Japan Consumer Confidence

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/japan-households-mood-hits-five-065144658.

This is certainly not what I saw in Sept, Oct. and Dec. when I traveled to Yokohama, where it seemed there was a lot of consumer activity going on around Yokohama, especially around Yokohama station, eki. Of course Yokohama station is the 5th busiest train/subway station in the world. The first four are also in Japan. Perhaps the major metropolitan areas are not seeing major changes in consumer spending while the rural might be spending less, which is common if the rural areas are mainly senior citizens. Consumer spending, and consumer mood, the feelings of consumers, has been a major concern for the Japanese govt. and the Bank of Japan. As the Japanese society ages, as older citizens tend to spend less, overall consumer spending might become even a greater concern. But just a very basic comparison, even with the 10% sales tax, prices in Japan are much lower than prices in South Korea. It has been estimated that food prices, as one example in Seoul, are the 6th highest in the world. The five above Seoul are all in the EU, mainly in Switzerland. Whenever I travel to Japan, usually the Yokohama area, I can see significant differences in food prices, especially at restaurants.


© 2020 Tom Metts,  all rights reserved