On Wednesday, Toyota, Nissan, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, and among others, announced that they would give raises in line with Prime Minister Abe Shinzo?s plan for reinvigorating the Japanese economy. The announcement comes in advance of a sales tax increase due next month. Perhaps more significantly, the announcements come after unspecific threats made by one of Abe?s top aide on the economy against companies who do not raise wages this year. Toyota said that it would give raises on average of $26 per month, or about 0.8%, for almost all its employees. These raises are the first that major Japanese firms have given in years.
See "Major Japan firms to increase wages", Harumi Ozawa, The China Post, March 12, 2014