Japan Households Savings and Golden Week. Updated May 13, 2026.

Japan household savings hit record high, but 'zero yen' tops Golden Week budget plans.

Ideas

Japan, traditionally has been a high savings country similar to other Asian countries such a South Korea, and as such have not been big spending consumers like in the US.

So its not a surprise as inflation keeps a hold on Japan and now the Middle East situation with the increase in energy and oil prices that Japanese families are opting out of a big spending Golden Week this year.

Again its not a surprise and maybe its kind of trend that some families are opting out of taking vacation trips and redeciding to just stay home and save some money at the same time.

This has been happening in South Korea over the past five years or so but in a little different way. During Chuseok, the traditional Korean thanksgiving period, families would travel back to their hometowns outside of Seoul for the holidays. But in recent times, many families and individuals have opted to travel to other countries instead of going back to their hometowns.

But at the same time, even in South Korea many families also have decided not to travel back to their home towns due the that sometimes family gatherings can be vert stressful and or because of the long work hour culture in South Korea some have decided it best to just stay home a rest and not travel anywhere.

It seems the idea is to spend as little as possible and go to places that don't cost much or nothing at all, which the "zero yen" phrase means.

All of the numbers or figures listed indicate that maybe the average Japanese family or even individuals are not going to spend much or just don't have planned in their budgets to spend during the Golden Week period.

Yes, most likely, the high middle income group or even the even higher income groups are planning maybe to go overseas to places such as Europe or even Hawaii for their Golden Week period. Of course some might be thinking of going to South Korea, some might go to Vietnam, and some might even go to Thailand for their holiday period.

But the vast majority of families, due to the high inflation situation and the weak Japanese yen, have maybe prevent the average Japanese family from traveling overseas during the Golden Week period.

Again, its not a surprise that savings have increased in Japan as Japanese families and consumers have been less than willing to spend as their disposable incomes continue to decrease along with their purchasing power continues decreasing and as such they opt to save instead of spend.

Of course all those these figures, again, might represent the average Japanese household or consumer but maybe not the higher income groups who sometimes don't feel the same struggle that the average Japanese household feels.

While savings are very important for an economy but so is consumption or spending and there needs to be a balance between the two competing metrics. The problem is even thought there needs to be a balance, most of time, and probably in every economy, one tends to outshine the other as it takes an economy that is both robust and growing for both metrics to see equal growth at the same time.

The problem for Japan is its no longer a robust and growing economy but can be seen as a mature economy and unfortunately sometimes a stagnant economy which doesn't bode well for sustained consumer spending but might be good for those who need and want to save.

Have a nice day!

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260421/p2a/00m/0bu/022000c