Yen for Living

Recent posts

• Attitudes about money continue to affect marriage prospects

  Unmarried men still don’t expect their future spouses to contribute much financially to a household.

• Local governments finally getting around to public toilets

  There will soon be many more Western-style toilets in Chiba Prefecture’s public rest rooms

• Are Japan’s public school teachers paid too much?

  Japanese teachers make more money than the world average, but they also work many more hours.

• Megabanks start to feel the heat from upstarts

  Retailers and IT companies give new meaning to “full service banking”

• The case for a higher consumption tax

  If there has to be a tax, the consumption tax may be the fairest.

• When protecting farmers hurts consumers — and farmers

  The real enemy of dairy farmers isn’t cheap imports, but a short-sighted agricultural policy.

• Political gift culture refuses to die

  Do lawmakers understand the relationship between money and influence any more?