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Dear valued clients and friends:

As 2025 draws to a close, we hope this year has been a meaningful and fulfilling one for all of you.

Toward the end of the year, I had an informal discussion with senior executives of a national labor union federation. The conversation centered on the outlook for wage negotiations in 2026, and there appears to be a general consensus—particularly among large corporations—that wage increase demands of around 5% are likely to be formed again next year. The key question, however, is how far medium-sized and small enterprises will be able to keep pace with these large companies.

By way of another example reflecting recent social trends, the National Museum in Ueno reported that its number of visitors, which had fallen to 380,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, recovered to nearly 2.6 million last year—almost returning to pre-pandemic levels. Interestingly, attendance at the permanent exhibitions has now surpassed that of special exhibitions, a reversal of the pre-COVID pattern. This phenomenon is widely attributed to the impact of inbound tourism, and the museum is once again bustling with visitors from around the world. It will be interesting to see just how crowded the Tokyo National Museum -commonly known as “Tohaku” – will be in the coming year.

Since 2021, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, PMP has replaced the issuance of printed Seasons’ Greeting Cards with year-end and New Year’s greetings delivered via email and on the PMP website.

We would like to inform you of PMP’s year-end and New Year holiday schedule. PMP’s final business day of 2025 will be Friday, December 26. Our offices will be closed from Saturday, December 27, through Sunday, January 4, 2026.

As we conclude 2025, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our clients and partners for your continued trust and support throughout the year. On behalf of everyone at PMP, thank you very much for your patronage.

We sincerely wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year in 2026.

We look forward to your continued warm support of PMP in the year ahead.

With best regards,
The PMP Team