Kishida Pushes for Unprecedented Wage Increases

As price hikes spread from fast food to daily necessities and households grapple with rising living costs, the steady depreciation of the yen has emerged as a central driver of inflation, with multiple indicators showing that the currency’s purchasing power has fallen to roughly one-third of its mid-1990s peak, underscoring how three decades of economic stagnation, prolonged monetary easing and renewed fiscal expansion have left Japan far more vulnerable to imported inflation than other major economies.

An AI startup that emerged almost overnight, Akari had long been known only to insiders due to its limited media exposure, but after receiving investment from Mitsubishi Electric at the end of January and seeing its corporate valuation surge past 100 billion yen, the Tokyo-born venture has rapidly positioned itself as a leading unicorn candidate in Japan’s AI sector.

Mizuho Financial Group has decided on a policy to improve operational efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence, aiming to reduce administrative work equivalent to as many as 5,000 employees over the next decade.

Honda announced on February 26th that it will introduce a new model of its SUV, the CR-V, with prices starting at 5,122,700 yen.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission has conducted an on-site inspection of Microsoft’s Japanese subsidiary on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Act by potentially restricting the use of rival services.

A long-awaited spell of steady rain fell across Japan following a record stretch of low precipitation, offering much-needed relief to farmers and manufacturers that had struggled with water shortages.

Food delivery service Wolt announced that it will withdraw from Japan on March 4th as competition in the domestic delivery market intensifies.

McDonald’s, which opened in Japan in 1971 and has long counted the Big Mac among its signature products, saw the burger’s price rise from 280 yen in 2008 to 480 yen before increasing further to 500 yen on February 25th, nearly doubling over the past two decades.