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Yoshiaki Nohara
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 11, 2015
A woman's job in Japan: watch kids, care for parents, work late
Hiromi Nakasaki remembers working past midnight on New Year's Eve and during holidays as a business systems consultant in Japan's notoriously harsh work environment. Last summer, at the height of her career, she quit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2015
From immigration to zoning, reforms need central guidance to succeed: adviser
The central government must exert control over the regions to push through regulatory reforms needed for economic revival, said the head of a council on special economic zones.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 20, 2015
Why Japan's factories, jobs aren't coming back despite the weak yen
Crows circle around the tract of cleared land that was once Hoya Corp.'s Pentax camera plant in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture. All that's left is a sign directing employees to a dormitory and gymnasium, both pulled down years ago when a strong yen was driving manufacturers abroad.
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
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2015
Ishiba tells rural communities to compete or lose funding
The Abe administration's czar for regional regeneration believes it is a case of sink or swim: Enterprising communities will maintain their grip on state funding and flourish, and stragglers will be cut loose.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2015
In shrinking villages, abandoned graves are a sign of generational flight
In the nation's declining provinces, it is not only the living who are neglected.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2015
December output gain hints at end to latest recession
Industrial production snapped two quarters of decline in December, signaling the economy may have limped out of recession.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2015
Improved 'competitiveness' key to wage hikes, labor chief says
Restoring industrial competitiveness is the key to fueling wage gains that the Abe government and the central bank are counting on to ensure inflation takes hold, according to labor minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2014
Mitani sidelined by Abe as GPIF pension fund enters new era
When Takahiro Mitani's term as head of the world's largest retirement fund finishes in March, so too will the old era of Japanese pension management.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 1, 2014
Investors still waiting for stock binge from GPIF
The world's largest retirement fund held back from plowing into Japanese equities last quarter, its investment results signaled, even as the market rebounded in anticipation of purchases.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 26, 2014
Younger Japanese staying away from stocks despite NISA tax lure
History is working against the Abe administration as it seeks to convince a new generation of investors that equities are the best bet for funding retirement.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 5, 2014
Pension clones with $500 billion await GPIF's asset switch
Where the world's biggest pension fund goes, half a trillion dollars is set to follow.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2014
Tax-free NISA working poorly, Sawakami says
Japan's tax-free investing program is failing to draw new stock buyers as the benefits expire too soon and young people fail to see its advantages, said the founder of the Sawakami Fund.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2014
GPIF posts first quarterly loss since 2012 on sagging stock market
Japan's stock rout in the quarter through March spurred the first loss for the world's biggest pension fund in almost two years, just as it moves toward buying more equities.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2014
Dealers hedge their bets on Abe's casino plan
For trainee dealer Taichi Yahagi, the odds of making a better living turning cards at a baccarat table in Tokyo are looking up.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 26, 2014
Confidence builds as investors await next phase of Abe growth strategy
If options are one way to measure sentiment, confidence is returning to Japan's stock market as investors prepare for the next phase of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's growth strategy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2014
Tax-free NISA luring individual investors
A spring downpour last week wasn't enough to stop Norito Nagahama from heading to a central-Tokyo brokerage to study up on Japanese stocks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2013
Silver shoplifters steal food as Abe cuts welfare to trim debt
Fumio Kageyama was 67 when he first turned to crime, making an unsuccessful attempt to rob a drunken passenger on a train in March 2008.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2013
Japan must boost credibility of bonds as exodus to stocks hikes rates: Amari
Japan's government must demonstrate a commitment to fiscal rehabilitation to boost the credibility of government bonds and prevent a spike in long-term yields as soaring stocks damp the allure of the nation's sovereign debt, Economy Minister Akira Amari said.

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