‘Japanification’: As U.S. Inflation Surges, Here’s Why Japan’s Prices Have Held Steady | WSJ

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As the cost of groceries, clothing and electronics have gone up in the U.S., prices in Japan have stayed low. WSJ’s Peter Landers goes shopping in Tokyo to explain why flat prices, though good for your wallet, can be a sign of a slow-growing economy. Photo: Richard B. Levine/Zuma Press; Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters

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47 COMMENTS

  2. Inflation, bank collapse, severe drought in the agricultural belt, recession, food shortages, diesel fuel and heating oil shortages, baby formula shortages, available automobile shortages and prices, the price of living place. <It's all coming together and it could lead to a real disaster towards the end of this year (or sooner). With inflation currently at about 6%, my primary concern is how to maximize my savings/retirement fund of about $300k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains.

  4. That is also a function of Japan's dying demographic. People in their 50s 60s and seventies don't consume like you do in your 20s 30s and 40s. That's because Japan does not have those populations at scale anymore. And, with a worldwide shortage of high-end chips, AI is a thing of the distant future, not the Deer near future. But even if AI was in place, that solves the production side.. but what about the consumption side? You can make all you want and produce all you want if nobody buys it then you're screwed.

  5. Computers, supply chain, demand, wages, Big Macs, fast food wages. This video starts with saying increased wages create inflation and that's good. Maybe. Then it goes on to say price stability means lack of innovation and vague stuff. I just want to own a house and eat good food without a car.

  6. Not a very good video because it leaves out poulation growth and the causes of this deflation which has its roots in the agressive American Plaza agreement.

  7. There are all types of problems and damage that the phone bust cycle of the West causes that no one talks about. We in the West have to told the lie. That cycles. Are inevitable, but clearly they aren't.

  8. 私は日本に住んでいますが、この人たちはひどい嘘をついていると断言できます。 彼らは無視できるほどのインフレであると言うために報酬をもらっているに違いありません…それか、それとも彼らはインフレを感じられないエリート富裕層に違いありません…彼らが私たちが感じている痛みについて嘘をついている間、私たちはここ地上で本当に苦しんでいます…この人たちは誰ですか インフレが存在しないと誰が言ったでしょうか？ ここはきっと何かが間違っている…日本だけでなく世界中で。
    I live in Japan and I can say with certainty that these people are lying their scummy heads. They must have been paid to say there is negligible inflation …either that or ithey must be the elite rich that cannot feel inflation….we here on the ground are really suffering whilst they lie about the pain we are feeling….who are these people who say there is no inflation? Something is surely wrong here ..not only in japan but world wide.

  9. just came back from Japan and US. As a normal person, I would rather be staying in japan where things are stable and you barely spot any homeless or walking dead on the street.

  12. 基本的に、GDPが大きく成長するのはインフラや建築物への大規模な投資があるときです。戦後の日本は焼け野原だったから色んな建物に投資した。でも現代では十分に開発されています。そのため巨大なプロジェクトは少なく、あったとしても長い時間をかけてゆっくりと進めていくものです。これは戦後にバブルを経験したすべての国が経験することだと思います。日本人が目指すのは大きな成長ではなく、現状維持と、貧富の格差を減らすことです。GDPを上げたいなら廃墟になるビルを大量に作って投資家を誘致すればいいだけです。しかし日本人は無駄な建設を嫌います。

  14. Tesla is a very old company, so that was a bit of a dumb example of a "new company storming onto the car scene". Much more Japan doesn't need electric cars because they excel in public transit and actually have high speed rail. Not having wage increases doesn't matter if prices don't increase, as long as the general population can afford to live a happy lifestyle. This video has failed to show me why stagnant inflation is a bad thing.

  16. To avoid japanification,increase number of children!
    Future consumers and workers.
    That means , I’m so genius that I have advice for US,importing millions of immigrants from Latin America and Middle East .

  17. People in other countries don’t believe when I say when I was born, 30 years ago, a can of coke was 100 yen and it’s still 100 yen plus tax which became 110 yen like 15 years ago, and it still stays the same at a vending machine. No one panic buy, no one spends more, no one try to get rid of yen. Some even prefer storing yen at home, rather than banks.

  20. Hello from Tokyo. It is hard to believe that prices are stable these days. The rush to raise prices has not stopped. People are struggling everyday to save money.

  21. Confidence in the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan is as stable as Putin's approval ratings.

    This is the great thing about a controlled economy. The government and the BOJ can thoroughly postpone problems. The government and BOJ can act as if perpetual motion really exists.

    But after those in charge are gone, the time bomb goes off, and those who had nothing to do with the problem are blamed for it.

    It is truly a wonderful system for the irresponsible.

  22. Why do WE need growth, when they manage without much in Japan? Sounds more like Wallstreet wanting to feed their Ponzi scheme version of capitalism. I still haven’t met an economist, who can explain to me how you can have everlasting growth in a world with finite resources

  23. It is traditional, ecological, economical and technologically updated and limited as the design of tradition and functions/ features do reconcile making it trial balanced in the balances and entries in the corporation/books of incorporation and industries. /./././././Respectively preserved GDP and features power packed for demographics and statistical output/finalization/Investments-Taxes/years of performance and non performance. Thank you./././././/./ G.M Industries.

  24. just see the big steak an fat american eat and a tiny sushi that a japanese skinny guy eat. Japanese family live in a box apartment the size a american family used to house their car or dogs. An american dog consume and upkeep is more than keeping a japanese alive.

  26. Curious how they didn't mention how much an employee at McDonald's in Japan versus the United states. They just kind of said the American employees were getting paid more than they previously were and this was a cause of the price increase.

  29. tesla hasnt gotten a big part of the market, unless wallstreet is what people consider the market now. Their share of the cars actually bought by folks is tiny.

  31. U.S inflation hit 7% in December, fastest pace since 1982 . Consumer prices in Germany rose by 3.1% in 2021 . France shows a 12 -months inflation rate of 3.4% the highest since September 2008.

  33. Younger generation of Japan is about to experience inflation for the first time. Until now, inflation was something that only exist in book for them.

  35. Inflation is falsely blown out of proportion because these massive billionaire owned corporations pass all the costs down to the labor force and consumers. Inflation is simply a result of all these large companies like Amazon and Tesla sucking up all the resources and money out of our economy. It’s pitched to us that it’s necessary to have this happen in order to keep up with China and other large economies just like steady population growth is also necessary, but I fail to see how a few thousand greedy people having absurd amounts of money or overpopulation of our planet will have anything to do with outcompeting China. Also they are private companies so they can and do buy, trade, and propagate the Chinese economy. Maybe if they paid their fair share of taxes and absorbed some of the costs of doing business like everyone else inflation would just magically reverse itself.

  37. Japan has been dealing with a deflation issue the past few decades with a stagnant economy so not too shocking they aren’t seeing a big inflation issue like other countries such as the United States and Europe.

  41. This means the economy is really just fine after all. Having highly capitalized industries causes drops in return on capital. Thus prices become stable or falling.

    Don't attempt to grow a very mature economy. That is tantamount to cancer. US-based and US-biased economists, politicians and the moronic public love their cancer-like (and cancer-causing!!!) economies!

  42. Japanese 10 years bond was 0% before pandemic thus even after spending $1.1 trillion pumping into their economy during pandemic, BOJ just can't raise rates because they can't pay the interests. Japan is now at the point which they can't pay any rate increase with 260% of their GDP size debt. Better sell all your Japanese Yen holdings and go short. More bad news waiting for Japan with trade war continued with S Korea.

  44. China has been borrowing Japanese Yen at 0% and exchanged to USD for investment abroad for Belt and road initiative which caused lost of interest income in hundreds of billions for the US federal reserve. Japan has currency swap deal with the US and their debt ratio is at 260% of their GDP thus Japanese federal bank kept their 10 years bonds at minus 0.1 to 0% or else they can't pay their debt. Washington must stop currency swap deal with Japan to stop China and Japan must compensate Washington in hundreds of billions of interest income lost.

  47. So essentially Japanese capitalism doesn’t have the flaws of American capitalism in the sense that in America consumption is of utmost priority & thus consumers will buy so long as they have funds. However in Japan, as shown in this video, the people actually reject a product that’s above its average price. Hence American corporations price gouging would not stick in Japan because the people are more vocal. Meanwhile Americans are so complacent that they’ll still buy while blaming government rather than the corporations that are creating artificial inflation via using real world events like the War in Ukraine as a facade/excuse to raise said prices..

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