Erica Yokoyama

Pedestrians pass by the “Glico Man” billboard (C-behind), a popular landmark in the Dotomobori canal district in central Osaka on April 10, 2025. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan’s population falls by half million as birth rate stays low

By Erica Yokoyama and Bloomberg

BERLIN, GERMANY – JULY 12: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to the media prior to talks at the Chancellery on July 12, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. The two leaders are meeting to discuss a range of bilateral issues including common economic security. (Photo by Maryam Majd/Getty Images)

Japan is planning the biggest minimum wage hike since it set a pay floor in 1978

By Erica Yokoyama and Bloomberg

This picture taken on June 19, 2024 shows samples of the new banknotes, the first in 20 years, in Tokyo. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT (Photo by STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan rolls out new banknotes for the first time since 2004, but only 30% of the country’s many vending machines can accept them

By Erica Yokoyama and Bloomberg

The Tokyo Bay near Odaiba Marine Park, venue of the triathlon and marathon swimming events during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, July 9, 2021. In August 2019 a test for the swimming part of the Paratriathlon was canceled after E. coli bacteria was found in the water at more than twice the limit set by the International Triathlon Union, now called World Triathlon. Since then, the host city has taken drastic steps to try to repair its tarnished image. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Days before the Olympics, Tokyo tries to stop its swimming venue from smelling ‘like a toilet’

By Erica Yokoyama and Bloomberg