Japanese leaders urge higher wages, businesses give muted support

Tokyo

JAPAN'S prime minister and central bank governor on Thursday applied fresh pressure on companies to do their part in putting a sustained end to deflation by boosting wages and investment.

The head of Japan's biggest business lobby, however, offered only conditional support, underscoring the difficulty policymakers face in convincing risk-shy Japanese companies to divert more of their record profits to innovation and human resources.