Reading the Economic Section of Today’s Ehime Shimbun — Learning One New Thing at a Time September 19, 2026 (Saturday) — Reiwa8

It has been about four and a half months since I moved to Ehime.

I never imagined that I would end up reading the economic section of the Ehime Shimbun so regularly.

I do not own stocks, and I have never considered myself particularly interested in economics. Even so, little by little, I have become familiar with words such as company names, “HD,” the Nikkei 225, TOPIX, exchange rates, and interest rates.

And yet, there were still plenty of words I did not understand today.

That is why I did not simply give up when I came across something unfamiliar. I looked up the things that caught my attention.

One of the biggest things I learned today was about the Nikkei 225.

The Nikkei 225 is one of Japan’s major stock market indexes. It is calculated using 225 selected companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. It is not simply an average of all the stocks in Japan.

It is also a price-weighted index. This means that stocks with relatively high individual share prices, known as “high-priced stocks” or “value stocks” in the context of the Japanese market, can have a relatively large influence on the Nikkei 225.

Today’s newspaper reported that the Nikkei 225 rose 882.70 points to 65,018.95 yen, recovering the 65,000 level.

It also said that gains in high-priced semiconductor-related stocks were particularly noticeable.

I had heard the expression “high-priced stocks” before, but today I was finally able to connect the pieces:

A stock with a high price per share can have a relatively large influence on the Nikkei 225.

Another interesting thing was that while the Nikkei 225 rose sharply, there were only 511 advancing stocks compared with 1,003 declining stocks.

In other words,

“The Nikkei rose because many stocks went up”

is not necessarily true.

The Nikkei itself can rise substantially when stocks that have a relatively large influence on the index rise strongly.

This was one of the things I understood more clearly today.

I still do not really understand why the Nikkei 225 chart moves up and down in such a jagged line.

I suppose it has something to do with people buying and selling stocks.

But I still cannot picture it clearly.

Who is buying which stocks, how many shares are they buying or selling, and how do all those individual transactions eventually create that single jagged line on the chart?

Since I do not trade stocks myself, I suppose it is natural that I cannot visualize it yet.

For now, I would like to start with the basics:

Stock prices move through buying and selling.

The Nikkei 225 is calculated from the movements of 225 selected stocks.

And high-priced stocks can have a relatively large influence on the index.

The newspaper also said that the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise its policy interest rate, in line with market expectations, helped create what it called a sense of reassurance among buyers.

At first, I did not understand why something that had been expected could create reassurance.

But I learned that when something happens as the market had anticipated, there is less of a surprise factor or unexpected negative news. This can make investors more willing to buy.

The rise in U.S. stocks the previous day was also described as a favorable factor, and AI- and semiconductor-related stocks were actively bought.

At the same time, pharmaceutical stocks and glass-and-stone product stocks rose, while bank stocks and electric power stocks fell.

Once again, I learned that even on the same day, some industries and companies can rise while others fall.

I am also becoming more familiar with company names.

Kioxia Holdings, SoftBank Group, Advantest, Taiyo Yuden, Tokyo Electron, Ibiden, Mitsubishi UFJ, Lasertec, and Murata Manufacturing are some of the names I now recognize.

Previously, these names would have looked like nothing more than a difficult collection of unfamiliar Japanese words and katakana.

Now, little by little, I am beginning to recognize them as names I have seen before.

I also learned that “HD” stands for “Holdings” and is often used for a holding company.

I had another small surprise concerning Saint Marc Holdings.

I had always thought of Saint Marc as simply “Saint Marc Café.”

However, today's article helped me realize that Saint Marc Holdings is an entire food-service group with various restaurant and café businesses, and that it is acquiring the udon restaurant business “TsuruTonTan.”

Saint Marc Café itself is not turning into an udon restaurant.

Rather, Saint Marc Holdings, the group that operates various food businesses, is expanding its portfolio by adding a Japanese and udon business.

Learning about the relationship between a parent company and the brands under it is another thing I am beginning to understand through the economic section.

There was also an article about Kasumigaseki Capital.

Its forecast for consolidated net profit for the fiscal year ending August 2026 was revised upward from 16.5 billion yen to 16.6 billion yen.

When I think about it, an increase of 100 million yen sounds enormous.

But when it is written as 16.5 billion yen becoming 16.6 billion yen, that 100 million yen somehow looks surprisingly small.

The scale of money involved in the corporate world is enormous.

There was also an article about Suruga Bank.

I remembered that I had actually used Suruga Bank when I lived in Shizuoka.

The economic section does not only contain unfamiliar companies. Sometimes, it includes companies that are connected to my own everyday life.

In the foreign exchange section, I saw the yen exchange rates for major currencies, including the U.S. dollar in the 157-yen range, the euro in the 180-yen range, the British pound in the 212-yen range, the Swiss franc in the 110-yen range, the Australian dollar in the 113-yen range, the New Zealand dollar in the 91-yen range, and the Singapore dollar in the 123-yen range.

I do not need to memorize all those numbers.

What matters is that I am gradually learning that the economic section contains much more than stock prices. It includes exchange rates, interest rates, movements by industry, and news about individual companies.

Apparently, this period is known as Silver Week in Japan.

People around the country may be thinking about the holiday period, but for me, this September has mostly been about rehabilitation.

Even so, in between rehabilitation sessions, I have been reading the newspaper and looking up unfamiliar words.

Even after living for 68 years, there are still so many things I do not know.

Sometimes I read the newspaper and understand almost nothing.

But every now and then, there is a moment when I think,

“Oh, maybe I am beginning to understand this.”

That is what makes me want to keep reading the next day.

The same is true of studying for the registered sales clerk examination.

This year, I am mainly taking the exam as a trial.

Even so, if I am going to do it, I want to see how far I can go.

The same applies to the economic section of the newspaper.

I probably will never reach a point where I understand everything perfectly.

But I can look up one unfamiliar word.

I can learn one new concept.

I can increase, little by little, the number of words and names that feel familiar.

For now, I think that is enough.

Today, I learned one more thing.

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