Consumers scale back summer plans amid pension woes: survey

Asked why they plan to spend less this year, 34.6 percent of respondents wanted "to prepare for future spending," followed by 31.4 percent who intended to deposit the money in savings.

Which is not necessarily the same as retirement. The article's title is misleading and is making an assumption based upon no evidence in the article.

Nearly 30 percent said they will curb spending "ahead of the consumption tax hike" in October.

In the short term THIS is the real reason people are saving. There will be a slow down in the economy then a bump just prior to the hike, then a downfall, which then will have a year end uptick, and then continue downwards into the new year.

All of which will be covered up by propaganda about the Olympics!

Watch and see!

The title seems to have little to do with the content of the article.

Alive 100 years old era has come. And the authorized report says save 20 million. So the commoners can't waste money with their summer vacations.

I think I'll stop spending too. I still have a quarter of a century before I retire, and I wonder if the pension system will even exist then.

Note one interesting sentence, for what it is worth: "Nearly 30 percent said they will curb spending 'ahead of the consumption tax hike' in October." How do you interpret this? My guess is that people are building economic barricades in preparation for the consumption tax hike, so that when it comes they will already have already put being more frugal into practice. Thus, the tax hike will likely bring in less revenue than more revenue.

If they think consumer spending is slowing now, wait until after the tax hike. This is just a little preliminary panic. Consumer spending dropped by up to 25% in some sectors after the first tax hike and have never recovered. This tax hike will put even more pressure on families and see more small businesses close up.

Don't have the money can't spend it, and the prevalence of "voluntary" overwork does make it difficult to get to a shop during opening hours.

Asked why they plan to spend less this year?

My wage has not changed since before Abe took office. Inflation is still occurring all over the world but my salary doesn’t move.

Politians wages are at a sixteen year high, is anybody else's? My tax bill is at a sixteen year high and services at a sixteen year low.

This Abenomic miracle is really picking up speed, eh? I know literally nobody whose finances have improved since this mountebank got his second cacky-knickered chance in the big boy's seat.

And after seven years of total failure, the locals will reelect him in a landslide. Feudalism never went away here.

JJ Jetplane - My wage has not changed since before Abe took office.

Let’s talk salaries. As a foreign English teacher in private high schools and colleges my salary has been decreasing year by year since 2006. Most schools do not hire full time foreign teachers anymore and those that do use agencies. There is still a three year cap on teachers employed through agencies and those who are in direct hire semi-permanent have a five-year cap. The public school AKT situation is much worse. It is based on a per day or per hour payment, which includes travel expenses and has no stipend payment for school vacations and public holidays. In 2006 I was employed at a private high school. It was direct hire (no agency) and my salary was ¥4.5 million per year. Now, most positions are ¥2 million or less per year. The Eikaiwa industry is a joke with many schools offering ¥1,000-1,200 per hour. If you are a foreign teacher in Japan, do your stunt and get out of here. There are no long term prospects for English teachers in Japan anymore.

And the LDP is still favored to win in today's election.  People need to vote with their pocketbooks.

@Dothehustle

It’s really hard to make any generalizations, I think. I’ve seen more direct/permanent hires recently, but that may be just because of my own position.

On the other hand, if the individual has no real qualifications besides a university degree, then what you say is usually true. Also, there are a lot of people who really don’t know what they’re doing, who are just filling up spaces. Still, I got an acquaintance into a decent permanent position recently despite his lack of qualifications. His personality was what got him the job, mostly.

It’s really more about who you know and what kind of person you are, I guess.

JJ Jetplane, and therein lies the real problem that is undermining both the general economy and individuals circumstances. While taxes and prices are rising in line with the policy of moderately raising inflation, Japanese firms are steadfastly refusing to raise wages and using various “tricks” to avoid it like excessive unpaid overtime and underpaid part time employees. This is a short term solution that undermines productivity and harms both the general economy and the workforce.

I can't remember the last time my salary went up. So I work numerous side jobs to try to make ends meet.

The days of a prosperous middle class are long gone in Japan, the U.S. and Great Britain.

I wonder what they all have in common?

40 percent of the work force is on temp contract and an annual income less than twenty thousand dollars. It will be wishful thinking expecting consumption to be high.

People especially families don't have money to spend.

Saving Y15700 on your summer holiday is unlikely to make much of a contribution to the Y20 million needed for retirement. Even after 40 years you would only have saved about Y630000.

It's not difficult to save Y20 million over 40 years if you do what I do: no car, no eating out, no mobile phone. Holidays are one of the few things I do spend money on.

Go for it PM Abe and Aso-sensei, everything is perfect and will be much more better after the tax hike! We are happy to live in a prosperous country in humanitarian conditions.