Japan to see higher prices for food, daily goods from Friday

if I were Japanese, paying in to the kokumin system for 40 or 45 years, to now be told that I have "the opportunity" to work till I'm 75 (in order to enjoy a 'let's active' old age you understand), at which time the pension will be lower, I think I might be a bit cross......

Rising prices, stagnant wages, little savings, small pensions, a one party political system - what is a Japanese person to do?

a wave of price hikes will hit essential items such as food and daily goods in the new fiscal year beginning Friday whilst the amount of public pension benefits will decrease by 0.4 percent

Makes perfect sense that while prices are going up., pensions go the other way.

If the cost of living is going up, why is Kishida going to make them go up further with his stimulus package? Abenomics only benefits rich people…

A simple remedy would be (for starters) to cut the 778% import tariff on imported rice by at least half. Other protectionist tariffs on other imported food products can then be lowered.

Disgusting LDP.

They'll put the prices up tomorrow, but when petrol prices drop and the yen strengthens again, they'll never lower them.

After the tsunami, trains all over Japan stopped using their air conditioners on full blast. Think of the money they save in power costs. Did ticket prices go down? Of course not! 11 years later and they still have signs saying air conditioners are on low to save power.

During the covid state of emergencies, the Seven Eleven and Lawson near me started closing early. Now the manbo etc is over, and they still close early!

It just feels like we pay more and more for everything, but get less and less services.

When will Japanese people stand up and say enough is enough! I am starting to think this is what they deserve. They just pay and pay and pay. 75 years old until you collect your pension? That will never happen, stop paying into your pension, that will confuse the hell out of Jgov.

So for a full state pension you need to wait until 75 but if you feel like taking it early you can but at a reduced rate.

The way they put it is that you get the full pension at 65, if you wait longer you get a bit extra.

But yeah, you could look at it your way, too.

It's a gamble, I suppose, depending on how you assess your own longevity.

As if groceries weren't already highway robbery in Japan and now they're hiking prices in the midst of a pandemic?!? Where's the increase in salaries to match this?

so what's new????? and such commodities aren't figured into the cost-of-living index STATISTICS, so the next report on same will doubtless show how rosy everything is.... （⌒▽⌒）

The major transportation system in the country is no exception either.

The Shutoko expressway will also see a significant price raise. Japanese expressways are already organized racket, at this point this is becoming even criminal. And the apathetic Japanese populace is not saying anything about it.

As for Japan's public pension system, the amount of benefits will decrease by 0.4 percent as wages have gone down due to the influence of the pandemic.

This is BS rhetoric. The real cause is governments having reacted irrationally with restrictions that forced them to spend an immense amount of public money to compensate the economic sectors affected by their decisions. And now someone has to pay. Similarly, the sheep that makes up the population of Japan will keep their mouth shut inside their masks.

Megmilk Snow Brand Co, Meiji Co and Morinaga Milk Industry Co will raise their prices for cheese

While in other news, there is currently a milk glut and the PM is begging people to drink more. I've said it before and I'll say it again (probably still be saying it when the cows come home) - use the milk glut to make more cheese! And butter!

the article confuses me as 75 is an upper limit. What is the lower limit in Japan?

It's there in the article;

Currently, those aged between 60 and 70 can begin receiving a pension.

If you decide to take it before 65 (I think), you get less per two months, and if you put it off till later you get proportionally more.

The cat food we buy used to be sold in 70 gram packets. We noticed last week that it’s now only 50 grams per packet, but the price is the same. That adds a few hundred yen to our weekly pet expenses.

The news just gets more depressing every day. Something is going to have to give soon, and it won't be pretty. Buy up non-perishables before they get even more expensive.

@Antiquesaving

They grow japonica rice in Australia and California. It is not all long grain.

Why because Japanese rice is much tastier it's also a different type of rice you can import all the cheap Thai rice you want or North American long grain rice and guess what it won't sell because it's not the rice the Japanese eat and the fact that you don't seem to understand that is strange.

Thai and American farmers can easily grow Japanese rice varieties and most certainly would if they were not effectively barred from the market.

These price rises are really going to pile on the misery for the millions of people who, due to covid, have lost their jobs and burnt through their savings.

And when consumer spending drops exponentially from the same Friday the government will be like, "I just don't get it! Prices went up and they DON'T want to spend more? Where is the patriotism??"

...And meanwhile the LDP has raised the military budget to record levels for EVERY year since 2012, diverting public funds to the military industrial complex, where it miraculously appears in the pockets of cronies and friends alike, from US military bases on the islands to missile systems and jet planes built by Tanaka Kakuei and Kishi Nobusuke longtime Lockheed....Japan, the 3rd richest country in the world, squeezes its citizens' pockets and demands they work longer, for less.

They are among the worst savers now.

And yet Japanese households' financial assets are at an all time high.

"Japan households accumulate record financial assets as COVID curbs spending"

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-households-accumulate-record-financial-assets-covid-curbs-spending-2022-03-17/#:~:text=TOKYO%2C%20March%2017%20(Reuters),money%20instead%20of%20spending%20it.

As for savings. My f-in-law had a strange system of having a bank account for every bill.

Those of us that have been in Japan know why.

This is a remnants a leftover from a system now defunct.

When I first came to Japan, the gas company would only pay for the automatic withdrawal from a certain bank, TEPCO a different bank, NTT another bank and my pay only deposited free of charge into another bank at a specific branch ( which was in Yokohama and I lived and worked in Tokyo.)

So my first years in Japan to avoid paying Bank fees meant I had several bank accounts including paying my rent from a different bank branch to avoid transfer fees.

This changed some time ago but many people just didn't bother going through the trouble of contacting the utility companies and changing to a single bank account.

Rising prices, stagnant wages, little savings, small pensions, 

You're batting 2/3 here, champ. Japanese are the best savers on the planet. Hence the constant threat of stagflation.

Cost of living is going up all over the world not just in Japan, a trend that was already well established before the Kremlin Dwarf launched his lunatic war. We have become used over the last 30 years to prices and cost of living staying stable or even going down, the economic, social and political forces that drove this have changed, some gone in to reverse. Generations have been brought up experiencing nothing else so this new world order is going to be a shock but it is out of the control of any individual or country so you must learn to mitigate it.

Increasing wages would be nice but in an inflationary environment this will ultimately drive the inflation spiral as the cost is passed back to consumers. We do not need to repeat the mistakes of the 1970’s.

Food in Japanese supermarkets is already expensive. A price increase is the last thing we need. But well done.

The bitter, inexorable tendency of capitalist economy. As if the richest 1% care about paying an extra 20yen for a sandwich. It's the working class, 95% of the population which pays the price. The good news is that it can't go on for much longer. It's reached a point of inflection. 3 possibilities: 一 civilization ending war. 二 mass riots leading to a Hunger Games style dystopia. 三 social revolution sweeping away the barbarism of capitalist society.

Japanese are the best savers on the planet. Hence the constant threat of stagflation.

That hasn't been true for 20 years. They are among the worst savers now. Considering the low wages and high cost of living, that's no surprise.

Alan HarrisonToday  05:25 pm JST

A simple remedy would be (for starters) to cut the 778% import tariff on imported rice by at least half. Other protectionist tariffs on other imported food products can then be lowered

Why does this keep getting brought up?

Do you or anyone with 10% knowledge of Japan and the Japanese think they are going to buy 90% of the imported rice even if it was ¥100 a kilo?

The local discount store near my place has imported rice about ¥700 for a bag of 5 kg next to that is a bag of junk Japanese mixed japonica rice at ¥1,000 for 5 kg and still no one will buy the imported rice and even the mixed Japanese rice takes forever to sell.

Why because Japanese rice is much tastier it's also a different type of rice you can import all the cheap Thai rice you want or North American long grain rice and guess what it won't sell because it's not the rice the Japanese eat and the fact that you don't seem to understand that is strange.

Old Hat.

(I have many Japanese friends who buy imported rice).

Well Abe must be jumping up and clicking his heels. This is the long sought after but elusive inflation he's been trying to jump start for 10 years.

Everyone enjoying their experience under socialism?

Socialism is to blame for falling wages and rising prices in capitalist Japan?

I think we all know that sometimes prices need to be raised for costs etc. BUT I really hate how in Japan we get these price INCREASES from various companies in various sectors all at the same TIME.....

Its insane to me how FIXED the price gouging in Japan is.....I have said for decades while many products & services here are good they are NOT GOOD VALUE, Japanese & us gaijin continually get shafted by Japan Inc

If I could go back in time just over 30years there is no way in HELL I would have moved to Japan given the way its gone downhill especially the last 10years & I just dnt see Japan being able to turn it around, I feel for young people here, really do.....

If I could go back in time just over 30years there is no way in HELL I would have moved to Japan given the way its gone downhill especially the last 10years & I just dnt see Japan being able to turn it around, I feel for young people here, really do.....

Definitely not going to be reversing population decline, that's for sure.

These price rises are tiny. They are the tip of the iceberg to what is coming. Globalisation made the post-war Japanese economic miracle possible and has kept Japan going ever since. Taking it away, for Japan, is like jettisoning the warp core. What is there to fall back on but the world's largest debt by ratio to GDP and a lack of domestic energy and food production. Exports will decline as the global economy begins to crash and supply chains collapse. Immigration and tourism supplied cash and labour, but Kishida is copying the Trump/Johnson playbook - fewer foreigners makes you popular.

The fakenomics of stocks and crypto hide the real and increasing damage to the everyday economy. What is coming will be progressively unpleasant. Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride and it won't end well.

Other protectionist tariffs on other imported food products can then be lowered.

+1. It tastes better too, is more versatile and far less carbohydrates than the sticky rice.

Well it looks like the Sanctions on Russia are working well on the rest of the world, how well they work on Russia is still to be seen.

But we are now going to be paying for them literally!

But hey we know sanctions work, right?

I mean Cuba is no longer under the communist party control, right?

Iran has collapsed and now is open and free, right?

Highest wheat price rise in 14 years has Japan consumers bracing for more expensive bread

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/03/31/business/wheat-price-rises/

Pension at 75 is the worst! People might barely make it to that age given the current state of the world!

This was going to happen sooner or later though as everyone knows that the Japanese pension system will collapse in the near future. Foreigners paying into the pension system will be the first ones to suffer the wrath of this collapse!

Prices shoot up, so the Japanese government ... cuts pensions. Yes, that seems totally fair. The number of pensioners living in poverty in Japan is growing by the year. A minority are doing very nicely, but more and more are just scraping by. It's only enough to live on if you already have your own home, and are ready to be very very frugal. The idea that they are cutting now it is completely illogical.

The explanation about waiting till 75 to collect pension is badly explained here. I think what they mean is that you can get the full pension from 65, but then for every month you defer it, up to the limit of 75, you get a percentage increase in your eventual pension. So if you can keep working a bit longer, you should be more comfortable when you eventually do start to draw it. I don't think they mean you won't be able to start drawing at 65, just that they are making it more attractive to defer and get more.

I don't know what evidence people have that the pension system is going to collapse though. Could that just be an urban myth? The LDP voter base is pensioners, so letting that happen would be political suicide for them. I think they prefer the frog in hot water model, so as not to lose votes.

All the horrible news!!

Inflation is everywhere all around the world, pandemic lockdown effect, war & ambiguity.

Why are people talking about age 75 to get their pension? Old age basic pension in Japan starts at age 65. Basic Social Security in the U.S. starts at 66.

The biggest error is that they are still printing tons of money for only a very few and already overfilled big pockets instead for everything and everyone. What had been and is needed is a revival of the bubble economy, not that suicidal and comatose like observing and accompanying administration of the downturn spiral on all fields in society and economy. And with the sinking yen and those price hikes we come soon to the point where it is not even possible to try a turnaround and print the necessary money for it. There’s only a very short time frame left. But I guess it’ll be unheard and they prefer only putting all the next tons of money into some fighter jets and anti-missiles defense systems, so that the economic and society suicide attempt is not slowed down or disturbed by unexpected outside influences.

Raising prices to save the economy .

What a ridiculous world we live in.

I avoided paying into the pension system and invested my money outside Japan.

It wasn’t a difficult decision...

the bank of japan (with forked tongue) says there isn't enough inflation to raise interest rates. I'll benefit from locking in low rates on my mortgage. Hard to believe I pay only 100,000 yen a month for a house and a similar house in the Bay Area would be about 400,000. i still like the lifestyle here.

a recent podcast states the cpi of japan was 2.7 % for the past year, but wholesale prices rose 9.3%. surely, those costs will be passed on to consumers soon.

also, if interest rates go up, all hell will break loose because Japan's debt to GDP is almost double the US's.

some day, they're going to have to level with the people and have huge tax increases to deal with all the extravagances of the Japanese politicians

Raising price to save Ukraine?

What a ridiculous world we live in.

The cause of endless money printing is limitless spending. The result of endless money printing is inflation, thus the higher prices of food.

It's because of your ridiculous sanctions and not because of the coronovirus or putin .

It's all three. The sanctions on Russia have increased the price of gas which adversely affects the price of food. Obviously, Putin is behind what Russia is doing, so that needs little explaining, but...

I am surprised at the extent to which people are failing to see the bigger picture here.

Japan's National Debt at the end of fiscal year 2019 was 11.63 trillion USD according to Google. According to World Debt Clock, it is currently nearing 15 trillion. For the past two and a half years, the Japanese government has been engaging in wasteful Covid spending. Quarantining. The cost of closing the border and having absurd systems of virus reduction put into place (putting people in govt quarantine facilities/hotels, hiring doctors to keep tabs on otherwise healthy people, health monitoring software, ect). State of Emergencies and Quasi-State of Emergencies that required public awareness campaigns and enforcement. A vaccine rollout campaign, which at first may have been justifiable given limited information, has spiraled out of control into endless booster drives most people don't want or even need; a terrible vaccine passport app that has literally no use...

All of this is extremely expensive. Seeing as how it is not 2020 anymore, first, end all Covid restrictions whatsoever: pledge no more SOE or pseudo-SOEs; open the borders and the economy to tourism/foreign investment; end the booster campaigns once and for all.

Then balance the budget. Figure out how to do things cheaper. Reform the immigration system. Bring back tourism and foreign investment. Childcare services seems to help on a local level and on a national level curb overwork/corporate malfeasance; that may improve the situation re birthrates.

But who really wants to work until 75 and pay into this scheme?

I wonder what the life expectancy of a gaijin is in Japan. Bet it's lower than a Japanese.

If Japanese rice is so special and the customers prefer it over anything else regardless the price, then the ridiculous import tariffs aren't needed to "protect" the Japanese farmers. The fact that the tariffs are still levied proves the government and the farmers know that the "specialness" of Japanese rice is just a myth. Rip the band-aid, relieve the people instead of the special interest groups for once.

Ok let's go with that. Now how will being dependant on imported rice help Japan?

So instead of being beholdant to certain countries for fuel and energy Japan will be even more at the mercy of foreign whims, for it's most basic food staple.

No the reverse is a better move, try getting as close as possible to food self-sufficiency.

Remember that all Japanese PMs will always fly wherever with two jetliners whilst the average Taro and Yuko have to choose between eating or heating…

I love the attempts by some to claim it isn't the war and sanctions.

So it is all just a sudden coincidence that the war and sanctions happen as oil prices go up, gas prices go up , food prices go up.

Next you will be telling us the it is only a coincidence we get sunburn only during the day when the sun is out!

It was going to happen. COVID, and giving huge amounts of money to US government for "protection." This will continue as long as Japan is colonized. It was already expensive to raise a child in Japan where many go for just 1 child, and now this will make it even harder. It is surprising that the condition of living there seems to be much harder than 3rd world countries. This should not be the norm.

Let us trust God that everything will be good!

Rising prices, stagnant wages, little savings, small pensions, a one party political system - what is a Japanese person to do?

がんばれ

Hello Kitty 321Today  06:48 pm JST

@Antiquesaving

They grow japonica rice in Australia and California. It is not all long grain

Yes and it tastes like the cheap leftover Japanese rice already cheap and no one buys unless they have no other choice!

@Tara

This is the first time that i completely agree with you .

Yes absolutely correct - senseless sanctions.

It's because of your ridiculous sanctions and not because of the coronovirus or putin .

And now the Japanese currency is worth less on top of raising prices with no stimulus payments for the public.

This is what happens when you follow the USA around with your tail between your legs.

Exuse my disdain !

Alan HarrisonToday  05:25 pm JST

A simple remedy would be (for starters) to cut the 778% import tariff on imported rice by at least half. Other protectionist tariffs on other imported food products can then be lowered

Why does this keep getting brought up?

Do you or anyone with 10% knowledge of Japan and the Japanese think they are going to buy 90% of the imported rice even if it was ¥100 a kilo?

The local discount store near my place has imported rice about ¥700 for a bag of 5 kg next to that is a bag of junk Japanese mixed japonica rice at ¥1,000 for 5 kg and still no one will buy the imported rice and even the mixed Japanese rice takes forever to sell.

Why because Japanese rice is much tastier it's also a different type of rice you can import all the cheap Thai rice you want or North American long grain rice and guess what it won't sell because it's not the rice the Japanese eat and the fact that you don't seem to understand that is strange.

This is the real result of senseless sanctions.