JLPT N1 Business & Economy Vocabulary (2026)
Complete JLPT N1 Business & Economy vocabulary with readings and example sentences (64 words).
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This set covers 64 N1-level words drawn from Japanese business and economic writing — the register found in financial news, corporate earnings reports, and editorial commentary on markets and governance. N1 readers need this vocabulary not for daily conversation but to follow shareholder reports and market analysis without stumbling over terms like 収斂 or 逼迫 mid-sentence.
This article is part of our JLPT N1 Complete Vocabulary Guide. Practice all 64 words with the Business & Economy Vocabulary deck in Onigiri Anki.
Restructuring & Corporate Leadership (13)
Terms for reshaping a company and directing its operations — mergers, subsidiaries, outsourcing, and the martial vocabulary Japanese business writing borrows for leadership and organizational structure.
その課長の采配で、プロジェクトはまとまった。 — The manager's leadership brought the project together.
学校の統廃合には地元の反発が強かった。 — The merger and closure of schools caused a lot of local opposition.
チームは新しいシーズンに向けて陣容を再編した。 — The team reorganized its lineup for the new season.
監督は試合前に布陣を慎重に決めた。 — The coach arranged his lineup carefully before the match.
新しい内閣の陣容が今日明らかになった。 — The lineup of the new cabinet became clear today.
会社は業務を合理化した。 — The company streamlined its operations.
仕事を早く終えるためには、効率化が必要です。 — To finish the work sooner, improving efficiency is necessary.
工場はロボットを導入して、省力化を進めた。 — The factory advanced labor-saving by introducing robots.
その会社は、顧客対応を外部委託した。 — The company outsourced customer support.
子会社が大阪に新しい事務所を開いた。 — The subsidiary opened a new office in Osaka.
持株会社がグループ各社の経営を調整している。 — The holding company is adjusting the management of each group company.
新製品が、社内の売り上げ増を牽引している。 — The new product is leading sales growth in the company.
細部は私の裁量に任されています。 — The details are left to my discretion.
Market Competition & Trends (12)
Vocabulary describing how markets shift — rising and declining players, supply/demand imbalances, monopoly versus competition, and strategies for standing out from rivals.
地方選挙で新しい勢力が台頭している。 — A new force is rising in the local election.
両社の方針は次第に収斂してきた。 — The policies of the two companies have gradually converged.
市場では競争に負けた企業が淘汰される。 — Weak firms are eliminated by the market.
在宅勤務へ向かう趨勢は続いている。 — The trend toward remote work is continuing.
市場の動向を注意深く見ている。 — We are watching developments in the market closely.
マンションの供給過剰で家賃が下がっている。 — An oversupply of apartments is pushing rents down.
供給不足で生産が遅れた。 — Production was delayed due to a shortage of supplies.
その会社は独占を維持しようとした。 — The company tried to maintain its monopoly.
その二社は激しく競合している。 — The two companies are fiercely competing with each other.
うちの商品は価格面で競争優位にある。 — Our products have a competitive advantage in terms of price.
他社と差別化する必要がある。 — We need to differentiate ourselves from other companies.
私たちは高付加価値の商品に力を入れている。 — We are focusing on high added value products.
Cash Flow & Financial Health (8)
Terms describing the state of a company's finances — how liquid, strained, or healthy its cash position is — as reported in financial news and corporate statements.
会社は潤沢な資金を確保していた。 — The company kept enough cash in reserve.
会社の資金繰りは逼迫している。 — The company's finances are under severe pressure.
市場の流動性が高まった。 — The market's liquidity has improved.
今月は、台所事情が厳しい。 — Our household finances are tight this month.
会社は未回収の代金を回収した。 — The company collected the outstanding payment.
回転資金が足りず、その店は新しい在庫を仕入れられなかった。 — Without enough working capital, the store could not buy new stock.
購買力が落ちると、人は買い物を控える。 — As purchasing power falls, people buy less.
最近、業績は好調です。 — Business performance has been good lately.
Growth, Profit & Investment (9)
Words for tracking numbers moving up or down — profit growth, sharp price swings, reinvestment, and cuts — the core vocabulary of earnings reports and market commentary.
人口は漸増している。 — The population continues to increase gradually.
会社は会議の前に警備を増強した。 — The company strengthened security before the meeting.
その発表で株価が急伸した。 — The stock price rose sharply after the announcement.
ガソリン価格が急騰した。 — Gasoline prices surged.
会社は利益を再投資して新しい開発を進めています。 — The company is reinvesting its profits in new development.
無駄の削減が必要です。 — Waste reduction is necessary.
予算を少し上積みする必要があります。 — We need to increase the budget a little.
今年の成長率は下がりました。 — The growth rate fell this year.
その会社は前期に増益を発表しました。 — The company reported increased profits in the previous term.
Corruption & Vested Interests (8)
Terms for the darker side of business and politics — bribery, fraud, entrenched privilege — common in investigative reporting and editorial commentary on corporate governance.
会社は新しい市場で権益を守らなければならない。 — The company must protect its rights and interests in the new market.
既得権を持つ人は、改革に反対しがちだ。 — People with vested rights often tend to oppose reform.
その会社は不正を行っていた。 — The company had engaged in fraud.
彼は贈賄の疑いで逮捕された。 — He was arrested on suspicion of bribery.
その不祥事で省内の汚職が明るみに出た。 — The scandal exposed corruption in the ministry.
彼は計画を通すために画策した。 — He schemed to get the plan approved.
彼はその分野で大きな権威だ。 — He is a great authority in the field.
この路地は剣呑だから、気をつけて。 — This alley is dangerous, so be careful.
Deadlocks & Business Process (14)
Vocabulary for stuck or tangled situations and the ongoing administrative language used to describe, plan, and report on business operations.
この問題を打開するには、発想の転換が必要だ。 — To break through this problem, a change in thinking is necessary.
交渉は膠着したままだ。 — The talks are deadlocked.
事実が錯綜して、原因が見えにくくなった。 — The facts became so confused that the cause was hard to see.
彼の失敗は計算の錯誤によるものだった。 — His failure was due to a calculation error.
その主張には裏付けが足りない。 — There is not enough substantiation for that claim.
政府は新しい政策を策定している。 — The government is formulating a new policy.
その会社は海外に新しい事務所を置くことを企図した。 — The company planned to open a new office overseas.
彼は直接の返答を回避するために黙っていた。 — He stayed silent to avoid giving a direct answer.
これは喫緊の課題で、すぐに対応が必要だ。 — This is an urgent issue that needs immediate action.
問題のあと、私たちは計画を少し軌道修正した。 — After the problem, we made a slight course correction to the plan.
私たちはその計画を継続することにした。 — We decided to continue the plan.
その費用は経費として計上された。 — The cost was booked as an expense.
その懸案はようやく解決した。 — The pending issue was finally resolved.
問題が山積しています。 — Problems are piling up one after another.
Military Metaphors in Corporate Japanese
Japanese business writing borrows heavily from battlefield vocabulary to describe leadership: 采配 originally referred to the baton a general used to direct troops and now means 'to take charge' or 'call the shots' in a company, while 布陣 (battle formation) and 陣容 (troop lineup) both extend to describe how a company organizes its team or executive structure — 陣容を一新する means 'to overhaul the lineup.' A separate trap is 錯綜 versus 錯誤: despite sharing the kanji 錯 ('confusion'), 錯綜 describes situations or information becoming tangled (情報が錯綜する, 'information is in disarray'), while 錯誤 refers to a factual mistake (試行錯誤, 'trial and error'; 時代錯誤, 'anachronism'), and the two are not interchangeable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between 急伸 and 急騰, and when would each appear in a business article?
Both mean a sharp, rapid increase, but 急騰 is almost always used for prices, stock values, or rates surging (株価が急騰した, 'the stock price surged'), while 急伸 is broader and can describe sales, profits, or overall performance climbing sharply as well as prices (業績が急伸, 'performance grew sharply'). In market reporting the two overlap heavily, so it's more useful to treat them as near-synonyms than to hunt for a hard rule.
Why do so many words in this list, like 供給過剰 and 供給不足, or 独占 and 競合, come in opposite pairs?
Japanese economic writing frequently frames market conditions as paired antonyms — 供給過剰 (oversupply) against 供給不足 (short supply), or 独占 (a single player controlling a market) against 競合 (multiple players competing) — because reports need to state precisely which side of a balance the market currently sits on. Learning these as paired opposites, rather than memorizing each word in isolation, makes supply-and-demand passages in N1 reading much easier to parse.
Practice All 64 Business & Economy Vocabulary Words
Import the Business & Economy Vocabulary deck into Onigiri Anki and master this category with spaced repetition.