Ideas
Japan's core consumer prices have been increasing ever since the pandemic and look like or feel like by consumers that they are never going to decrease or not that much.
By now, most Japanese consumers might have gotten used to the continuous increase in prices and might have possibly cut back on some or many things they usually buy without even thinking about it.
And then there is the more vulnerable groups in society such as the low-income and fixed-income groups which feel even more stressed when core consumer prices increase even a little such as a 2.0 increase.
The consumer price index might have slowed from 2.4 percent to a 2.0 percent but for most consumers, again, its been almost a six year period of stress and continued increases in consumer prices.
This doesn't sit well with the needs of the consumer or the purchasing power of the consumers as their purchasing power in the Japanese economy keeps getting eroded over time.
But, to be fair. at least a little, this could be a global problem or global situation due to increases in stress on global supply chains, weather conditions affecting some products such as coffee, sugar, and chocolate, and the unsteady global energy markets are always in a flux or so it seems.
The rice situation in Japan is a very strange situation and it never should have reached the level that is has with supposed rice shortages, supposed supply chain disruptions and the continued high prices for a basic food staple that never should have happened in the first place.
The Bank of Japan has to decide what is more important for the Japanese economy, the jobs situation with a supposed labor shortage or the inflation situation that the BOJ seemingly can't get a grip on or is just letting inflation run its natural course without any real interventions in the economy, or as little as needed.
And then there is the weak Japanese yen which is both a positive and a negative for the Japanese economy. As a positive the weak yen boosts the prices of Japanese companies that sell their product overseas which means more yen goes into the Japanese current account which funds many of the Japanese government's budgets and programs.
The weak yen is a negative for the domestic Japanese economy, as Japan is a resource-poor country which means it has to import much of what it needs as as result the weak yen increases the prices of many of the imported products, which then the higher import prices get passed on via supply chains and eventually the final retail customer in Japan.
Yes, the BOJ might have increased its key interest rate by around 0.75 percent and it might done so thinking that the rate increase was not going to affect the overall Japanese economy that much and might have felt the Japanese economy was finally a little more stronger and could handle a rate hike with too many side-affects.
But the BOJ, like most central banks globally, is always looking and watching the Japanese economy for any signs of weakness or any signs of it maybe improving as its always contemplating what it should do next with a rate increase or even a rate decrease.
Food prices are always a major concern for most consumers in an economy as a consumer can get away with buying less clothes or at least the latest fashions, but for food a consumer can't go without food and the continuous increase in food prices forces some consumers or many consumers to try and find substitutes and for some maybe even cutting out completely some food items because now their budgets just can't afford them anymore.
And again, its a major travesty related to the rice situation in Japan and it never should have happened as someone in the powers to be in Japan just wasn't aware of what was going on and it snow-balled out of control and to this day rice prices are just to high for many consumers in Japan.
The global energy supplies of gas and oil always seems to be in a flux as prices go up and down constantly which means for some countries and some economies there is never a stable period related to energy supplies or prices.
Yes, the gasoline tax was another unneeded burden on Japanese consumers, and for those with cars, it just reduced their disposable income even more.
The scrapping of the income tax, which of course was used to bring more money into the government, was unneeded as it potentially reduced spending in the economy overtime.
Public high school tuition is free in most advanced nations and it should be free in Japan too as the Japanese government doesn't need the extra money that it or the provincial governments might take in.
Convenience stores in Japan might even be considered a minor separate niche economic driver for the Japanese economy as convience stores have become very popular with foreign tourists all over Japan these days.
Of course I'm not sure about convenience stores in other countries except the US and South Korea, but there is no comparison to the Japanese convenience store and what some think are nothing more than gas stations and a small store that look a convenience store in the US.
As far a South Korea is concerned they have taken notice with how popular convenience stores are in Japan and they are attempting to upgrade their stores and bring them into the 21st century.
If you have ever been to a Japanese convenience store you can almost buy anything or do anything such as banking, post office things, get your Amazon delivery there and so on.
Japanese convenience stores have evolved to the point that you don't need or have to go some of the other places that might take more time and or you just don't have time to go there as your day is usually just too busy, so the local convenience store or one near where you work does that for you.
The seven major Japanese convenience stores are on the cutting edge of knowing what customers in Japan need and want and they know just when to have the needed campaigns or sales to boost sales or get customers into their stores.
And of course they are very aware that foreign tourists in Japan now see convenience stores as go to place to visit and shop and they are making sure their are touristy type products for them besides the usual food and beverage to buy, eat, and drink.
And yes, even convenience stores are prone to the ravages of inflation as maybe some customers have either reduced their spending in convenience stores and of course limited how many times they might visit a convenience store as their disposable income has been significantly reduced by inflation.
A decrease of 0.8 percent in shoppers is really not that much but a drop from 1.21 billion might indicate a trend that convenience stores might need to be aware of as maybe some need to re-evaluate what is going on and maybe even to change some things as needed to keep the same number of customers coming to their store from dropping too much.
Have a nice day!
