Japan Feb. Industrial Output: Ideas Later.

Japan industrial output in Feb. falls 2.1% on month on weak autos

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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's industrial output in February fell 2.1 percent from the previous month, the first contraction in three months, dragged down by weak output in the motor vehicle sector, government data showed Tuesday, with the impact of the Iran conflict likely to be felt in the coming months.

The decrease followed an upwardly revised expansion of 4.3 percent in January. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry maintained its basic assessment of industrial production from the month before, saying it "fluctuates indecisively."

Output dropped in 12 of the 15 sectors, falling 3.6 percent in the motor vehicle sector after an 8.1 percent rise in the previous month, amid a decline in orders for small trucks and a decrease in production of car engines for overseas markets, a ministry official said.

Reduced production of fabricated metals, including aluminum for industrial use, and of electronic parts and devices such as liquid crystal display panels contributed to the overall fall, while the iron, steel and nonferrous metals sector saw an expansion.

According to a poll of manufacturers, output is expected to rise 3.8 percent in March and 3.3 percent in April, the ministry said.

But the official cautioned that the survey, conducted in early March, may not have factored in the impact of the war against Iran launched by the United States and Israel on Feb. 28, which remains "highly unpredictable" and warrants "exceptional attention."

The Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway, have disrupted supplies of crude oil and petroleum products to Japan, with the chemical sector facing difficulties procuring naphtha, a liquid derived from crude oil that is used to produce ethylene, a raw material for plastics and synthetic fibers.

Some automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. are cutting domestic production of cars bound for Middle Eastern markets due to delayed shipments to the region in March, sources close to the matter said.

The seasonally adjusted index of production at factories and mines stood at 102.3 against the 2020 base of 100, the ministry said in the preliminary report.

In February, the index of industrial shipments dropped 1.6 percent to 100.5, while that of inventories edged up 0.3 percent to 98.1.

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260331/p2g/00m/0bu/018000c

Japan Feb. Jobless Rate: Ideas Later.

Japan's Feb. jobless rate falls to 2.6%, 1st drop in 7 months

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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's unemployment rate in February fell to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent the previous month, improving for the first time in seven months, partly reflecting people who had voluntarily left their jobs finding employment, government data showed Tuesday.

The number of people with jobs edged up 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 68.27 million, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Of those not employed, 430,000 were laid off, a 4.4 percent decrease from January. Meanwhile, 760,000 people voluntarily left their jobs, typically to seek better conditions, a 7.3 percent decrease.

Those newly seeking jobs decreased 1.9 percent to 530,000, according to the ministry. A ministry official said, "The employment situation is not deteriorating."

The job availability ratio edged up 0.01 point from January to 1.19, meaning there were 119 jobs available for every 100 job seekers, according to separate data.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, new job openings in the wholesale and retail sector plunged 17.9 percent in February from a year earlier, while job offers in the lifestyle and entertainment services sector decreased by 17.0 percent.

New job openings also fell 14.7 percent in accommodation and restaurant services, 9.5 percent in information and communications, and slid 6.5 percent in the education sector.

While there has been no significant change in the trend, concerns have been growing over rising prices triggered by the Middle East crisis, with developments needing to be closely watched, a labor ministry official said.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260331/p2g/00m/0bu/020000c

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Japan Prefectures and Foreigners: Ideas Later.

 

75% of Japan prefectures boosting programs for coexistence with foreigners

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260329/p2g/00m/0na/005000c

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TOKYO

 (Kyodo) -- Around 75 percent of Japan's prefectures have allocated funds in their initial budget proposals for the new fiscal year starting Wednesday to establish initiatives or expand existing programs to promote coexistence with foreign residents, a Kyodo News survey showed.

The measures focus on fostering interaction with local communities and raising awareness of everyday rules and norms. The move comes amid an influx of foreign workers into Japan as the rapidly graying country struggles with a labor shortage.

In a survey of Japan's 47 prefectures conducted from February to early March, eight, including Fukui and Okayama, said they had both introduced new programs and expanded existing ones for multicultural coexistence. Sixteen reported that they had established new programs, while 11 indicated that they were expanding existing ones.

A lack of understanding of Japan's community rules and social norms is seen as underlying friction between local and foreign residents, observers say.

Ibaraki, near Tokyo, which ranks 10th among Japan's prefectures in the number of foreign workers, is striving to address the root causes of misunderstandings by having outreach staff visit areas where foreign residents gather, such as mosques and grocery stores selling foreign ingredients, to seek cooperation on garbage separation and noise issues.

Kochi and Kagoshima prefectures are creating multilingual guides on living rules, while other areas are supporting cultural exchange programs.

Policies on foreign residents emerged as a major issue in last year's House of Councillors election and the House of Representatives election in February, with a surge in derogatory comments targeting them seen online.

Masami Wakayama, a professor at Hokuriku Gakuin University well versed in local government multicultural policies, stressed the importance of increasing opportunities for exchange, noting that limited interaction tends to strengthen "exclusionary attitudes."

But he added that it is equally important not to demand "excessive assimilation" while ensuring basic rules are followed, saying, "The principle of multicultural coexistence is about recognizing and respecting each other's cultures and differences."

According to government data, the number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record 4.13 million in 2025, topping 4 million for the first time, aided by a rise in permanent residents and foreign workers.

BOJ Kuroda: Ideas Later.

Interview: Ex-BOJ chief Kuroda says policy rate should be raised to around 1.5%

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260329/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Former Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank's policy interest rate should be raised to a "neutral rate" of around 1.5 percent from the current 0.75 percent to address inflation.

Kuroda, 81, who had led unprecedented monetary easing measures under his "bazooka" stimulus during his 10-year tenure at the helm from 2013, said the BOJ could even shift to a tightening stance if a surge in crude oil prices intensifies inflation.

The BOJ "needs to raise (the policy rate) by 0.75 percentage point or 1 point," Kuroda said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. If the bank lifts the rate at the usual pace of 0.25 percentage point, "it could still hike the rate three or four times," he said.

Kazuo Ueda, the successor to Kuroda at the central bank, has said that it seeks to continue raising rates to normalize monetary policy as long as prices and economic activity continue to align with expectations.

"There is nothing wrong at all" if the bank decides on another rate hike at its next policy meeting in April, said Kuroda, who under his tenure as BOJ chief implemented a strategy of unconventional monetary policies aimed at endings years of deflation.

The central bank had introduced a quantitative easing program, followed later by quantitative and qualitative easing with a 2 percent inflation target, and a negative rate policy.

The rise in consumer prices driven by the weak yen and higher import costs prompted the BOJ in March 2024 to raise the key rate for the first time in 17 years, followed by further hikes in July 2024 and in January and December last year.

Reflecting on his time as BOJ chief, Kuroda said bold monetary easing steps were "necessary to beat deflation and to achieve stable growth and full employment."

Whether to shift policy to a neutral stance, which would neither stimulate nor cool the economy, is a sensitive issue under the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch supporter of aggressive monetary stimulus.

Kuroda said that the BOJ should pay close attention to crude oil prices, as they could surge further if the conflict in the Middle East drags on, causing inflation to rise more quickly.

"If the impact is serious, (the bank) may need to accelerate rate hikes or even move beyond neutral to tightening," Kuroda said.

The former BOJ governor also questioned the effects of Takaichi's aggressive fiscal policies, asserting, "There is no need at all to stimulate (the economy), which would only boost inflation" at a time when the economy is holding firm.

As for the ongoing discussions between the government, ruling and opposition parties about eliminating the 8 percent consumption tax on food items, Kuroda said consumers are no longer demanding such a tax break since rice prices are beginning to fall.

There are also no convincing plans to cover the tax revenue shortfall, he said.

Japan Convenience Store Sales in Feb. Updated March 25, 2026.

Japan convenience store sales rise 1.6% in Feb., up for 12 months

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260323/p2g/00m/0bu/036000c

Ideas

The idea of higher spending per customer can be seen it two ways such as prices increased due to the continue inflation situation in Japan which meant customers spent more on whatever they bought. The second reason might be due to the increase in foreign visitors to Japan and as been suggested many foreign visitors are keen to visit some Japanese convenience stores and buy some of the products.

Coffee prices at Starbucks and Tullys at the major coffee chains remain relatively high so its  understandable that Japanese consumers would get the 100 yen convenience store coffee, or what it used to be as Japanese consumers, as anywhere are always looking try to and save money.

Of course the warm weather or any weather that is different than the season, will induce consumes to buy cold drinks and ice cream in the winter or any other product that might that not be in-line with the seasonal weather.

That doesn't mean the normal seasonal weather products are not going to be bought as of course hot coffee will be bought year round and of course ice-americano cold coffee with be bought year round too.

There is significant competition among the seven Japanese convenience stores so of course they will have all kinds of campaigns in Japan to try and get more Japanese consumers and even maybe foreign visitors to enter their stores and buy products.

Japan restaurants and department stores that offer what are called bentos for lunch and dinner are always trying to get mor sales and more customers to buy their products so its no surprise that they might offer larger than normal portions for whatever such at restaurants and even maybe, again, larger bento boxed lunch and dinner offerings to get customers to buy more.

And yes, of course heavy snow and rain might have reduced the flow of traffic into some Japanese convenience stores or conbinis as known in Japan, as because of the snow and rain consumers didn't make their usual daily stop at the conbini.

What's interesting about Japanese convenience stores, is whenever I would go to a conbini in the Yokohama area, which is near Tokyo, I would usually only see foreign students working at the conbini, You could see their name-tags written in katakana with their name  either Chinese, Vietnamese, or some other Asian spelled name. 

That could be a situation where Japanese students don't want to work at Japanese convenience stores or the pay might be too low for what they want as Japanese convenience stores have very low profit margins and can't afford to pay a lot or they just pay the required minimum wage that most likely regular Japanese students don't like and won't work at convenience stores so, as suggested in other articles there are thousands of foreign students now working there at conbinis can't get the regular Japanese student to work there because of the low hourly rate.

Have a nice day!

Japan Firms and Wage Hikes: Ideas Later.Updated March 27, 2026.

Japan firms mark 3rd straight year of over 5% wage hikes: survey

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260323/p2g/00m/0bu/046000c

Ideas

It's good that Japanese companies are finally beginning to give their workers the wages they need to live in an inflation society like Japan these days.

Unfortunately, many Japanese have become too westernized and don't think about the long-term benefits of their employees but only about the quarter to quarter benefits of the stockholders.

At the same time, there is a supposed labor shortage in Japan which means if companies don't increase the wages of their employees some or many potentially could quit and move to another company that is paying higher wages. And now its not uncommon or not a bad thing to quit and change companies in Japan, as it was years ago.

The challenges is many or most of the small and mid-size companies just don't have the needed resources to match the pay of the large name-brand companies in Japan which means up to 70 percent of the Japanese workforce might not get a high enough wage increase that is larger than what is inflation in Japan, which then means consumer spending in Japan is not going to be where it should be to help the economy grow.

The Japanese economy is 90 percent plus small and mid-size companies and not the large name-brand companies that makes the news everyday, which means many or most of these small companies no one hears about but they basically keep the Japanese economy going forward despite, again, all the news the large companies get.

Yes, sustained wage increases will be a real challenge if inflation in Japan also stays above the BOJ 2 percent target level. A company can only give what it can give, meaning if its profit margin is limited, especially for small and mid-size companies they might not be able to do more than a 5 percent wage increase, if even that.

Of course companies in the services sector, with very thin profits margins might not able to give 5 percent as many service companies use just contract and part-time workers at their companies.

An increase of 14, 300 yen per month is something but it might not be enough needed for many workers in small and mid-size companies as maybe their disposable income has been shrinking every year almost since the end of the pandemic, which means their purchasing power in the Japanese economy is not enough to really help the economy grow if they spend or even spend at all.

You can't blame the companies, at least too much, as they too have budget constraints and have to work within their budgets to fit in the needed wage increases for their employees and maybe they would like to offer higher wage increases but they just can't do it without creating challenges for other parts of their company.

Ever since the 2008 financial crisis many companies have begun to use more non-regular and part-time employees as a way to cut costs. The challenge with that is the pay for these two groups is well below what is needed for a so-called living wage meaning they can work a non regular job and or a part-time job and be able to pay their month or weekly bills.

Not all non regular workers are students or those who just want to work part-time or a non regular job but real people with maybe children and maybe working women who need to make a good wage to help take care of their families.

Too many countries and companies treat non-regular workers as second class citizens and the same with part-time workers and some think they have limited skills and shouldn't be paid a real living wage.

A wage increase of 16, 356 yen per month is good and needed but can it be enough to overcome the constant inflation situation in Japan. Only time will tell if there is an increase in consumer spending in Japan, then maybe it is/was enough get the Japanese economy moving again.

If its not enough it will be seen soon enough as for example as the Golden Week holiday period will be approaching fast after the wage increases take affect in April and when May comes around with the Golden Week holiday period if there is an increase or a decrease in consumer spending it might be indicative of how much or even how little the wage increases have helped the economy.

And yes, unfortunately, as usual, small and mid-size companies are only going to get an increase of 12,361 yen per month and it might not be enough to get the 70 percent of workers at the small and mid-size companies to begin to spend as maybe still their disposable incomes are still going to be less than needed to help the Japanese economy grow again.

Have a nice day!

Japan Core Consumer Prices in Feb. Ideas Later.

Japan core consumer prices in Feb. rise 1.6% on yr, lowest in nearly 4 yrs

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260324/p2g/00m/0bu/013000c

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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's core consumer prices in February rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier, climbing less than 2 percent for the first time in nearly four years, government data showed Tuesday, though higher crude oil prices amid the Iran war will add to upward pressure.

The rise of the nationwide consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food, followed a 2.0 percent increase in January, largely reflecting the government's subsidy program to curb electricity bills from January to March, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The inflation rate fell below the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target for the first time since a 0.8 percent rise in March 2022, when sharply lower mobile communications fees held down the rate before the Ukraine war led to surging crude oil and raw material prices in the subsequent months.

Despite the core CPI reading of less than 2 percent, the BOJ is likely to stay on its path of continuing to raise interest rates, analysts said, as the central bank monitors underlying inflation accompanied by strong wage growth rather than the core CPI, which is often affected by one-off factors.

A ministry official said it remains unclear to what extent and when the recent rise in crude oil prices will be seen in the core CPI reading, but added there is a possibility a "wide range" of products and services will be affected.

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, leading to the effective halt of crude oil and other shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, gasoline prices in Japan have hit record highs, while companies have also faced difficulties in procuring heavy oil used for heating and other purposes.

As countermeasures, the government has begun to release oil from stockpiles and resumed gasoline subsidies to mitigate the impact on people's livelihoods.

The Middle East conflict has also driven the U.S. dollar up toward the 160 yen line in a flight to safety, a level last seen in 2024, with the weaker yen adding to import costs for resource-scarce Japan.

In the reported month, energy costs fell 9.1 percent from a year earlier, following a 5.2 percent decline in January, as gasoline prices plunged 14.9 percent thanks to the end of a provisional tax on the fuel in December, while electricity bills decreased 8.0 percent.

The core CPI also benefited from a deceleration of food prices, which climbed 5.7 percent in February, excluding fresh items, down from a 6.2 percent increase in the previous month.