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November 17, 2025
 

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WAGES

Labor productivity per worker in fiscal 2024, which ended in March, rose 0.2% in real terms from the previous year, marking a fourth consecutive annual increase, according to Japan Productivity Center data.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 16, 2025
Japan labor productivity up 0.2% in FY 2024
Despite the good news, progress is still required to ensure that real wages keep rising by 1% as envisioned in a government target, according to the Japan Productivity Center.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that Japanese businesses are focusing too much on shareholders, expressing frustration that companies are not using more capital to raise wages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 14, 2025
Takaichi pushes back against companies' focus on shareholders
The Prime Minister's comments flicked at her frustration with firms for not using more capital to raise wages.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi chats with her Cabinet members in parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 8, 2025
Takaichi plans pay cuts for herself and her ministers
The prime minister seeks to revise the public servant remuneration law to cut the salaries of Cabinet members, including herself.
The $1 trillion pay agreement puts Elon Musk on track to become the world's first trillionaire.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2025
Tesla shareholders approve $1 trillion pay package for Musk
More than 75% of votes were cast in favor of the unprecedented pay plan, the company said Thursday at its annual meeting.
UA Zensen, a major labor union covering service sectors, plans to push for a 6% bump in overall wages for regular employees in negotiations set to conclude in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
Major Japan union group seeks 6% wage hike as BOJ watches
UA Zensen said it plans to target the same level of wage gains for regular workers in next year’s pay negotiations as it did for this year.
Real cash earnings fell 1.4% in September, marking the ninth consecutive monthly decline in line with analyst forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
Japan’s wage growth stays firm, keeping rate hike bets alive
Nominal wages rose 1.9% from a year earlier, accelerating from August, the labor ministry reported Thursday, coming in line with economist expectations.
"She has a good vision,” says Masahiro Kihara, CEO of Mizuho Financial Group, referring to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's pro-growth policies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Mizuho's CEO says he sees policy tailwinds from Takaichi and BOJ
Masahiro Kihara said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had "good vision," referring to her policy initiatives, while the central bank has "room for another hike or two.”
Prices of 143 products from major Japanese food and beverage makers will rise in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Prices of 143 food items to rise in Japan in November
The figure is down 58.4% from a year earlier and marks the first decline in 11 months, according to research firm Teikoku Databank.
Job hunting and recruitment both may have become less active in September ahead of minimum wage hikes beginning in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Japan's September job availability ratio stays unchanged
Job hunting and recruitment may have become less active in September ahead of minimum wage hikes in October, and some companies may have curbed hiring due to earnings drops.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino speaks at a news conference on Thursday. She said the union is looking to make wage hikes a normal occurrence.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 23, 2025
Japan’s unions seek minimum 5% wage hike in upcoming pay talks
Sanae Takaichi’s tenure and the central bank's policy path could be affected if Japan can’t keep up its wage-hike momentum.
The precarious work of training AI, which generally pays just a few dollars, has sparked a movement for better wages and conditions globally.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 18, 2025
Grueling, low-paid human work behind generative AI curtain
The precarious work of training AI has sparked a movement for better wages and conditions stretching from Kenya to Colombia.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces his intention to resign on Sept. 7.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 15, 2025
Ishiba to leave office with a mixed record on the economy
The outgoing prime minister achieved a few successes and left some important business unfinished.
Nominal wages rose 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month, according to a report from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 8, 2025
Japan’s wage growth slows, underscoring challenge for Takaichi
Nominal wages increased 1.5% in August from a year earlier, decelerating from 3.4% in the previous month and falling below economist expectations.
The average salary for men was ¥5.87 million, up 3.2%, and that of women was ¥3.33 million, up 5.5%, both marking record highs.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2025
Japan private-sector pay hits record in 2024
The average grew for the fourth consecutive year. The pace of increase exceeded 3% for the first time in 33 years.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino at a symposium in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2025
Japan's top union group advised to seek 5% pay hike during spring talks
An expert panel report stressed that the 2026 shunto will be a crucial opportunity to firmly establish a healthy cycle of rising wages and prices.
Takaya Awata, president of Toridoll Holdings, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2025
Marugame Seimen noodle restaurant managers to see raise of up to ¥20 million
Eatery chain operator Toridoll Holdings' president also indicated the company may extend the plan to other restaurant chains in the group.
The average summer bonus for employees of major companies in Japan has now increased for the fourth year in a row.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 14, 2025
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms hit record
The shipbuilding, retail and finance sectors all posted significant jumps, while both the steel and service industries saw an overall decline.
Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, Germany, in March 2022.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2025
Tesla offers unprecedented $1 trillion pay package to Musk
The long-awaited proposal, designed to incentivize Musk to lead Tesla for years to come, sets a series of ambitious benchmarks he must meet to earn the full payout.
Minimum hourly wages in Japan's 47 prefectures are set to average ¥1,121, up by a record ¥66 from the previous year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan to hike minimum wage by record amount, backing BOJ’s rate hikes
A record 6.3% increase takes the minimum wage to an average of ¥1,121 per hour across the country's 47 prefectures, the largest increase since 1978.
Japan's nominal wages increased 4.1% in July from a year earlier, marking the steepest increase since December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan's wages make biggest gain in seven months, backing case for rate hike
Real wages also rose for the first time this year in July, edging up by 0.5%.
At Ginza’s newest hotel, luxury is a private treasure
At Fufu Tokyo, each guest room comes with its own private "onsen" (hot spring) — a luxury nearly unheard of in the heart of Tokyo's capital.
China warns citizens not to visit Japan as row over Taiwan heats up
Chinese tourists wear kimonos as they visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Saturday.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Kyoto gets its own teamLab installation, the largest in Japan
Visitors wearing kimonos look at digital artwork at the newly opened teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto.
Ashfall warning issued in southern Japan as volcano erupts
View of Sakurajima from the mainland of Kagoshima Prefecture
Good fortune, wrapped in fried tofu
Golden "age-fukuburo," a culinary take on Japan's new year "lucky bags," can be served on their own.
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom
Located near the Imperial Palace, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan prides itself on the accessibility of its events and the support it offers to budding and established journalists. The club is currently headed by Dan Sloan, a former reporter for Reuters.
The challenges awaiting Japan’s new finance minister
Finance minister Satsuki Katayama answers questions from reporters in a group interview on Oct. 24.
At Ginza’s newest hotel, luxury is a private treasure
At Fufu Tokyo, each guest room comes with its own private "onsen" (hot spring) — a luxury nearly unheard of in the heart of Tokyo's capital.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

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