Episode 7: Pay hikes 

We’ve all been feeling the sting of higher prices over the past year or two.

Three Kyodo News journalists -- Horiuchi-san, Ed and Yamaguchi-san -- talk about how Japanese companies are offering employees an average pay raise of over 3 percent in this year's spring wage talks for the first time in 29 years to cope with historically high inflation. Learn about the differences in hiring practices between different countries and their own experiences in job-hunting.

Article mentioned in the podcast:

Japan firms offer over 3% pay rise, 1st time in 29 yrs

Kyodo News presents a bilingual podcast for English learners about the ins and outs of news writing and how to translate tricky Japanese phrases into English. Have fun listening to journalists discuss recent articles as they occasionally go off on unrelated tangents.

Related coverage:

Podcast [English World] Episode 6: Tourism and vandalism

Podcast [English World] Episode 5 - Torrential Downpour

Podcast [English World] Episode 4 - Artificial Intelligence

People walk in the summer heat near Tokyo Station on July 31, 2023. (Kyodo)