Japan CPI:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210319/p2g/00m/0bu/039000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's core consumer price index fell 0.4 percent in February from a year earlier, weighed down by cheap electricity bills, but at a slower pace following a recent rise in energy prices, government data showed Friday.

Nationwide core consumer prices, excluding volatile fresh food items, dropped for the seventh straight month after declining 0.6 percent in January, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The latest data showed the country's CPI remained under downward pressure, far below the Bank of Japan's 2 percent inflation target.

Ideas:

Most likely the CPI is not going to gain much if any at all until the pandemic is over and consumer finally feel 100 percent comfortable doing everything they use to do before the pandemic, including traveling.

The BOJ most likely, at least for now, should focus on other more important things than the 2 percent target, such as helping business survive and families are able to meet the weekly and monthly bill payments.

Until the Japanese economy is fully  functioning and back to normal or even a new normal the focus should be on helping businesses and families survive.

Article:

The BOJ started a two-day policy meeting on Thursday to review its policy tools to make monetary easing more effective and sustainable, and discuss ways to attain its elusive price stability goal.

In February, electricity and gas bills sagged 7.8 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, reflecting lower crude oil prices around last summer.

Gasoline prices lost 6.2 percent, but the pace of decline slowed from a 9.5 percent fall in January due to a recent pickup in crude oil prices amid expectations that the global economy will recover from the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, a ministry official said.

Ideas:

Monetary easing is always an unpredictable strategy or approach, as you never really know just what the affect will be and or how long with for the monetary easing to take place, and if it does at all.

An economy is a very complicated organism and as such there are just too many parts to figure out how to help or fix and any one time, if needed.

Gas and oil prices for example can be both a positive and or a negative depending on what is side you are, the supplier side or the consumer side.

Consumers and maybe even businesses who use a lot of electricity of course want lower prices, while suppliers of course would prefer a high a price as possible to maximize profits.

Article:

"A recent climb in crude oil prices contributed to making the overall price slow its pace of fall," said a ministry official, adding that energy prices may have hit bottom in January and would further rise and boost the overall price in the coming months.

Accommodation fees declined 5.1 percent due to weak travel demand across the country, as the country's second state of emergency over the pandemic remained in place in some prefectures including the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Major wireless carriers in Japan plan to lower mobile phone fees by the end of March in line with the government's request, with many analysts expecting such measures to further put downward pressure on prices.

Ideas:

The decrease in hotel prices of course is normal supply and demand as prices will fall if demand is decreasing and will rise as demand begins to increase.

Unfortunately hotel prices most likely will not get back to normal until the pandemic is over and people begin to feel comfortable traveling again.

But the problem is of course whenever that happens some hotels and other places may have already gone out of business

The idea of lower mobile phone fees decreasing sounds like a good move, but hopefully that will not mean a lowering of the quality of customer service provide by companies for customers.

Article:

The official said the ministry will closely examine price-setting by mobile phone service operators, but fell short of elaborating on the impact of the expected lower wireless communications fees.

So-called core-core consumer prices, which exclude fresh food and energy items, rose 0.2 percent in February from a year earlier, climbing for the second straight month.

Ideas:

The mobile carrier industry most likely is an oligopoly meaning there are of course only a few players in the industry. But now that Rakuten as entered the game with is lower prices, then that might put pressure on Docomo and others to follow suit, which is usually what happens with oligopolies. As the market leader raises it prices then the others follow. 

But in this case, as Rakuten is the new player in the game that might be enough pressure on the others to lower their prices, especially if Rakuten has quality service to go along with the lower prices.

Oligopolies usually don't compete on price but technology and services.

A core-core rise of 0.2 percent is not much to be concerned about. If there had been a rise of say 1.0 percent or 2.0 percent then there might be some more concern.

Sometimes, for many reasons, there is this need to track and measure every little change in everything, when for most everyone, is means little until there is a significant change. 

Yes tracking trends and changes are important and needed but a 0.2 percent not much of a concern.

Have a nice day and be safe!