June 27, 2026

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), the National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo), and independent unions on June 26 jointly held a rally in front of the Labor Ministry office building to demand a uniform minimum hourly wage increase to 1,700 yen nationwide with a goal of reaching 2,000 yen.

At the rally, Zenroren Secretary General Kurosawa Koichi pointed out that although the government previously expressed its intent to raise the average minimum wage to 1,500 yen per hour by the end of the 2020s, it is now considering delaying the target timeline to the early 2030s. Criticizing the government move, Kurosawa said that it should immediately take steps to significantly raise the minimum wage so that workers can live decent lives.

A representative of the National Union of Welfare and Childcare Workers (Fukushi-hoikuro) appealed for the need to increase the minimum hourly wage substantially to ensure higher wages for care workers who hold human lives in their hands every single day.

On that day, the Labor Ministry’s Central Council on Minimum Wages began deliberations on its annual recommendation for an increase in regional minimum wages. The focal point of the deliberations is whether the council will offer a recommendation for a substantial minimum hourly wage hike that will protect workers’ livelihoods from prolonged rising prices and for the correction of the gap between regional minimum wages.

In Japan, the minimum wage is set separately in each prefecture by the Regional Council on Minimum Wage based on the Central Council’s recommendation which is usually issued around the end of July every year.

At present, the national average minimum wage is 1,121 yen an hour. The highest is Tokyo’s 1,226 yen, while the lowest is 1,023 yen in Kochi, Miyazaki, and Okinawa prefectures.