While corporate profits in Japan continue to reach record highs, employee wages remain stagnant, leaving a growing segment of the workforce struggling. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, non-regular employment has steadily increased, creating a widening gap between regular and non-regular workers.
Today, 15.4% of the population earns less than half the median standard of living, the second-highest proportion among G7 countries, after the United States. In Tokyo, consumer prices rose 2.5% in September compared with a year earlier. The index excluding fresh food—often subject to sharp fluctuations—reached 110.0 across the capital’s wards, with the pace of growth remaining unchanged from the previous month.
In corporate news, Panasonic Holdings will begin soliciting early retirement applications next month at one of its core operating companies as part of broader restructuring efforts. Meanwhile, Toyota has started demonstration trials at its experimental city project, known as Woven City, on September 25th. Several employee households have moved in to test how AI and autonomous driving technologies can be integrated into everyday life.
Japan currently has only eight unicorns—unlisted startups valued at over 150 billion yen—compared with 690 in the United States. The country has yet to produce a single “hectocorn,” a term used for companies worth more than 100 billion dollars, such as ByteDance’s TikTok, OpenAI, or SpaceX.
On September 24th, at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, Japan and Saudi Arabia announced a new memorandum of understanding for economic cooperation. The agreement places a strong emphasis on expanding the entertainment and content industries.
In local news, residents of Settsu City, Osaka Prefecture, have decided to file for pollution mediation against chemical manufacturer Daikin Industries, whose plant is located in the area. The action comes after groundwater was found to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), some of which are suspected carcinogens.
https://newsonjapan.com/article/147032.php