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The story
On 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo” (Anything Live) board, a thread exploded over lunch now routinely costing around ¥1,500. Posters swapped specific shops and prices — “¥1,200 is the going rate in Tokyo,” “Yayoiken gives you all-you-can-eat rice for ¥1,000” — while mockery aimed at people who eat out clashed with pushback from the restaurant side, who argued that passing rising labor costs on to customers is simply unavoidable. Many also pointed out that pay raises haven’t kept pace with inflation, exposing a deeper divide between those who cook at home and those who eat out.
What people said
Poor guy: "AAAAH I'm getting the yakiniku bento, tea, a FamiChiki, AND a meat bun!!! ¥1,500? Eh, fine by me 🙆♂"
This is genuinely hilarious
You're poor because you don't respect money, that's just how it goes
You're the only one doing that
You salarymen must have too much free time if you're eating out for lunch every single day, no wonder it costs so much
Tokyo salarymen line up on their lunch break at chain restaurants that aren't even that good
Seriously surrounded by idiots
Would be great if they let you take leftovers home
the real issue is getting a pay raise
especially if you work somewhere without a functioning labor union
Even if I got a raise, I don't care enough to change what I eat
Labor costs keep rising, so of course prices go up too
If you're too poor to eat out, just cook at home forever lol
How long are you gonna keep that Showa-era mindset? lol (Showa era = Japan's 1926–1989 period, shorthand for old-fashioned thinking)
Nah, Japanese restaurants are famously cheap by global standards
There's tons of data comparing it internationally
Doesn't it make you sad that restaurant staff themselves are poor?
Sorry to say it, but most of the people crowding into those restaurants are poor
Rich people have the skill to pick good ingredients, the ability to cook, and the free time to make their own meals
Poor people have none of that, so they're stuck relying on eating out
no matter how much prices go up
Re: #40 Stop assuming restaurant staff are poor. I pay them a decent wage. There's staff meals too — "food service = poor" is such a Showa-era mindset lol
No, you are poor
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and others publish statistics on this
You're poor
I won't accept counterarguments
"lol" ← only Showa-era old guys use that
How much are you actually paying them?
Fries actually fill you up
Burgers, not so much 😒
Looks delicious though
You get excited hearing your raise amount, then check your pay stub and the take-home bump is disappointingly small a lot of the time 😡
So should they just double wages instead?
That's not realistic, which is why it's being raised gradually
Social insurance costs and prices are rising faster than wages
Most Japanese salarymen work at small and midsize companies
It's probably only big corporations that are actually keeping up
I remember being able to get sets like that for under ¥1,000 back in the day
That's because part-timers' hourly wages have gone up
I've always been just a lowly Self-Defense Force member, so I'm consistent
When I raise staff wages, labor costs go up
so naturally that gets passed on as a price increase
It's just common sense
As long as customers keep coming, that's all that matters
Well, that's probably part of it, but
just making a bit extra at dinner the night before works fine as a side dish
I discovered this myself
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The rise in restaurant prices stems not just from higher ingredient costs but from restaurants passing on rising labor costs to customers. In the thread, posters on the restaurant side explained that raising prices to cover wage increases is simply common sense, suggesting it’s a mismatch to view the hikes as mere “opportunism” or “price gouging.” At the same time, some pointed out that pay raises haven’t kept pace with rising social insurance costs and inflation — a structural issue felt more acutely by workers at small and midsize companies than at large corporations. Where opinions in the thread diverged was over whether relying on eating out is a matter of personal responsibility or a structural problem: home cooks who dismissed those who eat out as “idiots” never quite squared off against the more relative point that Japanese dining out remains cheap by global standards. The thread also saw a “rich vs. poor” framing thrown around, but this was exaggerated rhetoric within the discussion, not based on any actual income-distribution data presented.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo” board) thread “[Sad News] Lunch in Modern Japan Is Now Normally Around ¥1,500.”
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