Japanese voters hungry for solutions to cost of living crisisーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Japan holds its upper house election this Sunday. The rising cost of staple goods has emerged as a key issue, especially for families with young kids. Everything is just so expensive from rice, vegetables to meat and fish. Prices are rising, but wages are not. We can’t spend as much because taxes have gone up. We haven’t changed our lifestyle, but we’re paying more and more. It’s really bad. Many parties are pitching cash handouts and tax cuts to solve the growing affordability crisis. But is it enough? And HK World’s Amma reports. For Oiuki, dinner is a bit different these days. With white rice getting pricey, she’s changed her recipes. These are packs of mixed grains. I’m using them to bulk it up a little. Keeping her kid fed without breaking the budget. Grocery store visits have turned into hunts scheduled around the biggest discounts. Lettuce and eggplant. I visit the store every Wednesday mainly to buy vegetables. Non-essentials like sweet snacks now a luxury. I can’t just buy them anymore. Oi says costs are making parenting even harder. So, whoever offers a clear solution gets her vote. I want my son to take private lessons and take him on more trips so he can have more experiences, but I worry there’s no room in our budget for that. I plan to vote for a party that I think will actually do something. Japan’s consumer price index has risen by over 3% for 6 months straight. Meanwhile, real wages adjusted for inflation have been falling. People’s pay just isn’t keeping up. Employers say they’re also struggling. Hawa Noryuki runs a plastic auto parts manufacturer based near Tokyo. He says packaging prices alone are cutting into profits. The cost of these boxes has risen by 10 to 20%. Hawa does offer regular pay increases but below the rate of inflation and he says it’s getting harder to ask clients to pay for higher labor costs. Add to that uncertainty from US trade policy. Hawa says one of his big customers is boosting production in the US to reduce the impact of tariffs leading to a roughly 5% drop in sales for his firm. We finally came out of the pandemic and now Trump’s tariffs are dragging us down. Japan’s economy is slowing so we need policies specifically intended to boost it. I’ll support a party that can make real change in the numbers. Many political parties are campaigning on immediate solutions, slashing taxes or putting money in people’s pockets. Economist Kuman Nohideo told us that these ideas do have short-term results, but their long-term benefits are unclear. Cash handouts are just a one-off. The government has provided them multiple times, but most of the money ends up in people’s savings. Also, tax cuts cause funding shortfalls for social security and local government subsidies, which usually total 10 trillion yen annually. The measures could produce major impacts, but it comes with major side effects. Kumano says borders should pay attention to which parties are offering detailed plans for the future over quick fixes. One thing is clear, the skyrocketing price of basics has given Japanese much food for thought this election. I’m an HQ roll.
This Upper House election, rising costs of staple goods are a key issue for families and businesses alike. Some parties are pitching solutions like cash handouts and tax cuts, but is it enough? #upperhouseelection #election #politics #trumptariffs #tariffs #business #rice #price #children
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