Hello, this is RWPOINTWOMAN, and this is Last Week in Japanese News, where I translate Japanese news articles from the Easy section of the Easy Japanese news reader app. My vocabulary runs the gamut from JLPT N5-N1, but is pretty small and mostly concentrated at N5-N4. My grasp of grammar is somewhere in the middle of JLPT N3. My writing practice mostly consists of replying to Japanese tweets and pretty much no handwriting practice. My speaking practice is nonexistent until I resume talking to the one friend I have in real life who speaks Japanese. My listening practice mostly consists of tiny slips of anime viewing. For immersion, I mostly just do this feature or view the occasional YouTube video with Japanese subtitles.
Fortunately, these articles come with links to the Mazii dictionary, which is made by the same company, and grammar pages that are only available with the Easy articles unlike the dictionary definitions.
On with the show!
September 4, 2022:
Percentage of Japanese companies with female managers highest ever, below government target, less than 10%. (Asahi)
A opinion survey done by a popular private research company has revealed that the percentage of managers who are female is the highest ever. However, reportedly, less than 10% of businesses have met the Japanese government's target of having 30% of managers be female.
Teikoku Databank recently surveyed about 26,000 companies from around Japan and the percentage with female managers is 9.4%, 0.5% higher than last year and the highest ever.
By industry, the highest percentage was for the retail sector at 17.3%.
On the other hand, the one with the lowest percentage was the construction sector at 6.4%.
The Japanese government has the goal of 30% of companies having female managers in the 2020s, but the percentage of businesses answering that they have exceeded this continues to be less than 10%.
Kiyoken to raise price of shumai from ¥860 to ¥900. (Asahi)
Kiyoken will raise prices of 179 standard items including Shumai Bento and Traditional Shumai Individually Wrapped 15 pack on the first of next month.
The average size of these increases is 4% and the price of a Shumai Bento has gone from ¥860 to ¥900 tax included.
The prices of these bento were last raised 4 years ago in September of 2018 and the main cause is the sudden jump in price of raw ingredients like pork and Japanese scallop.
Additionally, Hanamaruki is raising the price of 30 items including instant miso soups like Hanamaruya Cup and processed foods between roughly 5% and 15% starting with the November 1 shipment.
September 5, 2022:
Over 20,000 food items to have price increased, greatest number in October. (NHK)
Teikoku Databank conducted a study through the end of August of whether 105 companies that made things like food and beverages had raised raised their prices.
About 80% of them said that they had and that they planned to raise them in the future. It was a total of 20,056 items. The reasons included the cheap yen and the rising cost of raw ingredients.
It increased by over 1500 in the survey at the end of July. The average increase was 14%. 2,424 items will have their prices increased in September. October will have the greatest number at 6,532.
The largest category was processed foods like canned goods, ham, and sausage at 8,530. There were 4,651 items in the flavorings category and 3,814 in the one that included sake and beverages.
11th typhoon to hit northern Kyushu by morning of September 6. (NHK)
According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), it seems that the big, heavy typhoon No. 11 will arrive near areas in northern Kyushu that include Nagasaki Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture between the night of September 5 and the morning of September 6. Northern Kyushu, on the other hand, looks as if it will be hit by strong winds. There is a risk that telephone poles will fall and that things like the roofs and walls of buildings will be destroyed and blown away.
It looks as if rain will fall heavily far from the typhoon. In particular, heavy rains might fall in northern Kyushu and Yamaguchi Prefecture for a long time between the night of September 5 and mid-morning September 6. There is a danger of disasters such as rapid landslides and overflowing rivers.
The JMA says to get to safe places like strong buildings away from mountains, cliffs, and rivers.
JR says it will suspend Shinkansen service at locations like Hiroshima Station and Hakata Station from morning until night on September 6.
September 6, 2022:
Foreign travelers can now freely decide where to go and what to eat. (NHK)
Foreign travelers are currently allowed to travel through Japan with a guide. The Japanese government made it permissible from September 7 onward to travel through Japan without one.
Because of this, the Japan Tourism Agency has changed the rules for foreign travelers. Foreigners cannot book their own hotel rooms. Travel agencies need to do things like reserve flights and hotel rooms.
However, foreigners can now decide where to go and what to eat. It has been made so that foreigners can correspond with travel agencies in ways that include by phone and by email. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the necessity of things like masks needs to be explained.
The Japan Tourism Agency wants to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus while increasing travel by foreigners little by little.
Next year's osechi increasingly intended for group consumption. (NHK)
Department stores have announced next year's osechi for New Year's. It is thought that people will be likelier to eat with those they haven't seen in a long time such as friends and family, so the companies behind these department stores are preparing osechi meant to be consumed by large groups of people.
Takashimaya has increased the number of osechi that can be eaten by 3 or more people by about 10%. In order to ensure that everyone from children to the elderly can enjoy them, they have been prepared in ways that allowing customers to choose their favorite foods and including a toy.
Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store wants to sell 16% more than last year and has prepared various kinds of osechi. These include Hokkaido soup curry and dishes that consist solely of beef.
According to the corporations running these department stores, those osechi will be between 5% and 15% more expensive than last year's. This is because raw ingredients are more expensive.
State funeral for former prime minister Shinzo Abe projected to cost ¥1.66 billion. (NHK)
The Japanese government plans to hold a state funeral for deceased former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on September 27. It has decided to cover the entire cost. Last month, it decided to spend ¥250 million on the venue.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said on September 6 that they intended to spend an additional ¥1.4 billion. ¥800,000,000 will be for security, ¥600,000,000 will be for receiving foreign government officials, and ¥10,000,000 for using borrowed JSDF vehicles.
Due to this, it looks as if the total cost of former Prime Minister Abe's funeral will ¥1.66 billion.
That's all for now.