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Kentaro Sugiyama
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, seen on June 14, said on Wednesday that he told new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that the central bank was "supporting the economy with loose monetary conditions."
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2024
Ishiba says Japan not ready for rate hike after meeting BOJ's Ueda
"I told the prime minister that we are supporting the economy with loose monetary conditions," Ueda said.
At stake in this year's spring negotiations between trade unions and large Japanese firms, analysts say, is whether wages will rise far enough to ignite the sustainable inflation that policymakers consider a prerequisite for ending negative interest rates.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2024
Japan's top business lobby calls for worker pay raises above inflation
The call sets the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan to exit its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Commuters at Tokyo Station earlier this month. A Reuters poll showed six out of 10 economists expect major firms' pay hikes in 2024 to exceed this year's.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Nov 20, 2023
Japan's back-to-back wage bonanza would open door for BOJ exit
The news comes as the government pushes companies to hike pay to help offset rising living costs.
Tomoko Yoshino, president of Rengo, attends a meeting in 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2023
Japan's largest labor union to seek worker pay hikes beyond 2024
Rengo said last month it will demand wage hikes totaling 5% or more next year.
Takeshi Niinami, chairman of business lobby Keizai Doyukai, says the Bank of Japan "must normalize" monetary policy.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2023
Japan needs to prepare for 'life with interest rates': lobby head
Takeshi Niinami, chairman of business lobby Keizai Doyukai, said the Bank of Japan "must normalize" monetary policy to help weed out incompetent firms.
While the U.S. referenced China 20 times in its October announcement of semiconductor export controls targeting Chinese companies, Japan has chosen broad equipment controls not specifically aimed at its bigger neighbor.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2023
As Japan aligns with U.S. chip curbs on China, some in Tokyo feel uneasy
Tokyo remains worried that targeting China will provoke damaging retaliation, such as a ban on Japanese electric cars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2023
Japan's top economic officials debate whether sustained exit from deflation is near
With inflation accelerating globally and wage growth picking up in Japan, discussions also touched on the desirable timing to end the Bank of Japan's ultraloose monetary policy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
May 1, 2023
Inflation and labor crunch prodding Japan's smaller firms to raise pay
Wages have barely risen in Japan since the asset bubble burst in the 1990s but have crept up recently, as companies face pressure to compensate employees for the rising cost of living.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2022
Hope fizzles out for Japan's 'revenge spending' splurge as inflation looms
Facing the prospect of struggling with rising prices, Japan's famously thrifty consumers are tightening their belts even as they sit on the remains of an estimated u00a550 trillion in savings.

Longform

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