Yen for Living

Recent posts

• Deflation Watch: New Year’s scorecard

  It seems likely that the consumption tax increase will derail the government’s economic boom train.

• Part-timers skewing employment statistics

  More restaurants and retailers are hiring short-hour employees to save money.

• McDonald’s smells the coffee: Limited expectations are here to stay

  Some think that McDonald’s is finished in Japan

• Rental video stores ponder their reason for existing

  DVDs still may be the cheapest, and easiest, way to watch videos at home.

• Don’t throw those boring New Years cards away!

  Starting this year Japan Post is offering cash prizes for its New Years lottery.

• For customers of Japan’s biggest bank, it’s about to become harder to avoid fees

  Banking at convenience stores will soon be more expensive.

• Postal employees carry extra burden during the holiday season

  Sales quotas make postal employees’ lives miserable at the end of the year.