Japan Rice Consumption: Ideas Later.

Japan's rice consumption per person drops 6% to 7-year low in FY 2025

Article to be deleted after ideas.

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's average monthly rice consumption per person fell 6.1 percent to a seven-year low of 4,435 grams in the year ended March 2026, reflecting consumers shifting away from the country's staple food after supply shortages sparked a price surge in recent years, according to rice association data.

The figure was the lowest since fiscal 2018 when the average stood at 4,426 grams, with the decline from the 4,722 grams in fiscal 2024 equivalent to 4.4 bowls of rice, recent data by Rice Stable Supply Support Organization showed.

Among households, comprising 66 percent of the total, consumption fell 8.2 percent to 2,929 grams. The latest results show there is no sign of an end to the downtrend in rice consumption seen in the past decade.

Rice prices began surging around summer in 2024 after extreme summer heat reduced the previous season's harvest, with the average price spiking to over 4,000 yen ($26) per 5 kilograms from around 2,000 yen before the supply shortages.

The price surge pushed consumers to look for alternatives such as noodles, pasta and bread, industry observers said.

Rice prices have since declined as rice production increased in 2025 and are expected to fall further when the 2026 harvest hits store shelves.

"As prices of other food items are rising, it is hard to imagine that consumer interest would rise in purchasing rice (only)," a wholesaler official said.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260516/p2g/00m/0na/025000c

Japan Current Account in 2025. Updated May 14, 2026.

 

Japan FY 2025 current account surplus hits record high for 3rd year in row

Ideas

 A country's current account is like its personal bank account as funds go in via exports and funds go out via imports. Japan traditionally has been a major export economy and as such gets a lot of funds added to its current account each week, month, quarter, and yearly.

At the same time, it seems Japan also is a major fiscal spender having one of the largest debt to GDP ratios among advanced economies, while not a challenge now, could become a major challenge for the economy in the future.

Yes, the weak Japanese yen, has been a positive for some sectors in the Japanese economy such Japanese foreign investments, as the weak yen increases investment made overseas as even exporter gain more yen from the weak yen.

However, the weak yen is not so good for importers or wholesalers as they have to pay more for overseas products of course means they will most likely pass-on their increased costs to the next in the supply chain, which ultimately could be the domestic consumer.

Having a weak yen can be seen as an incentive for Japanese investors and of course exporters to do more business overseas as they can get more yen, for their investments and or course export products too.

But again, it puts undue stress on the domestic economy at the same time as Japan is a resource-poor country and has to import much of what it needs which means the weak yen drives up import prices and eventually the final customer has to pay higher prices for the import products.

Japan basically re-built its post WW2 economy on exports and then many other Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea followed the same model as Japan and built their economies on exporting too.

The challenge, especially for South Korea and Japan, is they have, in recent years and even decades, have relied on a small but essential group of exports to grow the economy. For Japan it is mostly Japanese cars and for South Korea it mostly been semiconductor chips. While these exports are good now, if demand does decrease it could be a major a challenge for both economies in the future.

Once again, Japan's current account might be doing good now, but if they don't diversify their export products there could significant challenges for the economy in the future.

Just the idea of the US tariff situation is a major challenge for Japanese exporters and even the Middle East situation could get worse and companies and exporters and the Japanese economy overall needs to diversify and expand as much as possible its exports to try and offset any major challenges down the road. 

The global economy, being highly interconnected is both a positive and a negative as anything that happens in any country or region can be both positive or negative now. While positives are easy to see and understand the negatives, at times, can easily be compounded and sometimes can affect whole sectors or industries within a country. And as such Japan, with its multitude of small and mid-size suppliers, need to make sure that its supply chains are not going to be compromised as it can affect again many industries and sectors in the economy, and ultimately affect economic growth.

Have a nice day!

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260513/p2g/00m/0bu/007000c 

Japan March Household Spending: Ideas Later. To be continued.

Japan's March household spending falls 2.9% on year, down for 4th month

Article to be deleted after ideas.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's household spending fell a real 2.9 percent in March from the year before, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, amid growing concern that higher crude oil prices stemming from the Middle East conflict could reduce private consumption.

Ideas

Japan's households have been living through a period of continued inflation almost since the pandemic started and as inflation continues with households having less disposable income and with a combination of the weak yen their purchasing power is even less than normal, so there is naturally going to be less spending in the economy.

And yes, the Middle East conflict is going to have some affect on prices and Japan and other Asian countries are heavily dependent on oil from that region. But at the same time, it has been suggested or reported that the Japanese government, this summer, is going to put into place energy subsidies to help reduce the financial burdens on households.

Article

Households of two or more people spent an average of 334,701 yen ($2,100), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Amid the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, "it remains unclear what impact the situation is having on overall consumption," a ministry official said, adding it will closely monitor how consumers are directing their spending.

Ideas

It should be noted that the 334,701 yen spent by households of two more people, while listed as an average, the lower income groups might have spend much less and of course the upper income groups might have spent much more.

But what is important, or notable, is how much less did the lower income groups spend and how much of the population is the lower income groups compared to the middle income or even upper income groups.

 A county is only so good if it tries to take care of it lower income groups, including the fixed income groups and even those on welfare. Income inequality has become a major challenge even now for Japanese society but is anyone really paying attention to what is going on or is everyone so stressed out about their own situation that there is no time to think about anyone else these days.

Article

By category, spending on food and beverages dropped 2.9 percent, with alcohol consumption, including beer, declining following a surge in demand ahead of price hikes by major manufacturers in April 2025. Outlays for dining were down as there was one fewer Saturday than a year earlier.

Ideas

Spending on food can mixed as on some days shoppers might spend as much as they need but on other days they might only spend just enough and look for substitutes as the price of what they usually buy has become to expensive.

Alcohol for the most part might be considered a non-essential drink item and can easily be taken off one's shopping list if the prices get too high and or household budgets become to tight due to inflation.

And yes, even though there might have been one less Saturday, outlays for dining too might be or has been reduce to do less disposable income or less purchasing power for Japanese household recently.

Article

While spending on eating out in major cities rose, it fell in smaller cities as well as towns and villages, possibly reflecting a reduction in gasoline use and car travel due to the conflict, the official said.

Ideas

And of course in major cities where there might be less use of cars which means a little more disposable income spending on eating out might have increased and it should be noted that most smaller cities and towns have lower incomes that the large metro cities in Japan and as such they might fell the affects of inflation and loss of disposable incomes a little more that metro city residents in Japan, and they might be driving their car a little more which means less extra income to spend on other activities such as eating out.

Article

Transportation and communication expenditures also sank 16.8 percent, reflecting sluggish auto sales, while spending on kerosene and electricity bills declined as higher temperatures in February and March compared with a year earlier led to lower heating costs.

Ideas

To be continued...

Meanwhile, outlays on consumable goods rose 3.7 percent, climbing for the first time in 10 months, as consumers appeared to have stocked up on garbage bags, plastic wrap and toilet paper amid fears of shortages and higher prices due to the Middle East crisis, the official said.

Spending on overseas package tours dived 30.3 percent, suggesting the conflict may have had an impact, while domestic package tours rose 16.3 percent, indicating some demand may have shifted from overseas to domestic travel, the official added.

The average monthly income of salaried households of at least two individuals increased 4.7 percent, adjusted for inflation, to 557,663 yen, according to the ministry.

In fiscal 2025, the country's household spending rose a real 0.1 percent from the previous year, growing for the first time in three years, led by higher outlays on cars and entertainment.

Households of two or more people spent an average of 313,702 yen per month in the fiscal year through March, while the Engel's coefficient, which represents the proportion of household expenditure spent on food, reached 28.8 percent, the highest level in 45 years, the ministry said.

The spending rise reflected a rebound in car purchases following a decline a year earlier due to a certification scandal, as well as higher spending prompted by the World Expo held in Osaka from April to October. Purchases of personal computers also increased ahead of the expiration of Microsoft operating system support, the official said.

The data is a key indicator of private consumption, which accounts for more than half of the country's gross domestic product.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260512/p2g/00m/0bu/003000c

Japan Real Wages Increase: Updated May 11, 2026.

Japan real wages rise 1.0%, up for 3rd straight month on corporate efforts

Ideas

Its has been suggested, in other articles, that Japanese companies were making near record profits for many years but not sharing them with their employees, as again, it was suggested that, due to the 2008 financial crisis, companies were hording their cash and using to increase wages.

But now, as the Japanese government has been urging companies to increase wages many companies have complied and or offering wages to their employees. As there now is a supposed labor shortage many companies are increasing wages to make sure they can keep their current employees and or entice other employees to join their company.

Nominal wages, which look good, are not the real metric that should be considered as real wages are what is needed to measure consumer purchasing power and also disposable income which is what Japanese families are looking to see due the continued inflation situation in Japan.

That challenge will be, as always, are small and mid-size companies able to match what the large name-brand companies can give for wage increases this year. In years past or the last two years, small and mid-size companies, due to their limited profit margins, were unable to give out the same wage increases as the larger companies in Japan.

The Japanese government from time to time does use subsidies to help lessen the inflation burden on consumers, but at the same time, someone has to pay for those subsidies and it might mean the government is paying for the subsidies which means the government could be increasing even more.

And yes, consumer prices continue to increase but it seems at much slower rate, so maybe, just maybe Japan's continued inflation situations is beginning to see some light at the end of very long tunnel, but lets not get too positive about this just yet.

The Japanese yen, is both positive and a negative for the Japanese economy. For exporters its a positive, for the most part, as it allows Japanese companies to get more yen, money, for their products overseas, and the good part it they don't need to increase prices as the weak yen does that for themselves.

For the Japanese domestic economy, and importer, the weak Japanese yen is a negative it increases the price of import prices and as usual, importers and wholesalers will pass-on the increased price due to the weak yen to the next in the supply which can be final customer many times.

There might not be a significant impact at this time, and or its possible, the powers to be, don't want to cause alarm or cause too much uncertainty in the financial markets in Japan and globally.

Yes, the prolonged Middle East situation could have an affect on Japanese companies, as the world is very interconnected and what happens anywhere in the world today can easily affect companies and consumers everywhere.

And for example, even the wage increases going on now or just by the end of March, could be stalled, delayed, or scaled back as company estimates related to profit and sales could be significantly affected due to the Middle East situation.

Prices increased can happen two different ways. For example, as what has happened recently in Japan, prices increase have risen due to the increase in company raw material costs, energy costs and even labor costs due to the supposed labor shortage, and companies increasing wages to keep their employees from moving to another company, as companies will pass-on their costs to customers to keep their profit margins stable.

The other way prices increase of course is supply and demand, and supply was the preceding paragraph but prices increase too when customer demand increase significantly and companies will increase prices naturally as they see more customers like their products. 

The Bank of Japan is watching very carefully what is going on in the Middle East and if the situation changes or doesn't change and the global economy continues to be disrupted the BOJ most likely will just take a continued wait and see action. 

Of course inflation in Japan is always on the minds of the BOJ, as the BOJ board of governors seems to be split on what to do from time to time, as some are very hawkish and want to see an interest rate increase while some are very cautious or dove like and don't want to see a key rate increase at this time. So far the dove like members have been in control but can easily change over time. 

Have a nice day!

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260508/p2g/00m/0bu/020000c

BOJ and Possible Rate Change. Ideas later.

 

BOJ leaves policy rate unchanged at 0.75%, sharply raises inflation outlook

Article to be deleted after ideas.

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Bank of Japan on Tuesday kept its key interest rate at around 0.75 percent due to uncertainty over the Middle East conflict but sharply raised its inflation outlook for the current fiscal year, reinforcing expectations of a rate hike in the near future.

In its latest quarterly outlook report, released after the central bank stood pat for the third consecutive meeting in a widely expected move, the central bank said that core consumer prices, excluding volatile fresh food prices, are expected to rise by 2.8 percent in fiscal 2026, up from the 1.9 percent forecast in January.

It expects the Japanese economy to grow 0.5 percent in the current fiscal year that started in April, at a much slower pace than the initially projected 1.0 percent, as the rise in crude oil prices is expected to push down corporate profits and households' real income.

Three out of nine BOJ policymakers -- Hajime Takata and Naoki Tamura, both hawkish members, and Junko Nakagawa -- voted against the decision to keep the rate steady and called for a hike to 1.0 percent, noting that risks to prices were skewed to the upside.

The BOJ said elevated crude oil prices could fuel inflation in the country through driving up import costs of energy and goods but could also dampen growth through large-scale disruptions in supply chains.

Regarding the double risk, the bank said they could both heighten but that it will pay due attention to keep inflation from "significantly deviating upward" and exerting an adverse impact on the economy.

It noted that prices have already become elevated due to firms' behavior shifting more toward raising wages and prices.

Japan imports more than 90 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, making it highly vulnerable to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted the transportation of oil and petroleum products from suppliers in the Persian Gulf since the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began on Feb. 28.

In the report, the BOJ kept its expectation that its 2 percent inflation goal will be attained between the second half of fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 that ends in March 2028.

For fiscal 2027, the BOJ said Japan's real gross domestic product is projected to grow 0.7 percent, down from the 0.8 percent projected in January, and 0.8 percent the subsequent year.

Core consumer price index is projected to rise 2.3 percent in fiscal 2027, up from 2.0 percent, and then decelerate to 2.0 percent in fiscal 2028. The bank released its forecasts for fiscal 2028 for the first time.

Despite the latest decision, BOJ watchers expect the Policy Board to raise the key interest rate -- currently at a 30-year high -- in the coming months.

The BOJ vowed to continue to raise the policy rate and consider the timing and pace of monetary adjustments while "closely monitoring" the impact of the future course of the Middle East situation on Japan's economy and prices.

The yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar shortly after the BOJ's announcement, briefly breaching the 159 line.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda is scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day.

The Iran war has complicated the BOJ's efforts to further normalize its monetary policy following a decade of unorthodox easing that ended in March 2024.

The BOJ has maintained that its goal of achieving stable 2 percent inflation is within reach, but inflation caused by cost-push factors poses a challenge to the central bank, which aims to achieve price increases supported by wage increases and domestic demand.

Headline inflation numbers have stayed around the 2 percent threshold, but raising its policy rate to counter cost-push inflation would cool economic growth.

Still, maintaining market expectations for another rate hike is important to prevent the yen from falling further against the U.S. dollar, which could accelerate inflation in resource-scarce Japan via higher import prices.

Among overseas peers, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to keep its monetary policy steady at its policy-setting meeting this week amid the high uncertainty stemming from the Middle East conflict.

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260421/p2g/00m/0bu/002000c

Japan March Jobless rate.: Updated April 29, 2026.

 

Japan jobless rate in FY 2025 rises to 2.6% as more people enter job market

Ideas

Japan, as with most advanced economies, probably doesn't count people who are not looking for work as part of the unemployment group, but once they start looking they then are added to the list.

Most likely, as Japan is the midst of a suppose labor shortage, those who previously had given up might now be more hopeful of finding and job and now are looking for a job even though they are still unemployed.

The paragraph seems a little unclear as to what does the highest level mean? Is it about the number of unemployed or the number of those with jobs? It needs to be just a little more clear for the readers. But more likely of course its talking about the number of those with a job, while a good thing, the idea that Japan is in the midst of a so-called labor shortage, then, doesn't make sense, but who really knows exactly as the Japanese economy has many layers which are sometimes hard to comprehend.

The increase in the number for women that are employed is a very good metric and Japan needs more women to work and because of the inflation situation in Japan that continues on,  more married women with children are working and maybe more companies are now more empathetic toward the needs of working women with children as they need to balance both home and work at the same time.

And yes, as again there might be a real labor shortage, being able to find new work makes it much easier to find a new job in Japan, and as such maybe people can't wait or the circumstances don't allow them to work and find and new job at the same time, so they just quit knowing or thinking its much easier to find a job after I quit my current job.

The unemployment rate in Japan at either 2.7 or 2.6 not that big of a change and even a 0.1 percent change is nothing to worry about or get upset about as sometimes it just happens from month to month.

Japan still has one of the lowest unemployment rates among advances nation as the rate in the US is around 4.3. to 4.6, which for them is a little high. But at the same time, no country will ever have a zero percent rate and there are always going to be people in and out of the work force.

And with the 430,000 who were let go, which in decades past was not very common, but as many Japanese companies have become more westernized they are now using more western company practices including the laying off of workers, as they prioritize shareholders over workers now.

At the same time as 550,000 more were now seeking jobs, this could be that in March is when universities and colleges in Japan have their graduations which means it quite possible that there could be 550,000 new college graduates who are looking for some kind of job.

Yes, its very possible, if the employment conditions are solid, workers can sense or know that its easy now to get a better job with either better pay or a better work/life balance situation in Japan.

Unfortunately, though not noted here, there are many small and some mid-size companies that just can't give better pay and or because of their profit margins they actually might be losing workers as workers move to other companies, as they need to take care of their families and seek out more pay and maybe again better work/life conditions.

The jobs availability ratio might be just a little misleading as it doesn't really say or tell just what kinds of jobs are available as it could be that companies that have lost workers might be looking for workers but, unfortunately, even though they want to pay workers a better wage they just cant' do it as their profit margins just don't allow it as their profit margins are stretched to the limits with maybe raw material cost increases, energy cost increases, and of course labor costs too due to the so-called labor shortage and many workers looking for better pay or better work/life conditions.

Its interesting, while all the news is saying there is a so-called labor shortage, the article here suggests that some sectors have less job openings, but again, the Japanese economy is a large complex economy with many sectors and some or many actually could be in a so-called labor shortage as maybe they just can't pay what workers want while those sectors that now don't have new job openings have seen increases in workers and they are able to pay what workers need and want at at this time.

Yes, there are always concerns with Japanese companies that do business globally that the Middle East situation is always going to be there, unfortunately, and many companies have probably have drawn up contingency plans or emergency plans to deal with any global crisis as it evolves

But at the same time, not to be too pessimistic, some or many Japanese companies, that tried to venture into the global arena had to leave and just focus on the Japanese domestic economy as they, for whatever reason, didn't meet their expectations or the global market expectations and the Japanese smartphone market is the perfect example as they just can't compete with Apple smartphones or Samsung smartphones and now the up and coming Chinese smartphones in the global market.

Have a nice day!

Article source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260428/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

Japan March inflation. Updated on May 4, 2026.

Japan March inflation rate rises to 1.8% on fuel cost hike amid Iran war

Ideas

Japan is resource-poor country and as such is subject to global price increases and with the Middle East situation energy, gas, and oil prices continue to increase along with a host of other products and commodities from that region of the world.

Japan has suggested they have a good enough emergency supply to handle potential energy shortages but only time will tell, as Japan doesn't produce to make any real oil so it be interesting to see just what Japan does.

Food prices continue to remain high or higher than usual in Japan it seems ever since the pandemic and it's almost cheaper at times to eat out than buy food at the local supermarket. 

Comparing buying or going to lunch in Japan is significantly cheaper than the US and even getting take out is much cheaper and Japanese restaurants don't require tipping and they strive for a quick turnover of customers which actually lowers the cost per customer while US restaurants and even fast food places keep increasing the price not to mention the high cost of delivery now in the US.

Ever since the summer of 2024, rice prices have skyrocketed or seems to have increased to the point that regular Japanese families have challenges buying rice now.

Rice prices might have stayed flat in 2024 but there was major rice shortage starting in July of 2024 that continued through the early part of 2025, as there seems to be some question as to how the shortage started and even to this day why rice prices remain higher than normal.

As rice is such an important staple for Japanese families and households you would think the government would have used some kind of price controls to reel in the continued increase of rice prices but for whatever reason, they let the market decide the price of rice.

While its good that the provisional tax prices ended, other concerns continue as again, Japan is an energy resource-poor country and has to import much of what it needs which means its subject to the continued fluctuations of global energy prices around the world.

Consumers in Japan continues to grapple with inflation and or course unfortunately the lower-income groups suffer the most as they have to budget or watch every yen they need to spend and of course they probably cut back on many things due to the continued increase in inflation.

It's very good that the Japanese government is going to help wholesalers as Japan is very good at helping all sectors in the economy, as it usually has a structure that tries to benefit all somewhat like what the EU does or the Northern European countries do.

And yes, unfortunately, Japan is highly dependent on oil imports from the Middle East and even more than some other regions or countries in the world.

And yes, many other products and manufacturers are being challenged now with the Middle East situation, and its a good example of how interconnected all countries are now with whatever is going on or happening around the world.

Estimates suggest that when it does end, it could take months for the situation to settle down as supply chains will take a long time to get back to some kind of normal or at least a new normal.

The weak yen is both a positive and a negative which is both good and not so good for the Japanese economy. The weak yen, as a positive means Japanese companies that export and sell their products overseas they can get more for their products when the yen is weak.

As far as being a negative a weak yen means import will be higher and importers will have to pay more for whatever they are bringing into Japan which of course means they are going to pass-on their increased imports costs to the next in the supply chain and usually the final retail customer.

Yes, even globally, the price of many products are beginning to increase and it has been suggested price increases could last up to six months as it might take that long for the supply chains to get back to come kind of normalcy.

The challenge or problem is companies will continue to keep their prices until they feel they have re-couped any losses during or after the Middle East situation, and customers will need to brace for the continued costs or find alternative products.

The Bank of Japan, being a very conservative economics organization is not going to make any rash or quick decisions and most likely, as it usually does, will decide not to increase the rate due to the Middle East situation, the continued inflation situation, and the overall state of the Japanese economy at this time.

Yes, that is what is going to most likely happen, and if there was any sense of rate increase the markets already and even global markets would have shown some kind of reaction too, as all financial markets, these days are all closely inter-connected. 

Inflation in Japan is still not where the BOJ wants it to be and it might take some time for it to get back to below 2 percent which is where most central banks want inflation to be at as most central banks feel an inflation rate at or just below 2 percent is a manageable level for an economy.

Yes the index might be viewed as a precursor to a further rate hike but with the continued situation in the Middle East most likely the BOJ is going to stand pat and not increase the rate as global prices are going to remain high for some time due to various supply chain challenges which is going to effect all countries and especially Japan as Japan, being a resource-poor country, potentially could see prices continue to remain higher than usual.

Have a nice day!

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260424/p2g/00m/0bu/010000c