate clients and research partners needing curated highlights in inbox form.

Translation backlog

Logged in the Finbiz backlog (2025-10-18 04:05 UTC) to translate priority monthly outlook highlights for the English summaries once the bilingual workflow is approved. Coordinate with the SMBC translation guardrails captured in 31.02 before publishing extracts.

Global Reports (EN)

Monthly Reports

  • Asia Monthly – Cadence: monthly magazine. Audience: multinational planners and SMBC Asia bankers needing English-ready talking points that mirror the Japanese Asia Monthly stream above.
  • Monthly Report of Prospects for Japan’s Economy – Cadence: monthly macro deck. Audience: overseas investors, SMBC international branches, and corporate treasurers requiring English coverage of Japan-specific indicators discussed in the Japanese Economy Outlook.

JRI Research Journal・RIM

  • JRI Research Journal – Cadence: semiannual scholarly collection. Audience: policy think-tanks, academic partners, and SMBC research sponsors using the essays for long-horizon scenario work.
  • RIM – Cadence: quarterly APAC market analysis. Audience: regional strategists and SMBC syndication teams distilling trade and investment findings for cross-border mandates.

Insights

  • Insights – Cadence: ad hoc, typically weekly when major issues break. Audience: executives and client teams who need succinct English narratives to share with overseas stakeholders before the next formal report cycle.

Tracking cadence

JRI does not publish an official feed for the Japanese reports. Check the theme index monthly and capture standout releases in your own research log so English- and Japanese-language readers stay on the same page.

Graph View