Naotaka Ikura, 24
Administration (Japanese)
Cuts in bonuses didn't affect me at all this summer. I'm in administration, so I was lucky. Perhaps other people had their bonuses cut.

Sou On, 16
Student (China)
Speaking to my Japanese friends, I can tell that Japan has been hit harder by the global crisis than China has, where GDP is rising. I think this is due to the strong ties between Japan and the U.S., where the recession began.

Junichi Yoshisaka, 36
HR company president
There are many medium-size and small companies that aren't paying bonuses at all this summer. Human resources — my industry — has been badly affected by the recession.

Tsuyoshi Endo, 19
Student (Japanese)
In my firm there was a major slip-up and our bonuses were cut by 5 to 10 percent. If there had been no errors, we would have got our full bonuses. Our firm has yet to feel the effects of the recession.

Mai Katayama, 24
Advertising (Japanese)
This year I am getting one bonus instead of two because of a drop in sales over the last six months. I work in the magazine ad industry and we rely on big firms, but they just don't want to advertise.

Kazuhiko Hashimoto, 70
Construction worker
I'm not receiving bonuses because I was laid off in November. My company must have known about the coming recession much earlier. All the temporary employees were fired first.

Takayuki Kobayashi, 50
Trading house employee
My bonus is pretty much the same as last year. That's because my company wasn't badly hit by the recession. But I've heard about big cuts in other firms.