According to The Jiji news, the proportion of people in Japan who graduated from universities in March and secured jobs as of April 1 came to 97.3 pct, up 1.5 percentage points from a year before, a survey by the labor and education ministries showed recently. 
The job-securing ratio marked the first increase in three years and nearly reached pre-pandemic levels as the economy recovered from the pandemic. The ratio was at a record high of 98.0 pct in 2018 and 2020.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26505
 

According to The Jiji News, Kansai Electric Power Co. said Monday it will enter the business of developing and operating large-scale data centers.
The Japanese power supplier plans to establish a fifty-fifty joint venture with major U.S. data center operator CyrusOne later this month. The joint venture, CyrusOne KEP Inc., will have capital of 586 million yen and will be located at Kansai Electric's headquarters.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26423

According to The Jiji News, monthly wage hikes major Japanese companies have so far agreed in this year's "shunto" spring wage talks with labor unions reached the highest level in at least 30 years, the Japan Business Federation.
The hikes averaged 3.91 pct, or 13,110 yen, for unionized workers at 92 companies in 15 industrial sectors, according to the initial tally released by the business lobby, also known as Keidanren.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26372

According to The Jiji News, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. plans to acquire Green Power Investment Corp., a Tokyo-based company running renewable energy power plants, in cooperation with Jera Co.
Through the acquisition, NTT aims to enhance its procurement of power generated from renewable energy sources and make progress toward its decarbonization goal.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26346
 

According to The Jiji News, Honda Motor Co., Yamaha Motor Co. and two other Japanese motorcycle makers have announced that they will launch joint research for the development of hydrogen-powered engines for small mobility.
The four companies, also including Kawasaki Motors Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp., said they will set up a technological research association in June. Through the move, the four firms aim to develop eco-friendly, next-generation motorcycles that can help enhance their international competitiveness.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26329
 

According to The Jiji News, Japanese companies are divided over whether to keep remote working arrangements in place after the country downgrades COVID-19 to a lower-risk category of infectious diseases that includes seasonal flu.
Some major companies have been shifting back to working at the office in principle. Others are cautious about fully returning to the office-based work style.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26137

According to The Jiji News, artificial intelligence tools are in wider use in Japan to prevent oversights in medical examinations and inspections of infrastructure.
AI can be used to make computer images clearer and spot potential abnormalities from vast amounts of data, allowing workers to notice problems more easily and their workloads to be reduced. Its importance is growing as Japan suffers worsening shortages of engineers amid the decreasing population.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26159
 

According to The Jiji News, monthly pay increases offered by small and midsize companies to their labor unions so far in this year's "shunto" spring wage talks have averaged 3.35 pct, or 8,328 yen, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said Wednesday.
The average increase rate for companies with fewer than 300 employees is up sharply from 2.02 pct from a year earlier in response to rapid price increases, the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country said.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26208

According to The Jiji News, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from all domestic flights to and from Hiroshima Airport to effectively zero until the end of this month.
The project comes as the western Japan city of Hiroshima hosts a summit of leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies in 19-21 May.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26080
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, when Akiko Naka abandoned her job as a manga artist in her mid-20s to launch an online job seeking portal, she was one of Japan’s youngest entrepreneurs.
It was 2011, and she was also one of the few women leading a company that would go on to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Her company, Wantedly, now has a market capitalisation of almost $190 million and more than 3.5 million users. Naka, 38, jokes she is old compared with the new wave of start-up founders building innovative companies from their tiny Tokyo apartments.

https://www.afr.com/world/asia/meet-the-tech-leaders-shaking-up-japan-20230504-p5d5n7