Cost of living: The shock of rising prices in Japan

Things rarely got more expensive as a child in Japan.

When I was younger, my favourite lunch was always available for a 500yen coin. It's the same for shoes and clothes.

When the property market crashed in the 1990s, I was warned that the value of our family home was going to collapse.

My parents were unable to sell their house again or upgrade it because of the financial loss.

People don't spend money when prices don't go up.

Companies respond by not increasing salaries, which leads to lower consumer demand and prices. You don't go shopping a lot when you can't get a pay raise.

The vicious cycle Japan has been trapped in for decades has been slowed by this.

Japan's wealth did not grow as much as many parts of Asia. Since the 1990s, Japan's GDP per capita has not changed. China became the world's second biggest economy by 2010.

For decades, the country's central bank has tried to get Japanese to spend more, invest more and pay more in order to boost growth.

Inflation this year is expected to hit the Bank of Japan's 2% target after the benchmark measure for consumer prices rose 2% in April.

The jump doesn't have anything to do with domestic economic policy. It has been driven by higher import costs, a global increase in raw material and energy prices, and the war inUkraine.

It could mark the beginning of bad inflation because wages have not gone up yet. Things are about to get worse for shoppers because average salaries haven't risen in over three decades.

It is a huge shock to Japan, where people have been used to decades of stable prices.

It sent a shock through the nation when the price of umaibo went up by 20%.

Increasing prices has become taboo in a society that believes in sharing burdens.

So much so that the company that makes the snack had to explain why it had to raise the price.

Everything from mayonnaise to beer has gone up in price. According to the Teikoku databank, the prices for more than 10,000 food items are going to go up this year.

Central banks across the world have responded to soaring prices by raising interest rates in order to keep inflation in check. The Bank of Japan has kept its rates low for a long time.

The Japanese currency weakens if there is a significant gap in interest rates between Japan and other countries. The Japanese currency fell to 20-year lows against the dollar.

Oil and gas are more expensive because of a weaker yen.

Suntory is known for Japanese whiskies Yamazaki, Hibiki and Hakushu, as well as beer and non- alcoholic beverages such as bottled water and coffee.

In order to give itself time to discuss the increases with its distributors, the company has recently announced a price hike across most of its product range. Mr Niinami says the global supply chain crunch is to blame for this.

It has been accepted." There is still a challenge from large retailers.

The government is trying to push wages higher in order to promote inflation.

Society and the government want to raise wages, but we need to increase productivity, says Mr Niinami.

It's hard to increase productivity quickly. We have a lot of peers in the same industry.

Mr Niinami says Japan needs to create new jobs and invest in green innovation to boost the economy. He wants the government to do more to get foreign investors.

Job creation is just one of many issues that Japan has grappled with for decades.

An influx of international tourists wanting to spend their money in Japan could be a silver lining in the short term, as the borders are only just reopening after Covid.

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