Number of food items in Japan seeing price hikes so far in 2023 tops 29,000

Am I the only one thinking that it's a weird metric to count how many products increased in price without the information of how much these products increased in price? Without the latter information that really doesn't tell us very much, does it?

I saw this coming again. Greedy food corporations using Ukraine as a way to hike prices over and over to empty out your pockets. I want to see cigarettes get a mega increase as they serve no purpose but health issues. Increase the price on booze all the alcoholic will suffer from alcohol withdrawal syndrome which Japan doesn’t have many rehab for that. This is only going to get real bad. Good luck.

It's by design so don't be surprise

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Bank-of-Japan/BOJ-s-stay-the-course-approach-runs-into-Japan-s-widening-inflation

250 yen for one apple at Max Valu. Yet you can buy some processed slop for a fraction of the price. So apples are going up because of a war on the other side of the world are they? We’re not stupid.

And yeah, it is a strange metric to talk about the number of items rather than by how much they’ve gone up.

Take pictures of the foods menu and prices at the market you go to often and you will see how much they increased. 7/11 and all convenience store are greedy and cannot believe how much a tiny little sandwich cost lol

Take pictures of the foods menu and prices at the market you go to often and you will see how much they increased.

And then what? What do I actually do with this information?

IT’s will show you how greediness the increase was

So what is the food inflation ?

When I came to Japan drinks at vending machines were 100yen now some of the drinks are 180.

Inflation is not 3% as the government tells you.

Sell your YEN until you still can.

Bread is up 7%.

It is not just food. The utilities have gone up.

Also, services and entertainment has increased. Movies, onsens, and transportations (including deliveries) have all increased.

IT’s will show you how greediness the increase was

Well, duh, of course. But what does that information actually do for me, how does it improve my situation? if I need something I need to pay what they ask, if I want something I need to decide on the spot whether I want to pay the price. In either case the information on how much it increased in price is useless, it only serves to feed negative feelings.

Inflation is not 3% as the government tells you.

You really can't measure inflation from observing the price of a few products. But if it were significantly more than those 3%, let alone those "felt" double digits some people here will inevitably claim, oh boy, you would most definitely hurt a lot more than you do now.

I can’t afford convenience stores anymore. I only go to supermarkets and cheap liquor shops. But even these are increasing prices. Used to spend less than ¥3000 a day for food, now about ¥3800. My partner is forced to have a part time job now.

thank you kishida, and Abenomics

What do most people spend money on and is inescapable?

Yes, that’s right, it’s food

We should also take into account that as food costs soar, we also pay 8% on top of those soaring prices

The weakening yen adds to those prices too

The inflation figures for food are not relevant to how the Japanese government calculates inflation but for those in Japan on 250,000 yen a month or less, pensioners with fixed incomes, part time workers and the like then food increases of 30% or more, as we have seen in the last several years are having a dire effect.

The Japanese have always eaten frugally yet could choose a balanced diet but that is not the reality for many at present

More items are likely to see price hikes past November if the yen remains weak and keeps import prices higher.

Still BOJ will be waiting for nod from LDP which ultimately wait for interest rate hike GO from Big corporates who are milking this situation at cost of common people.

Prices go up!

Birthrate go down!

The only thing that hasn't increased is are wages

Japan becomes the next 3rd world country soonest

Unless Inflation and wages goes hand in hand these hikes will impact negatively. However all we hear is labor union negotiations for wage hikes is successful. Reality is everything is on paper and hardly anybody in Japan getting proportionate or any wage hikes.

It’s funny how say it will show how greed the corrupt corporates are and down vote because you’re either filthy rich or who loves paying more for less…….

Probably our household spending has increased by 20% set off by the 20% electricity subsidy from the government. Abolish tax on food.

That’s still only theory. It’s only a real problem if you really decide to buy and then pay that high price, otherwise it doesn’t affect you at all. And because your wallet has probably limits too, you then pay a higher price for that product A but can’t additionally buy product B, so that other seller doesn’t cash in his or her higher price, but ends up empty handed. Now look the result, you can still buy, A can still sell, only B , not you, is affected by inflation and out of business.

We try to buy items with prices down.

Japan inflation is now at 3.2 %(core cpi) and will soon be higher than US one 4% ( core cpi).

But the BOJ tells us that the inflation is transitory. This is exactly what the fed and the ecb used to say before inflation became very high and they had to hike rates massively to try to control it. These BOJ guys que unable to adapt to a reality that is totally different. Soon they will have to act in panic under the market pressure. Ridiculous.

One weird thing I noticed at AEON is that a can of root beer (A&W, 180 Yen) now costs more than a can of actual beer (178 yen).

I predict that TV station at the request of the Japanese government will start playing TV shows that compares now to previous decades like 70's, 80's and 90's to try and make people feel better about their situation (The illogical "Whataboutism" argument!). They will show expensive prices of everyday goods from decades when Japan was more closed off from the global economy.

Japanese consumer: The economy is terrible, and the government is terrible (ex. my Number, economy)

NHK: At least you did not live during the great depression.

Japanese consumer: So, da ne!

They will fail to mention that people got paid better and the previous governments before Abe was a lot smarter within Japan, of course!

Japan becomes the next 3rd world country soonest

The wages in Japan are already behind all but the poorest of EU member countries, and projected to be behind all of them within 5 years, with the exception of Portugal perhaps.

Let this sink in. Frankly, unbelievable.

Abolish tax on food.

Low-,rate broad-based taxation is the gold standard for efficient taxation.

Rich people who eat fine steaks and over priced melons etc should damn well pay consumption tax.

If the tax on food were eliminated, what social spending does one propose be slashed to “pay for it”? Or which tooth fairy is going to come up with the money instead? Or just go with more inflation to punishes the poorest among us the most?

If we the people want to have the cake and eat it, we the people need to pay for it - ourselves.

Remember, this is a result of Abenonomics. The downturn had already started but it went into overdrive once Shinzo Abe was elected! The same is true with MyNumber!

Keep it simple, make your own meals with fresh veges. and olive oil.

Stay away from processed and packaged foods as you are paying extra $ for all the processing, food preservatives, and salts they inject plus you have NO IDEA what's in them!??

One weird thing I noticed at AEON is that a can of root beer (A&W, 180 Yen) now costs more than a can of actual beer (178 yen).

If you buy those same drinks at a restaurant. That same can will cost two to three times the retail price.

Solution for me was to heavily reduce drinking and put into stocks which are way up. As long as staying ahead of inflation I'm all good.

BordeauxToday  10:14 am JST

I predict that TV station at the request of the Japanese government will start playing TV shows that compares now to previous decades like 70's, 80's and 90's to try and make people feel better about their situation (The illogical "Whataboutism" argument!). They will show expensive prices of everyday goods from decades when Japan was more closed off from the global economy.

Japanese consumer: The economy is terrible, and the government is terrible (ex. my Number, economy)

NHK: At least you did not live during the great depression.

Japanese consumer: So, da ne!

Hilarious but so true!

It is not just food. The utilities have gone up.

And taxes as well.

What I would love to hear is just what items in a grocery store have NOT gone up in price!

BoJ deliberately weakening the yen to keep exports high. Absolutely no benefit to the regular person whatsoever.

This is an all win situation for the government, food prices increase revenue from the sales tax increases. Weaker Yen, higher taxes, higher inflation, a recipe for LDP (親父民党) success

Last week a bottle of Teacher's (pre-tax) cost ¥880 at Yamaya. This week it cost ¥1,100. A 25% increase.

Off-topic, but 8 or 9 years ago Yamaya stocked a wonderful collection of Wychwood Brewery ales from England. Presumably because of the exchange rate, there's nothing like that now. Really sad.

It used to be that the weak yen would boost manufacturing orders in Japan BUT Japan Inc have moved production to SE Asia where wages are lower than here but buy more!

Japan food inflation was at 8.6% in May.

https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/food-inflation

Next, government will be complaining that young couples don't want kids.

It's not like this hasn't happened in every other country in the world, so not sure why the specific outrage here.

Someone i know said their favorite coffee jumped ¥500 since the last time they bought it. I suggested quit drinking it and watch how fast the price comes back down…or drink tea instead

Japan is certainly not alone in facing the ravages of inflation. In Australia almost everything seems to have gone up and many have risen at a rate higher than inflation. From Rent to electricity and gas, and one of the most noticable and damaging is food. Supermarket increases are higher than inflation which makes no sense unless it is a simple chance to raise prices for higher profits rather than simply keeping pace with inflation.

So many nations are dealing with across the board price rises which shows it is not something your government could avoid, it is a legacy of globalization. It affects everyone, some more than others but everyone faces dealing with inflation. Depending on what your nation exports and imports can effect the intensity of the inflation.

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Peter14Today  01:54 pm JST

Japan is certainly not alone in facing the ravages of inflation.

yes but the difference is the BOJ tells everyday that it WANTS higher inflation and does nothing to moderate it even though it has been well above it 2 % target for 13 months.

Here in the UK, most food has gone up by 30-40%, although this news item does not say how much food and drink has gone up recently, in the UK there are "food banks" these food banks take donated goods from the supermarket and other retailers, they redistribute short dated items and sell it for a fraction of the list price,, but you have to be on government benefits, the UK has seen a massive demand for these services and it's rising, does Japan have any food banks or a scheme like this? Sometimes it's a life line to the most vunrable people in society

@MBF--that is an idea. Have you seen any tickets around the price of a keg of beer or case of Teachers? Maybe a barter deal to trade in the booze a few of us have clearly stockpiled in the pandemic...

@ Dave Fair well said that man!!

Japan is not a poor country. So why are so many Japanese are complaining about price rises on food? But - and this is BIG but - the government must now do more for the poor poor people.

CPI is used to measure the fluctuations of prices.

Not in Japan.

They ignore most of food and energy on the calculations making the Japanese CPI unusable as a way of measuring anything.

CPI is used to measure the fluctuations of prices.

Not in Japan.

Japan does nothing extaordinary here. The "Core CPI", or "all items, less food and energy" CPI, is useful precisely because it does not include those items whose prices are extremely volatile and not controllable by monetary policy. If you really want to know, there is also an "all items" CPI, although less prominent and less often in the news.

Yet salaries rise hardly at all….great…NOT!

So what kind of bigshot job do you have that lets you save your money in your very own bank account? Do they let you carry a little bank book with bank mascot pictures on it?

@ stephen chin

Japan IS a poor country, it has the highest Debt-to-GDP ratio of any developed country at 256% (the US is only 144.4%)

Inflation is already near 40%.!. Japan is the only major economy in the world that does NOT include the price of fuel and food in the GDP…. Wages aren’t going up … it’s the culture…. Rodney … you recently posted you had been deported… so what’s your gibberish about ?

More than 90% of the debt is owned by Japan.

The old uni student survival skills will kick in at some point.

More than 90% of the debt is owned by Japan.

So...How does the government fund the buying of bonds? They print more money which leads to the devaluation of the yen, and higher inflation.

Food prices are determined by the manufacturer, product go u ,while the size of product shrink Google Food Prices Rises While Food Products Sizes Shrink

90 percent of the debt is held by Japanese investors. Another thing that keeps market confidence high: Japan is the world's biggest creditor, holding more than $3 trillion in net assets in foreign currency reserves and direct investment abroad.

The real problem of inflation,but Shrinkflation Google Shrinkflation

The survey covered data from 105 major food and beverage companies listed on stock exchanges and 90 unlisted companies.

Nikkei up 30% this year so far. If you want to shield yourself from inflation, buy stock. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

The affordability and availability of high quality food in Japan in very high but declining compared to countries that practice 21st century agriculture that produce more food for less while using fewer pesticides.