A tricky question has been keeping economists busy of late: Are Japanese consumers finally beginning to loosen their purse strings? As far as recent economic data show, the answer may be yes — at least for now. Private consumption, accounting for nearly 60 percent of ...
Growth is expected to continue in coming quarters, offering the Bank of Japan hope that a tight labor market is finally starting to boost consumer spending.
The International Monetary Fund's latest forecast leaves world economic growth unchanged at 3.5 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year, with upgrades for Japan, China and emerging Asian markets offsetting a downward projection for the United States. In an update Sunday to the IMF's ...
Private consumption is 56 percent of Japan's GDP, so understanding where people are spending and what they're buying is essential to have a clear picture of what's going on in the world's third-biggest economy. That's true not just for the government, but also for ...
Purchases by foreign visitors at department stores in May jumped 42.8 percent from a year earlier to ¥19.3 billion, led by robust demand for cosmetics, an industry group said Tuesday. Sales to foreign tourists per capita are also on an upward trend, partly due to ...
A survey by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. has found that the average monthly sum that a married person can spend freely is ¥25,082, the lowest since the survey began in 2007. The amount was ¥4,421 less than the ¥29,503 logged in 2016, when the ...
Tight-fisted shoppers, unsteady economic growth and a shrinking population: Japan doesn't exactly fit the image of a spending powerhouse these days. But you would never know it in Ginza — Tokyo's answer to the Champs-Elysees or Fifth Avenue — where a new 13-story upscale mall ...
Joblessness in Japan falls to 2.8 percent, the lowest in more than 22 years, as consumers remain reluctant to spend their hard-earned yen.
Every spring people across Japan are enraptured as the cherry trees explode into bloom, clothing the country in pink. The blossoms last for only a few short weeks, but in that time the fleeting flowers make for good business. The blossoms are a gift to ...
Japan's economy grew more than previously estimated in the fourth quarter as capital expenditure rose at its fastest rate in almost three years — welcome news for policymakers as they begin to discuss how to wind down years of massive stimulus. The economy grew an ...
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reiterated Tuesday its projection of 2017 global economic growth of 3.3 percent, with consumption, investment and trade lacking strength. But the OECD lifted its outlook for the world's three largest economies — forecasting the Japanese economy to grow ...
The anonymous writer of Asahi Shimbun's finance-related Keizai Kishodai column pointed out in the Feb. 18 edition that Japanese people only think of time off on a day-by-day basis, whereas Europeans tend to conceptualize it in week-long blocks, as "vacations."
