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July 02, 2026
 

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UNIONS

Samsung Electronics workers chant slogans during a rally ahead of a planned strike outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on April 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2026
Do Japan’s chip workers need a Samsung-style strike?
Even as Tokyo firms prepare to award customary summer bonuses, there will be nothing on the scale that South Korean companies are offering.
A storage facility for Inpex's offshore Ichthys project in an industrial park in Darwin, Australia. Ichthys accounts for about 2% of global output and has the capacity to export around 9.3 million tons a year, mainly to Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2026
Australian LNG union begins strikes at Tokyo-based Inpex’s Ichthys plant
Ichthys accounts for about 2% of global output for liquefied natural gas and has the capacity to export around 9.3 million tons a year, mainly to Japan.
Samsung Electronics is the world’s biggest supplier of the memory chips that go into everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to servers at artificial intelligence data centers.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2026
Samsung workers accept wage deal that averts chip plant strike
The agreement avoids what could have been a damaging strike for Samsung and the tech industry amid shortages in the memory chip sector.
Choi Seung-ho, head of the Samsung Electronics union, Yeo Myung-koo, head of the People Team under Samsung’s Device Solutions division and the company’s chief management negotiator, and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon pose for photographs after reaching tentative pay deal in Suwon, South Korea, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2026
Samsung reaches 11th-hour deal with union to avoid strike
The truce averts what could have been a damaging strike for Samsung and the tech industry.
Choi Seung-ho, head of Samsung Electronics union, speaks after a mediation session at the National Labor Relations Commission in Sejong, South Korea, on May 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2026
Samsung and its South Korean union resume pay talks as strike risks loom
South Korean government officials have voiced concerns that a strike could pose significant risk to economic growth, exports and financial markets.
Members of Samsung Electronics' labor union chant during a protest against the company's compensation levels, in front of a Samsung semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on April 23.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2026
Samsung and labor union to meet in ‘last chance’ to avert strike
Management and the union representatives at the world’s biggest memory chipmaker will meet Monday for the talks on wages and compensation.
People take part in the traditional May Day labor union march in Paris on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 4, 2026
From Paris on May Day: Rethinking work and solidarity in Japan
May Day came and went last Friday in the City of Light, prompting reflections on its meaning in France compared with Japan.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi addresses a May Day event in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2026
Takaichi vows support for wage hikes at May Day event
The prime minister also called for cooperation to achieve “sustained wage hikes that outpace inflation.”
Members of the Samsung Electronics labor union hold signs reading "Change it to be transparent!" as they stage a mass rally demanding the removal of a cap on performance bonuses, outside the company's foundry and semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2026
Samsung workers protest over huge pay gap with SK Hynix amid AI chip boom
Protesters, which union organizers put at 40,000, plan to strike for 18 days from May 21 if their demands are not met.
Rengo's tally showed that the average wage gain secured by labor unions stayed above the group's 5% target for a third straight year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2026
Japan’s wage growth holds momentum after small firms reach deals
The development comes even after results from smaller firms were factored into the tally, an outcome that will keep the Bank of Japan on track for a near-term interest rate hike.
The news of Gen. Douglas MacArthur came as a surprise to the Japanese public and was covered from a variety of angles.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Apr 1, 2026
Japan Times 1951: Truman ousts Gen. MacArthur
U.S. President Harry Truman dismissed the key player in Japan’s postwar recovery 75 years ago this month.
Labor unions under Rengo have so far secured an average pay increase of 5.26% in wage negotiations with employers, according to an initial tally.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 23, 2026
Japan’s key labor union wins wage hike topping 5% for third year
The development will likely keep the central bank on track for another interest rate hike in the coming months.
An official of the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions writes down companies’ response to labor unions’ demands in wage negotiations in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2026
Many major Japanese companies agree to pay hike demands in full
Close attention is being paid to whether the wage hike momentum will spread to small companies, which employ about 70% of all workers in Japan.
The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo, holds a meeting late last month to call for robust wage hikes in this year's shuntō spring offensive.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2026
Japan electronics unions to accept pay scale hike of ¥12,000 or more
The hike is intended to help sustainably realize robust pay increases outpacing inflation.
Real wages have been falling in Japan for a number of years despite high nominal increases.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 6, 2026
Unions seeking wage increases this year of almost 6%
The spring offensive results are likely to be in line with last year’s.
Some 466 unions affiliated with UA Zensen are seeking a pay raise of 6.46% for regular workers on a weighted average, according to a tally released Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2026
Japanese labor union group sets more ambitious pay goal as BOJ watches
The push by UA Zensen, which represents unions across the retail, restaurants, materials and service sectors, follows other labor groups’ ambitious targets.
Mazda Motor has fully met union demands by offering pay-scale and regular pay increases of ¥19,000 in total a month.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2026
Mazda, Mitsubishi and Yamaha fully meet union wage hike demands
The companies are apparently aiming to maintain pay hike momentum amid the tough business environment caused by U.S. tariffs.
Hitachi Vice President Susumu Takimoto answers questions about the 2026 spring wage negotiations on Thursday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2026
Wage talks begin in earnest at Japanese electronics-makers
Unions at Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and other large companies requested a pay scale increase of ¥18,000 per month, bigger than last year’s record-high demand.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino speaks during an interview in Tokyo in December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 4, 2026
Rengo head urges wide-ranging changes for gender equality
Tomoko Yoshino, Rengo’s first female leader, said that the proportion of women in management positions is low in Japan.
The Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers holds a meeting in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Jan. 16.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 1, 2026
Small firms in Japan struggling to raise wages
It is difficult for small companies to narrow the pay gap with large corporations at a time when prolonged inflation is driving up costs.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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