ECONOMY

The national health insurance program underwent a major reform at the start of fiscal 2018 that saw prefectures, rather than municipalities, begin managing the deficit-ridden system to improve its financial base. (Japan Times)

Overall pay for workers in Japan in June posted the steepest growth in over 21 years in real terms, as bonuses increased on upbeat corporate earnings, the labor ministry said Tuesday. (Jiji)

The Bank of Japan last week decided to allow the yield on the 10-year government bond to move in a wider range. (NHK)

Vegetable prices are soaring in Japan due to effects of record-breaking scorching heat. (Jiji)

The Japanese economy's ongoing expansion phase is becoming the longest since the end of World War II, a white paper said Friday. (Jiji)

China's stock market has been overtaken as the world's second-biggest by Japan's, having been swiped this year by the threat of a trade war with the United States and slowing economic growth. (Japan Today)

Japanese work notoriously hard—to which the abundance of comatose passengers on the commuter trains attests. (The Economist)

Japan will support Britain in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord as both countries seek to promote free and rules-based trade, economy revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

The Bank of Japan's decision on Tuesday to continue "powerful monetary easing" but to also allow long-term interest rates to move in a wider band reflects the dilemma faced by Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda. (Nikkei)

The influx of cash into Japan's biggest banks and their parking of such money at the Bank of Japan are putting large commercial banks on the verge of having to pay the central bank interest on deposits there for the first time in two years. (Nikkei)