Japan | The rise in the maize levy is always news in Japan, but now the country is also facing problems caused by stagnant prices

In January Japanese confectionery maker Yaokin announced it would raise the price of the Umaibo corn levy from ten yen to 12 yen, or about nine cents. This is the first ever price increase for a product launched in 1979.

The rise in the price of any consumer product is always news in Japan, as the country has not suffered from inflation for about 30 years. In the vending machines that line the streets, canned coffee still costs the same 120 yen – about 90 cents – as it did in the 90s.

However, since the autumn of 2021, news of price increases has begun to appear more and more frequently. Kikkoman is raising the price of its soy sauce, while Nissin is raising the price of its cup noodles. Global inflation is also evident in Japan, where it is a completely new phenomenon for many.

Yet until about 1995, prices in Japan also rose by about 3% a year.

“As the financial crisis of the late 1990s slowed consumption, companies stopped raising their prices,” said a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo. Tsutomu Watanabe towards the end of last year Asahi to Shimbun newspaper.

“Now prices have remained the same for so long that consumers have begun to think of them as ‘appropriate’ prices.”

Japanese consumers are keen to take their money elsewhere if, for example, a restaurant raises its prices in the slightest. This has put small businesses in particular in financial difficulties as the pandemic and supply chain problems have raised costs.

Editor of Nikkei Shimbun Rei Nakafuji has said that due to price stagnation, Japan is in danger of slipping completely out of the industrialized world. Former developing countries are bypassing it.

Inspired by Nakafuji, there was growing debate last year in Japan about how getting used to cheap prices has also halted wage growth.

Japan’s economy is still the world’s third largest, but its overall wage level has not risen since 1991. Among other things, the weakness of the trade union movement and the increase in low-paid part-time work have been blamed.

In January For the fifth month in a row, consumer prices in Japan rose. He just finished his five-year career as a strategic advisor at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo Teppo Turkey however, does not believe in the inflationary panic fueled by the Japanese media.

“In Japan, inflation is mainly about food and energy. There is no similar pressure in the other categories. ”

According to Turkey, Japan is likely to face a time of slow and steady price increases, to which its citizens will only have to get used.

“The goal of the Bank of Japan has been 2% inflation since the 1990s. That’s not a moment. ”

According to Turkey, in Japan, trade union activity is often company-specific and wage negotiations have been tied to inflation, which has not been the case.

“Therefore, the negotiations have not succeeded in raising wages except perhaps nominally.”

Turkey points out that Japan is the first industrialized country where negative population growth and a shrinking economy are a reality. Therefore, theories of traditional economics are no longer valid.

“What is happening here in Japan in the future is happening ahead of other countries.”

Japan for low-income households, even low inflation can mean serious problems. Single mothers are particularly vulnerable because the social security system is built on the terms of nuclear families.

The Japanese labor market is strongly divided. Permanent employees traditionally spend their entire careers on a single employer. On the other hand, a completely different word is used in Japanese for non-permanent work.

There are fewer and fewer permanent places today. Part-time and part-time workers already account for nearly 40 percent of the Japanese workforce. They are not entitled to the minimum wages or salary increases guaranteed by trade unions, and they are also at a disadvantage in terms of pensions and social security.

Due to the declining population, unemployment has remained below 3% even during the pandemic. There is enough work for all, even if you live below the poverty line.

In 2020, 15.7 percent of Japanese, or relative poverty.

A significant proportion of those in non-permanent employment are women. As the suicide rates for working women increased significantly in 2020, the issue was linked to the financial distress caused by the pandemic to part-time workers in the country’s media.

Men, on the other hand, are symptomatic of falling into a financial impasse in more public ways. As the pandemic progresses, more and more Japanese men armed with cutting guns or flammable liquids have attempted massacres on trains, in hospitals, and in university entrance exams. For their motives, they have generally cited the desire for unemployment, hopelessness, and the death penalty.