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Japan's Minimum Wage Only Enough for a Bowl of Ramen

And workers need a bigger raise
Photographer: ROBERT GILHOOLY/Bloomberg
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Japan's minimum hourly wage of 780 yen ($6.30) is about enough to buy a bowl of noodles.

A 2.1 percent bump last year didn't keep pace with inflation, and a possible 2.3 percent yen raise this year would be lucky to get workers an egg or extra slice of pork to drop into their ramen lunch bowl.