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November 22, 2024
 

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Keiko Ujikane
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2015
Consumer spending recovery hampered by pension payment cuts
More than a year after a consumption tax increase tipped Japan into a recession, efforts to clamp down on soaring pension payments are suppressing a recovery in consumer spending.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 10, 2015
Toilet seat makers, diamond sellers among Japan firms fearing China plunge
The plunge in China's stock market and concerns about its economic growth are having effects well beyond the nation's borders — with shares of Japanese companies that benefit from Chinese tourists also declining.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2015
Japan still set for 2017 tax hike despite struggling economy
The central government still plans to raise the national sales tax again in 21 months, even as the economy struggles to gain momentum following the recession caused by a hike in the levy last year.
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...
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.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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