The dispute comes after Japan implemented its largest-ever increase in the nationally weighted average minimum wage in fiscal 2025. Japan does not have a single uniform minimum wage applied nationwide. The government has therefore sought to combine minimum wage increases with subsidies, productivity assistance and support for small companies raising prices. Japan’s modern minimum wage system dates to the Minimum Wage Act enacted in April 1959. Japan began introducing regional minimum wages in the early 1970s, with the first established in 1972.