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The story
On the 9th, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released August household survey data showing that consumption spending for households of two or more people fell 3.1% year-on-year in real terms, marking the ninth consecutive month of decline. For worker households, real income fell 0.9% while consumption spending dropped even more sharply, down 6.8%. On 5ch’s Breaking News+ thread, opinions clashed between posters cutting back on living expenses due to high prices and those arguing the economy isn’t bad at all given the stock rally and rising asset values. Many also wondered why consumption is falling even as real wages rise. Opinions were split on the merits of policies like rate hikes and the tax system too.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ August household survey, released on the 9th, showed that consumption spending per household (two or more people) was 310,975 yen, down 3.1% year-on-year in real terms once price changes are stripped out. This marks the ninth consecutive month of decline.
Real income for worker households (excluding the self-employed, etc.) was 616,704 yen, down 0.9%, while consumption spending was 331,134 yen, down 6.8%.
October 9, 2026, 9:25 AM, Kyodo News
Source: 47news.jp / Original article here
What people said
The cause is all that wasteful expansionary spending
Exchange rate moves aren't set in stone
Anyone who actually goes to the supermarket and shops can tell prices are shooting up — nobody wants to spend, or rather, nobody even has money to spend
That's the number after taking blood pressure meds (i.e., an artificially suppressed figure)
I was shocked at how insanely expensive vegetables have gotten
Rate hikes are supposed to cool down an overheating economy, aren't they?
It's because inflation and the weak yen have overshot a bit.
Look, even if consumption is weak and the economy is bad, once inflation gets excessive, rate hikes and tax hikes have to happen even if it wrecks people's lives
It's meant to curb prices
With the domestic economy not even overheating, will putting the brakes on economic activity via rate hikes really bring prices down? Will the price of imported crude oil actually fall?
Nobody can know the future, but my guess is it won't fall.
Still, judging from the past, I have a feeling next year is going to be a disaster
Even if they cut rates,
it'll just pile up inventory of goods and services nobody wants.
The wealthy need to accept it's a bubble
and just accept the losses
If the Strait of Hormuz just reopens, crude oil will drop to $60.
That alone would calm down Japan's price hikes too.
It all comes down to Trump
I wonder if it'll really fall (lol)
Shipping networks are wrecked, so it'll take years to recover
There's a limit to how much you can cut spending.
Or is it that prices actually aren't rising?
Are there still people who don't get what 'real' (inflation-adjusted) means?
There's a thread like this every month, so figure it out already.
> down 3.1% year-on-year "in real terms, with price-change effects stripped out"
Just imagine how much consumption has actually dropped in nominal terms
> down 3.1% year-on-year "in real terms, with price-change effects stripped out" Re: #129
> down 3.1% year-on-year "in real terms, with price-change effects stripped out" Re: #129
I'm not denying prices are rising, but it's still nothing compared to other countries.
The reason prices aren't rising more despite the weak yen is probably the subsidies
And that's exactly why the weak companies survive and the economy never grows
Actually rice is the big factor —
it's pulling the CPI down by 0.7 to 1.0 points
For ordinary people it's probably a two-tier split though.
That's because the ones hurt most by rate hikes are the working-age generation that spends the most
but in reality wages are up and stocks are soaring —
the economy's doing great, right?
Household financial assets just keep climbing too
Then why is consumption dropping this much?
This number is clearly closer to reality
Wait, what?! Uh oh…
Re: #150
O…oh, okay
Last year it was the opposite — real wages were negative but real consumption was positive.
I've always wondered why.
Maybe there's a time lag between changes in real wages and changes in real consumption, or maybe
even 'real' figures don't fully strip out price effects, so some of the swings from volatile rice prices still bleed into the real consumption numbers
https://imgu.web.nhk/news/u/news/nd/kiji/20261009de56954/20261009de56954_E0000059143_1_l.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HUGrv2nacAAuYE_.png
though that's partly a rebound from how bad last year was
https://gzo.ai/i/dDfvjYt.jpg
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The “real” figure in the household survey measures changes in purchasing power with price increases stripped out — a different concept from nominal income and spending — and the thread had plenty of posts that confused the two. The drop in consumption spending stems both from people cutting back on essentials due to high prices and from wage growth failing to keep pace with prices. At the same time, some people have grown their assets thanks to the rising Nikkei, and posters noted a widening gap in how good or bad the economy feels depending on whether you hold assets. On whether rate hikes and tax policy are justified, several tangled issues — the weak yen, import prices, the scale of fiscal spending — meant the thread never reached a consensus.
※This article is composed of excerpts and summaries from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Household Consumption Spending] Down for 9th Straight Month — August, -3.1%.”
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