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6 days ago
- Business
Average Summer Bonuses at Major Japanese Companies Close to ¥1 Million
Japan Data The average summer bonus for employees at major Japanese companies rose above ¥990,000 in 2025. Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, announced that the average 2025 summer bonus at major Japanese companies rose by 4.37% from the previous year to ¥990,848 (a weighted average in the group's first tally of bonuses). This was the highest level since comparable records were first kept in 1981. The increase comes amid pressure for wage hikes due to strong performance by large companies and rising consumer prices. The first tally covered 107 companies in 18 industries, and is the fourth consecutive annual rise. The average bonus among the 93 manufacturing companies that were part of the survey was ¥1,035,889, topping last year's figure, which rose above ¥1 million for the first time. There were rises in 13 of the 18 industries. Notably, the chemicals industry recorded a significant increase of 29.0% to ¥1,050,414. Nonferrous metals (¥909,071) and shipbuilding (¥1,184,644) also saw double-digit growth. The five industries posting decreased bonuses were paper and pulp, iron and steel, automobiles, transportation, and information and telecommunications. The survey covers 244 companies from 22 major industries with 500 or more employees. The companies that respond at the time of the first tally vary by year, so it is not possible to simply compare with the final results each time. The final figure, planned to be announced in early August, tends to be lower than that at the time of the first tally. Data Sources List of summer bonuses in 2025 by industry (Japanese) from Keidanren. (Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)
03-07-2025
- Business
Summer Bonuses at Major Japanese Firms Hit New Record
News from Japan Economy Jul 3, 2025 20:24 (JST) Tokyo, July 3 (Jiji Press)--Summer bonuses at major Japanese companies this year rose 4.37 pct from last year to hit a new record high amid the rising cost of living, a report by the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, showed Thursday. The weighted average summer bonus among the surveyed companies stood at 990,848 yen, the highest since comparable data began in 1981, according to Keidanren's first tally of this year's summer bonuses. The average was up for the fourth straight year on a first-tally basis. Keidanren said that the result reconfirmed the strong momentum for wage increases. The initial tally covered a total of 107 companies from 18 industries, including 93 manufacturers and 14 nonmanufacturers. Manufacturers posted an average of 1,035,889 yen, up 4.49 pct, while nonmanufacturers logged 857,602 yen, up 3.76 pct. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Asahi Shimbun
29-06-2025
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
New Keidanren chairman shows that nice guys can finish first
Yoshinobu Tsutsui in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on May 1 (Photo by Kotaro Ebara) Yoshinobu Tsutsui's humble beginnings and the social norms he learned during childhood helped to propel him to the top of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), the most powerful business lobby in the country. The 71-year-old on May 29 became the first Keidanren chairman from a financial institution. Tsutsui took over as president of Nippon Life Insurance Co. in April 2011, three weeks after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster. He immediately set a policy of quickly paying insurance money to victims, thereby setting an overall direction for the insurance industry. 'Whatever headwind we may face, we must fulfill our corporate mission of protecting our customers and supporting people's livelihoods,' he said in an address to employees at the time. Tsutsui grew up in a plebeian neighborhood along the Hanshin Electric Railway Co. line in Kobe. He was the youngest of five brothers under a factory worker father and a full-time homemaker mother. 'I wore hand-me-downs,' Tsutsui said. 'Food was supposed to be divided equally, but it was, in fact, allocated with more weight to my older brothers.' He said there was a solemn sense of hierarchy in his family. 'I acquired this habit of studying the faces of my older brothers and carefully assessing the mood at all times,' Tsutsui said. His mother would take him to a nearby street day after day to go shopping. He would listen to the casual conversations that she exchanged with storekeepers. 'Those days nurtured my social sensibilities,' Tsutsui said. Masakazu Tokura, Tsutsui's predecessor as Keidanren chairman, also attached importance to keeping tabs on social issues, such as widening disparities and collapsing ecosystems. Tokura said he named Tsutsui as his successor based largely on his 'social' viewpoint. 'Tsutsui begins by listening to the accounts of others and respects their decisions, no matter how much younger they are,' a former subordinate of Tsutsui said. 'He is consistent in that stance.' Tsutsui also believes that 'a company embodies people.' 'It sums up the behaviors of individuals,' he said. 'People matter more than anything else. And they become big powers only through cohesion.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
22 Mil. Admissions Needed for Osaka-Kansai Expo to Be Profitable, Organizer Says; Average of 130,000 Visitors Necessary Per Day
The 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo can become profitable if the event sees 22 million admissions during its entire run, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, which is the organizer of the Expo, said Monday. The association said the Expo needs to see a daily average of about 130,000 visitors from now on to be in the black. The number of visitors to the Expo had often been under 100,000 a day just after opening in April, but the daily number in the past month increased to about 130,000 on average. 'We made a good start,' said Masakazu Tokura, chairperson of the association and honorary chair of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), at a press conference on Monday. 'If the pace of increase in the past month continues, [the Expo] can become profitable.' Of the ¥116 billion budget for managing the Expo, admission ticket sales are expected to cover ¥96.9 billion, or more than 80%, of the budget. To break even, 18 million tickets need to be sold. The association aims for 22 million admissions, including those who have passes and enter multiple times during the run of the Expo. The Expo organizer's initial goal in terms of ticket sales was 23 million and expected a total of 28.2 million admissions.
17-06-2025
- Business
INTERVIEW: Keidanren Exec Calls for Japan-First Stance
News from Japan Economy Jun 18, 2025 08:30 (JST) New York, June 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan must balance free trade with a stance of putting itself first, as the United States is likely to maintain the high tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump's administration, Jun Sawada, vice chairman of the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. Sawada, also chairman each of the Japan-U.S. Business Council and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., proposed that Japan pursue a more independent form of cooperation with the United States by leveraging its strengths in semiconductors and other advanced technologies. During the interview in New York on Friday, Sawada noted that it is "almost certain" that the United States will maintain its protectionist trade policy if the Republicans remain in power after the Trump administration. He added that even if the Democrats regain power in the 2028 presidential election, the U.S. government "won't change policies as long as its citizens strongly support them." Sawada also said that the European Union and China are also expected to change their trade policies in the face of the U.S. policy shift. "There will be both free trade and tariffs," he said. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
