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May 05, 2024
 

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Kantaro Komiya
For Kantaro Komiya's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 1, 2022
Japan's tight jobs market fails to deliver on egalitarian promise
The emergence of the freelance class poses a challenge to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has pledged to redistribute wealth through wage hikes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 24, 2022
Japan's fatty fish: Yet another climate change harbinger?
Savor the next time you order a fatty piece of fish at the sushi counter. Fisherman on the frontlines say you may not be able to for long.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 19, 2022
Japan's economic growth seen weaker as global economy stutters
Manufacturers are susceptible to the gloomier growth outlook in major trading partners such as the United States and China that are stoking recession and stagflation fears worldwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 30, 2022
BOJ's public relations crisis forces rethink on inflation message
Public anger has been particularly strident, with tabloids and television programs criticizing 77-year-old BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda as someone earning a fat salary and being out of touch.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2022
Retail sales rose faster than expected in May as Japan eased COVID curbs
Strong consumption is expected to lead an economic rebound this quarter, although rising inflation poses a risk to household spending for the rest of 2022.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2022
Japan's inflation tops BOJ target for second month, testing monetary stance
The data challenges the Bank of Japan's view that the recent rise in prices is temporary and does not warrant withdrawing monetary stimulus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2022
Japan's core machinery orders post surprise double-digit growth
Monthly growth was far stronger than economists' median forecast for a 1.5% dip and followed a 7.1% jump in March.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 2, 2022
Japan consumer confidence edged up in April for first rise in six months
The government has kept its assessment of consumer confidence unchanged, as the improvement was relatively small, saying it appears weak.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2022
Hope fizzles out for Japan's 'revenge spending' splurge as inflation looms
Facing the prospect of struggling with rising prices, Japan's famously thrifty consumers are tightening their belts even as they sit on the remains of an estimated u00a550 trillion in savings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2022
Japan's machinery orders fell for second month in February
The data adds to concerns that Japanese firms are holding off on investments due to rising energy and raw materials costs, fueling fears about the pace of economic growth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2022
Japan's current account recovered from major deficit in February
The balance swung back into the black from its second-biggest deficit on record in the previous month, providing some respite for policymakers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2022
As costs rise in Japan, even businesses accustomed to deflation are raising prices
On top of changing ingredients or reducing portion sizes, firms have implemented unusual price hikes to goods such as cooking oil, snacks and popular instant noodle brands.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2022
Despite household spending boost, business mood drops as Ukraine risks grow
The news adds pressure on policymakers to ramp up fiscal stimulus to support Japan's economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 9, 2022
Japan downgrades fourth-quarter GDP on service sector weakness
The downwardly revised growth is bad news for policymakers tasked with keeping the country's fragile recovery on track.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2022
Japan must quadruple foreign workers by 2040 to meet growth target, report says
The figure would be nearly 300% more than the current 1.72 million foreign workers who make up about 2.5% of the workforce.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2022
Crunch time: 'Miracle' Japanese snack gets first price hike in decades
Tokyo-based Yaokin Corp. is increasing the price of Umaibo by u00a52 apiece to u00a512 from April due to higher costs, sources say.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2022
As costs soar, some Japanese companies do the unthinkable: raise prices
More Japanese firms are opting for price increases, led by market leaders often with speciality products, as commodities and transport costs soar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Dec 4, 2021
As global costs soar, Japan's 'shrinkflation' gets harder to swallow
While the practice is hardly unique to Japan, its prevalence in the world's No. 3 economy is a notable legacy of years of deflation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2021
Japan confronts rising inequality after Abenomics
Rather than curing societies financial ills, the former prime minister's economic plan has left a divide in its wake.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2019
Tourists to Japan are fueling a boom in personal translation devices
Takehiko Fujita wouldn't be able to do his job selling eye drops and pain relievers without his pocket translator.
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
The National Diet building in Tokyo
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
Japan drops to 70th in press freedom rankings
A businessman reads a newspaper outside a train station in Tokyo.
Traders spooked by intervention risk trim record yen shorts
Traders edged back from record bets on yen weakness this past week, in a period that included a likely bout of intervention by Japan to prop up the currency.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
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