[resolutebat]

The other side to this is that after decades of zero to negative inflation (deflation), prices in Japan are finally starting to go up. My personal economic barometer, the Yoshinoya nami gyuudon beef bowl that was 280 yen from the 1990s straight through to the mid-2010s, is up to 448 yen at last check. Not by coincidence, their primary ingredient is imported beef.

Japanese salaries, however, are by and large not going up (certainly not at the same rate), which is obviously causing even more pain and further dividing the haves from the have-nots.