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August 29, 2025
 

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WAGES

Bank of Japan rate hikes may continue though trade uncertainties remain, board member Junko Nakagawa says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 28, 2025
BOJ board member reaffirms stance on raising interest rates
Junko Nakagawa's remarks indicate there’s at most a low chance of a move coming at the board's next meeting, which concludes on Sept. 19, as of now.
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 25, 2025
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
Many prefectures are choosing increases higher than the 6% suggested by the ministry.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (second from left) walks with Fed Chair Jerome Powell (left), European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from right) and Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey outside the Fed’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2025
BOJ's Ueda expects tight labor market to keep upward pressure on wages
The remarks are likely to support growing speculation of another interest rate hike this year, although the BOJ governor didn’t directly discuss monetary policy in a presentation.
Giants special advisor to baseball operations Dusty Baker looks on before the game against the Washington Nationals at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 8.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 22, 2025
MLB greats warn lockout or strike would derail sport's momentum
The current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association expires next year.
Kazuto Uchida, president of the Government Pension Investment Fund, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on July 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2025
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund is hiring amid ballooning assets
GPIF has an unusually small headcount despite being one of the world’s largest retirement funds.
The fourth consecutive year of increase came after many firms raised their monthly wages this spring and as a result of solid earnings mainly among manufacturers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms hit record
The fourth consecutive year of increase came after many firms raised their monthly wages this spring and as a result of solid earnings mainly among manufacturers.
The National Personnel Authority recommended Thursday a 3.62% increase in average monthly base pay for public employees in the current fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2025
Japan’s public workers set to get largest pay hike in 34 years
The rise in wages will come as a welcome development for policymakers at the Bank of Japan, who are seeking broad-based and lasting growth to support stable inflation.
The average wage hike rate among major Japanese firms this year hit 5% for the second straight year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025
Major Japan firms set record with pay hikes above 5% for second year
This year's average raise of 5.39% was the second biggest since comparable data became available in 1976.
Nominal wages in Japan rose 2.5% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a revised 1.4% gain the previous month, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2025
Japan’s nominal pay rises faster in June, backing case for BOJ rate hike
Nominal wages increased 2.5% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a revised 1.4% gain the previous month and marking the steepest increase since February.
Amid rising prices for food and other items, a government panel has proposed a record hike in the average minimum wage.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 5, 2025
Amid inflation, Japanese government panel proposes record ¥63 minimum wage hike
The recommendation by the panel, which advises the labor minister, would raise the average minimum wage to ¥1,118 per hour.
Medium-sized securities firms are raising their starting salaries in line with their bigger domestic competitors Nomura and Daiwa Securities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2025
Nomura’s starting pay matched by Japanese rivals to retain staff
Medium-sized securities firms are raising their starting salaries in line with their bigger domestic competitors Nomura and Daiwa Securities.
The proposed hike in the national average minimum wage to about ¥1,118 ($7.43) per hour would exceed last year's increase of 5% and be the largest since the current system began.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2025
Japan plans another record minimum wage hike, says report
The proposed hike, to about ¥1,118 per hour, would exceed last year's increase of 5%.
The National Personnel Authority plans to submit a proposal to raise bonus pay and the salaries for government employees to parliament and the Cabinet on Aug. 7.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Government employees in Japan to see higher bonus pay on top of salary raise
This will mark the fourth straight year of increase in both salaries and bonuses for government employees amid rising salaries in the private sector.
Eighty percent of high school students in Japan expressed interest in wage rules, followed by working hour rules, at 79.5%, according to the results of a questionnaire survey released by the labor ministry on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2025
80% of high schoolers in Japan show interest in wages and labor systems
Civics classes were cited as good opportunities for high school students to learn about social security systems.
Hideyuki Okamoto, ice pop maker Akagi Nyugyo's marketing team leader, says the public is more accepting of price hikes as he holds the company's flagship Garigari-kun ice pop.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jul 29, 2025
Enough apologies: How Japan is shaking off its price hike phobia
A shift in consumer mindset about such increases is driven by the biggest pay hikes in three decades and has given companies more confidence to pass on rising costs.
Prolonged high prices for food and other goods have pushed down consumer sentiment and real wages, according to the Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance for fiscal 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 29, 2025
Japan should take all possible measures to raise wages, white paper says
Prolonged high prices for food and other goods have pushed down consumer sentiment and real wages, while predictions for continued price climbs have curbed consumption.
The National Personnel Authority in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. The authority, , which makes recommendations for wage changes for national public servants, is expected to recommend pay hikes of at least 3% for central government workers next month.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2025
Central government workers to get a pay bump of at least 3%, sources say
The National Personnel Authority is looking to bridge the wage gap between public servants and private-sector workers.
Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday ahead of the start of the MLB All-Star Game.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 16, 2025
Tony Clark blasts MLB salary cap idea as 'collusion' during All-Star break
The current MLB collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1, 2026, and a deal will need to be reached by then to avoid a lockout.
Currently, the country's average minimum hourly wage is ¥1,055, following a record increase of ¥51, or 2.1%, in fiscal 2024.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2025
Japan starts fiscal 2025 minimum wage talks
Currently, the country's average minimum hourly wage is ¥1,055, following a record increase of ¥51 in fiscal 2024.
Political parties have pledged to reduce social security premiums and raise salaries for medical and nursing care workers in their campaigning for the upcoming Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 9, 2025
Premiums and wages at heart of social security debate ahead of Upper House vote
Social security premiums in Japan grew from ¥26.7 trillion in fiscal 2000 to ¥40.7 trillion in fiscal 2022.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.

Podcast

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

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Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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