Japan's tale of two economies: BOJ hike and stock boom yet to trickle down

TOKYO -- As labor unions at Japan's largest corporations celebrated their biggest wage increases in over three decades this month, Masuo Ueda was busy supporting the country's struggling animators, who toil long hours for less than minimum wage to keep the $19 billion anime industry able to churn out hits.

"We are not privy to the benefits" of the Nikkei Stock Average hitting a new all-time high last month, Ueda, representative director of the Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association, told Nikkei Asia. Japanese stocks surpassed their 1989 record in February and have climbed higher in March, but "that is totally irrelevant for the animation industry," as many animators are freelance or self-employed, he added.