Tokyo Shoko Research counted 5,373 corporate bankruptcies with debts of at least 10 million yen in April-September, up 3.9 percent and the most for that period in 13 years.
Corporate bankruptcies in Japan hit a 13-year high for the April-September period as higher prices and labour costs squeezed smaller firms, Kyodo News reported on Thursday, citing Tokyo Shoko Research.
Failures involving debts of at least 10 million yen, about 63,000 dollars, rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 5,373 cases. Kyodo identified Tokyo Shoko Research, a credit research company, as the source of the count.
The figure covers the first half of fiscal 2026, not a single month. Kyodo's digest did not list the largest cases or give a total debt amount. It linked the rise to costs rather than to a named legal change.
The same Thursday digest separately reported that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan is no longer at a stage that needs reflationary policy. That remark is a different event from the bankruptcy tally.
No government response to the failure count was included in the Kyodo item used here.