Japan April Household Spending: Updated June 8, 2025.

Japan April household spending down 0.1% on weak durable goods demand

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250606/p2g/00m/0bu/009000c

Ideas

Home appliances usually are not a weekly purchasing item like food is so its not really that surprising that Japanese consumers might be waiting to buy a new appliance for their home until the price goes down.

Clothing might be another item for most people as its really not a weekly purchasing item too, so they might be waiting for lower prices on their favorite clothing items.

The average might have been 325, 717 yen as the average amount spent but that might not be  the real story for many Japanese consumers and some might have spent less and they had less to spend and of course fixed income groups might have spent even less that that too.

Japan has become a major ageing society and its important to see just how much the aged population is spending in the Japanese economy these days and then compare that with the average Japanese family and see what they are spending too.

Furniture and home appliances might be considered relatively high-priced items and most families don't buy them  on a weekly basis and only when they need them and or after they have saved up for them.

Even air conditioners and refrigerators might be too expensive these days for some or many Japanese households and some might just continue to use their older models as long as they can hoping the prices will come down soon.

Electrical appliances might be an elastic item and as the price increases they are less likely to buy the product until the the price goes down and or keep using their older models for as long as they last.

It's quite possible the appliance repair business might be doing very well and Japanese households might be choosing to have their appliances repaired instead of buying a new one at this time if the repair price is not too high.

Clothing purchases are easily dependent on the weather such as the continued winter temperatures often can keep consumers from buying early summer clothes instead waiting until the spring weather is really warm.

Companies like Uniqlo, GAP, H&M and Zara probably look at the weather forecast a year in advance and might decide to produce more or less depending on the weather forecasts for that time of year.

A 0.3 percent increase in food spending doesn't sound like much but it's enough to maybe begin to see some daylight as prices might be stabilizing and consumers can see it in the supermarkets.

The key is what is happening in the rice market now, as prices have continued to be high but there might be some good things happening now as prices might be starting to come down.

Private consumption or consumer spending might be 50 percent of Japan's GDP but for economic growth it should be near 60 percent to see any chance for it to influence the Japanese economy.

Again, Japan has become an aged society which means the aged usually don't spend that much compared to those in their 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's, which could be hurting the economic growth of the Japanese economy.

What Japan needs, but is reluctant to do, is open their immigration borders and allow a lot of young people in to work in Japan and let them spend and help the Japanese economy grow.

The average month income for salaried households sounds very much like the amount for large companies workers and their households and might not be representative for small and mid-size companies workers and those households.

Small and mid-size worker households could easily be much less and because of that they are going to spend much less. 

It its estimated that up to 70 percent of the Japanese workforce is made up of workers from small and mid-size companies which means again they might have less than the average monthly salary as listed in the article and thus might have less disposable income to spend in the Japanese economy.

Have a nice day!