The Japanese struggled in the price storm

Noting the shopping atmosphere at a supermarket in Tokyo these days, vegetables, tubers, fruits, meat and fish, items have increased significantly, causing people to have to lift up and down before paying.

“In the past, my family’s living expenses were only about 50,000 – 60,000 yen per month, now it has increased to 80,000 – 900,000”, a woman shared.

On the street, the impact of rising food prices can be felt. Most of the beef consumed in Japan are all imported. A weak yen causes import prices to rise.

Inside a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo: Reuters)

The owner of a steak shop said the price of input ingredients has tripled compared to 2021. To continue their business, they will have to raise the price of the dish and increase their search for meat from the country.

“If the yen depreciates for a long time, it will have a big impact on our production costs,” said Akatsuka, development manager for a steakhouse chain in Tokyo.

At the nearby sushi shop, the situation was not much better. For many years, the price of salmon imported from Norway was much cheaper than that of Japanese salmon. However, the fluctuating exchange rate makes each pound of Norwegian salmon now more expensive than Japanese products by 5 USD. The owner is also very cautious when raising prices for fear of losing customers.

“If the price of Norwegian fish is this high, I have to increase the use of Japanese fish,” said Nobuyasu Makino, a sushi owner in Tokyo, Japan.

In the past 3 months, the Japanese Yen has fallen more than 12% against the USD. The main reason is because investors are worried that the monetary policy gap between Japan and the US will continue to widen. The US raised interest rates to deal with inflation, while Japan maintained a super-loose monetary policy.

Analysts warn that the negative effects of a weak yen could push Japan into both recession and inflation this year.

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