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April 29, 2024
 

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Keiko Ujikane
For Keiko Ujikane's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 12, 2015
Pricy beef bowls show how to beat deflation
Restaurants, food producers and retailers are among a small but growing number of companies doing what few managed for long during Japan's lost decades: raising prices.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 1, 2015
Kuroda shifts to defense in BOJ's struggle to reach inflation target
For the first time, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said his original two-year time frame for reaching 2 percent inflation will not be reached. But it did not prompt him to step on the stimulus accelerator.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2015
Loyalty to 1960s machine shows risk from Japan's aging factories
The oldest piece of equipment at Osaka Machine Tool Co. has been there so long that only the company's 70-year-old chairman, Katumi Takata, still knows how to use it. He isn't planning to replace it anytime soon.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2015
'Red purge' during MacArthur era hurt unions now pushing on wages
As annual wage talks climax this month, one of the obstacles to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign for outsize pay raises has its roots in the 1940s: a stunted union movement.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 2, 2015
Kuroda approaching limit on JGB buying, says ex-BOJ official
Speeding up the Bank of Japan's purchases of Japanese government bonds would risk further distorting the world's second-biggest sovereign debt market, said Yuri Okina, vice chairman at Japan Research Institute.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Feb 18, 2015
Bonds' forward yield surging as market assesses risk of BOJ ending stimulus
The bond market is starting to price in the risk that the Bank of Japan will end its stimulus policies before the government has fixed the nation's finances.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2014
Unlocking growth potential is top task for Abenomics 2.0
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election win strengthened his hand to move beyond the fiscal and monetary stimulus that brought an end to deflation in his first two years. The tougher task for "Abenomics 2.0" will be to boost Japan's growth potential.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Nov 28, 2014
Crude oil slide thorn in BOJ's side
When a country imports almost all its energy, a slide in oil prices to a four-year low should be helpful — cutting costs for companies and households. For Japan, it may not be so simple.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 23, 2014
Seafood a sweet spot in Japanese exports as yen weakens
Seafood is a sweet spot in Japanese exports this year that is pushing sales of food abroad to a record and gaining strength as the yen weakens.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2014
Old silk town embraces farm reforms in test of revival scheme
Tomiyoshi Kurogoushi sighs as he looks over the terraced rice fields in the mountains of west Japan that were tended by generations of his family. Most are now covered in weeds and silver grass.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2014
Abe taps Shiller insights on breaking 'shrunken mindset'
Three weeks before the consumption tax was increased last month for the first time in 17 years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turned to Nobel laureate Robert Shiller to try to restore a vital ingredient of his economic revolution: optimism.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2014
Cash-rich firms spurn banks' offers
Banks are the most keen to lend companies money in 17 years. Corporate treasurers don't need the cash.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2014
Abe funds matchmaking to ease welfare bill
Over coffee and cake in a rural cafe in Kochi Prefecture, Hideyuki Tanaka, 40, plucked up the courage to speak with Eri, 14 years his junior.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2013
Tax-free gifts unlocking retiree savings
Shoko Iwasaki looked for years for a tax-free way to pass down a lifetime of savings to her grandson. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered the 71-year-old an answer with a program now helping unlock pensioners' hoarded wealth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 21, 2013
Thatcher-esque disparities a reality under Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe evokes the late Margaret Thatcher as he repeats 'there is no alternative' to his platform of economic change. One of the byproducts: prospects for a Thatcher-type division of wealth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2013
With too many titles to list on 'meishi,' Amari is linchpin of 'Abenomics'
Akira Amari, minister for economic and fiscal policy, has so much on his plate that all of his titles don't fit on his business card. He's also the minister in charge of economic revitalization and reforming social security and taxes, and the head negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2012
Corporate cost-cutting leaves wages near crisis low
Corporate cost-cutting is dragging on wages, resulting in weaker consumer demand and a stronger case for monetary easing to counter deflation.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2012
Output fall clouds recovery
Industrial production unexpectedly dropped in February, undercutting signs of an economic rebound in the first quarter as policymakers assess whether to apply further stimulus.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2011
Finance Ministry intervenes to stem gains in currency
Japan followed Switzerland in seeking to stem appreciating exchange rates that threatened to damage export competitiveness, selling the yen and pledging to inject ¥10 trillion ($126 billion) in funds into the economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 16, 2011
BOJ chief sees only bubbles on horizon
With his nation's economy contracting under disaster damage of as much as ¥25 trillion ($310 billion), Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa is signaling that his biggest worry is inflation.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
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.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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