Nikkei equities boom + Sony/Nintendo gadget & music trends

Nikkei 225 up 37% in Q2, closing at 70,062—best quarter ever. BOJ hike to 1% (31-year high), yen at 40-year low. Semiconductor index record 81-86% quarter. SoftBank surpasses Toyota as Japan's largest company. Sony confirms PS6 digital-only by Jan 2028. BOJ tankan shows big manufacturers sentiment improving for 5th straight quarter. Yen's real effective exchange rate halved since 1986. Kioxia surges 631%, becoming Japan's most valuable company at ~$300B. Sharp targets ¥300B new business by 2030, with AI servers >80% of sales and EV entry in 2027. Recent: Nikkei lost 70,000, SoftBank and Kioxia fell on profit-taking; Korean lawmaker called leveraged ETFs a 'casino'; Samsung earnings as AI memory demand touchstone. Japan backs Micron AI memory expansion in Hiroshima with ¥1.5T investment and ¥536B subsidies, challenging SK hynix and Samsung in HBM. Goldman Sachs forecasts yen to weaken to 165 per dollar, adding macro risk. Japan and South Korea stocks opened lower then rallied, with SK Hynix and Kioxia plunging while Samsung and SoftBank supported. Chief market strategist flags Japan and South Korea as flashing early warning signs for global markets, citing yen carry-trade unwind and KOSPI weakness, with implications for US tech stocks (LRCX, ASML, QCOM). Kioxia bucked the trend to rise. Compact camera trend in Japan shows nine of top ten mirrorless are crop-sensor, confirming shift to smaller bodies; Sony dominates but Canon R50 leads on price; OM-5 Mark II's IP53 weather-sealing stands out. Tesla Model Y becomes Japan's top import model in May 2026, overtaking legacy American and European brands, signaling shifting consumer attitudes toward EVs and American tech brands.