Japan household spending rises slightly in December

Left with diminished policy ammunition,

Pundits have been saying that for years, and yet the BOJ also finds new ammunition. That's the luxury of printing the world's safe-haven currency and owning one's own debts.

"many BOJ policymakers are wary of ramping up stimulus unless risks threaten to derail Japan’s economic recovery."

The "risk" threatening to "derail" the recovery are the corporations, who refuse to give wage raises in line with their record-breaking earnings growth. Fix that, and you've fixed all those problems. But there's no will to do that, because the super rich would oppose it.

hat looks like a LONDON SORTS to me - everything there is btween 480jpy nd 980jpy anything more is sugoi takai

Well, December is also the month in Japan where people spend month to buy things to clean their houses, cars, etc.

Spending on what?

it’s not a surprise that spending in December is higher than in the previous 3-4 months.

Of course it's not a surprise that people spend more in December. But if the other 3-4 months are calculated on a year-on-year basis, the comparison is October-October, November-November, December-December, not October-December.

Can't say I'm noticing any 'increasing embrace of Christmas' in these parts. Last year as every year I was running round organising Christmas while friends and neighbours did the usual desultory KFC+strawberry shortcake and then got on with thinking about what they were doing for New Year.

@Cleo - That’s why I made a point of saying the ‘increasing embrace of Christmas’. It’s not surprising that spending is up slightly compared to last Dec. I predict that next year will show a similar increase.

The article does make a point saying that

Japan’s household spending rose slightly in December from a year earlier to mark the first increase in four months

Again it’s not a surprise that spending in December is higher than in the previous 3-4 months.

How much of this can be put down to bonuses, spending for New Year, and the increasing embrace of Christmas?

There are plenty of reasons why people spend during that particular time.

The article says spending is up on December the previous year. For the reasons pointed out, there is little meaning in comparing different months.

The figures are most likely real. December is a spending month in Japan. They are entering into to most busy study season, also people prepare to host or travel back to their families for New Years. Kids receive money. Workers receive their bonuses. There are plenty of reasons why people spend during that particular time.

There is a little thing called, Christmas. Perhaps they have heard of it.

Irrelevant. The figures were compared to December 2017, not November 2018. Not that hard to figure out really.

How much of this can be put down to bonuses, spending for New Year, and the increasing embrace of Christmas?

So, household spending rose a little in December? How shocking, NOT! There is a little thing called, Christmas. Perhaps they have heard of it.

Are those real wage figures the true numbers, or the finance ministry fiddled values? Consumption is unlikely to rise when real wages are falling.