This seems to have been the message of Simon Nixon, writing in the Wall Street Journal today, in his article, “UK Has Plenty to Learn From Japan“. But, apart from seeming a little too “grass is greener” in its assessments of Japan, Nixon didn’t really pinpoint anything in the Japanese experience that would help [...]

The government is deep in debate over when (and not if) to introduce the so-called ‘green tax’, aimed at reducing ‘greenhouse gas emissions’. But it seems clear that the debate is really about whether or not they will try to fool the public.

Early next year, a provisional tax surcharge (more wonderful political-speak) on gasoline and [...]

Job offers for graduating job seekers as of October 1 were down to 62.5%, which is almost level with the lowest marks of 60.2% and 61.3% from 2003 and 2004 respectively, which were the lowest marks of the last decade and a half. But the rate of decline from a year earlier (7.4%) is greater [...]

A Kyodo news report yesterday proclaimed that 1 in 7 Japanese people were living in poverty, according to a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare release. This was the first time that the ministry has released such figures, which were calculated in accordance with the calculation methods used [...]

Prime Minister Hatoyama has traveled half way around the world and back a couple of times already in his first 50 days as Prime Minister. He has spent a great deal of time talking about ‘yuai’ (loosely translated as ‘fraternity), and about his plans for East Asian cooperation, nuclear disarmament, and some of the world’s [...]

When workers get their year-end bonuses this year, they are likely to find them a liittle lighter than usual. For the first time in 7 years, companies listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange will cut bonus payments by 13.1%, the steepest such cut since records began in 1970.

Year end bonuses will [...]

I’ve been meaning to do a post about Financial and Postal Affairs Minister Kamei Shizuka ever since the election, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it until now. Kamei, and the leader of the DPJ’s other coalition partner, Fukushima Mizuho, pose something of a problem for the Hatoyama administration. He needed to find [...]