Search - consumer-behavior

 
 
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2016

BOJ's upcoming policy review

The Bank of Japan should candidly assess the impact of its monetary policy and consider whether it's still worth pursuing.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2015

Only India and China can end Asia's haze

Making sustainably produced palm oil more affordable for consumers in India and China is key to clearing Southeast Asia's smoggy skies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Aug 26, 2013

Kaizen and the art of human wa maintenance

Kaizen here is organic, ubiquitous and attuned to the physical and psychological needs of human beings. At its best, this 'human-scale kaizen' eliminates or eases many of the mundane uncertainties, annoyances and embarrassments of daily life.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2012

Cloudy outlook for economy

In its latest monthly economic report released on Aug. 28, the government downgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time since October 2011 when the effects of the European sovereign debt crisis and the strong yen broadsided the economy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2011

Overcoming deflation psychology

One reason people feel that the Japanese economy is stagnant is the long bout of deflation. Once deflation psychology has set in, it is very difficult for both firms and people to shed it.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2010

Veering off the path of mutually assured destruction

As individuals, we usually recognize when we're heading off in the wrong direction and then have the good sense to get ourselves back on the right track.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2008

Inflation stays at 2.4% for a second month

Consumer price inflation exceeded 2 percent for a second month as companies passed on costs of food and other daily necessities.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2004

Cabinet endorses diluted bill to safeguard whistle-blowers

In response to a spate of insider revelations of corporate wrongdoing in recent years, the Cabinet endorsed a bill Tuesday to protect whistle-blowers from employer retaliation under certain conditions.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

'Gyudon,' PCs, phone fees tossed into new CPI mix

The government will soon add mobile phone fees, personal computers and "gyudon" beef bowls to items monitored when compiling monthly consumer price indexes as part of a reshuffle of the gauges' components, government officials said Wednesday. The new items will be used to calculate the CPIs starting...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 19, 2022

China's underground market for chips draws desperate automakers

A massive gray market for chips has exploded in China, populated with hundreds of middlemen where the cost of acquiring just one item can run as high as 500 times its original price.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 29, 2022

Slots to smartphones: Pandemic sends Australia's gambling problem online

Already the world's biggest gambling nation in terms of loss per person, Australia has seen a shift in betting behavior since the pandemic-forced closure of public venues.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2022

China bans most exclusive copyright deals for digital music platforms

The order comes amid a widening crackdown by Chinese regulators on the country's technology sector.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2021

The fight for open societies begins again

Freedom House reports that less than 20% of the world's population now live in what it categorizes as fully free societies, the lowest share in more than a quarter century.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2020

Trump’s China scorecard shows many defeats, and one big change

American companies cite much the same concerns — and the same growth objectives — with regard to China today as they did when Trump took office.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2020

How to keep calm in a pandemic: Education, information and communication

Fears over the pandemic can be managed and experts are calling for policymakers to be more transparent to help the public cope with distress.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Kyushu
May 30, 2019

Students and teachers have mixed views on Japanese schools' strict dress and hair codes

Many high schools often have regulations on student attire and hairstyles. But in some cases, students as well as teachers are skeptical about the rigorous rules and their strict enforcement.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2017

The Trump administration's economic potential

The U.S. faces serious political challenges, but economically it remains on sound footing.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2017

Varied agenda in wage talks

Overwork and pay raises are major issues in this year's union-management wage negotiations.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2015

China's worrisome market meddling

China's leaders need to push structural reform that will let markets play their due roles in the economy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 14, 2014

Next consumption tax raise painting Abe into a corner

Ever since the Cabinet Office released preliminary figures last month that showed an annualized 6.8 percent decline in first-quarter GDP, a war of nerves has flared up between the prime minister's office and the Finance Ministry. The next consumption tax hike could be delayed.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
May 4, 2014

How consumerism turns babies into monsters

If you have been planning a shopping trip with the kids, you might not want to read any further, because teaching your children consumerism is helping to turn them into selfish, immoral creatures without a streak of empathy, according to a new study.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2013

Measure of mismeasure confounds free choice

It's important to help people think clearly about why they might choose something less desirable than what they now have to avoid the risk of getting something even worse next time.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jul 16, 2013

Japanese adults spend crazy money on cellphone games

Over the last decade, people's behavior during their daily train ride has completely changed. In the past, Japanese were known to be avid readers of paperbacks (bunko) and manga magazines, and would do so even on Tokyo's notoriously crowded trains. Now, however, it is rare to spot someone on the train...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2013

Anshu Jain brings Deutsche Bank to world as client's man

Twelve days into his job as co-CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, Anshu Jain stood beside Germany's finance minister and in front of video images of lush forests and rolling rivers as hundreds of businessmen sang the national anthem.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 27, 2013

Europe forces Google to make searches fairer

There soon could be two Googles: one built for Europeans, with links to rival search engines and labels alerting users whenever Google is featuring its own products, and another version for everyone else.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 15, 2011

Are Japanese people hard-wired to hoard?

In the wake of the Tohoku-Kango earthquake, consumers can't help but help themselves to everything in sight.
BUSINESS / U.S. THINK TANK SYMPOSIUM
Feb 26, 2011

Economic woes of Japan, U.S. 'homegrown'

Japan and the United States both face a common challenge of showing that their economic models remain relevant even as China increasingly drives global growth, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 15, 2008

Let them eat whales!

Whales once fueled the industrialized world. First there was wood, then coal fired its steam engines alongside seal oil and whale oil that powered and lit the age of "dark satanic mills."
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Oct 9, 2003

Does ' baka explosion' indicate identity crisis brewing in Japan?

Japan has been witnessing something of a baka explosion recently. Whether or not the actual number of idiots or incidents of idiotic behavior are on the increase or not, there is certainly a sharp rise in the public irritability index, a lowering of the threshold at which people call others "baka."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2003

The party is over for 'Super Free' sex gang

The hormone-fueled stupidity that characterizes the behavior of your average college student is a fact of life, and people who are bothered by the unsafe sex, nonstop boozing and mindless pranks that typify spring break in the United States usually advocate moderation rather than outright prohibition....

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition