Work style reform, wages, employment and labor shortages.
Toyota's CTO credits development speed to an overwhelming number of failures. Murata built a 35 billion yen MLCC lab that manufactures nothing. A smaller metals firm gets the same room through internal rules.
Toyota, NTT and Tokyu are among roughly 1,600 Japanese employers paying for an AI dating app for single staff. The workplace is trying to buy back a matchmaking role it lost over fifty years.
Japan's resignation agency industry is booming — 94% of new graduates know about these services, and 25% would consider using one. Explore why Japanese workers pay someone else to quit for them, and what it reveals about workplace culture, generational shifts, and the collapse of lifetime employment.
A takeout tea cafe staffed by seniors averaging 73 years old has opened in Tokyo's Shibuya. 'G-CHA & Ba-CHA' reimagines how the elderly can stay active and connected — with creative tea drinks, seated service, and flexible work rules. A heartwarming look at Japan's approach to aging.
Japan's 2025 Business Manager Visa reform — raising capital requirements from $33,000 to $200,000 — is forcing authentic Chinese restaurants to close across Tokyo. Owner-chefs who serve rare regional cuisines face impossible new hurdles. A look at how immigration policy is reshaping Japan's food diversity.
The BOJ eyes an April rate hike as Iran's oil shock pushes inflation risks higher. With 10-year yields at 27-year highs, strong wage growth, and diverging policies from the Fed and ECB, we break down what this means for the yen, carry trades, and global markets.
Japan's food service industry hit its 50,000-worker cap under the Specified Skilled Worker visa, and new applications have been suspended since April 13, 2026. The skills test itself is halted too. We look at the gap between labor shortages and immigration caps, compare with South Korea and Singapore, and map what's left for foreign workers.
Japan's sickness benefits topped $4 billion in FY2023, up 60% in five years, driven by surging mental health claims. Explore Japan's structural workplace issues, insurance impacts, and how reforms compare globally.
Japan's permanent residency fee goes from 10,000 yen to 200,000 under the draft ordinance published July 3, 2026, applying to applications from October 1. From April 2027, permanent residency can be revoked for deliberate non-payment of taxes or social insurance. Foreign workers hit a record 2,571,037 in October 2025, but growth slowed to 11.7%.
Japan's government has set a cap of 1.23 million foreign workers by fiscal 2028, replacing its widely criticized Technical Intern Training Program with the new "Ikusei Shūrō" (Development and Employment) system. The reform introduces job-switching freedom, but raises concerns about brain drain from rural areas and Japanese language education challenges. We analyze this historic policy shift alongside comparisons with South Korea's EPS, Singapore's levy system, and Germany's integration model.
Auto mechanics in Japan now out-earn general office clerks, a reversal driven by severe labor shortages. Recruit Works Institute data across 145 occupations shows mechanics averaging ¥4.80 million against ¥4.67 million for clerks, with blue-collar pay rising far faster than desk work. Japan's belief that a degree plus a desk job equals higher income is under strain. We compare the shift with the US and Germany.