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The story
Starting this month, around 1,500 food items have gone up in price, and electricity bills have hit a record high. Amid complaints that life is getting harder without any rise in income, some on the thread pushed back, arguing that “people who are actually earning well are seeing their wages rise too” — splitting opinion. Underlying the debate are the stagnant real wages seen since 2022 and differing political stances on tax hikes versus tax cuts, revealing how differently people perceive the same cost-of-living crisis.
Driven by soaring raw material costs, around 1,500 food items are rising in price starting this month. On top of that, electricity bills for this month’s usage have hit a record high, and things look set to stay tough for retailers and consumers alike.
●Local resident
“It feels like no matter how much I work, it’s just pointless.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Everything at the supermarket's probably up like 20% across the board.
And yet wages haven't budged — something's seriously broken with this system.
Nah, normal people are getting huge raises though?
That's just how it is lol
Even if wages go up, corporate investment is shifting toward physical AI from here on, so jobs will keep shrinking.
Well, the whole era of "going shopping" is basically over anyway.
Still, the public's furious demanding tax cuts.
Maybe Abenomics just never actually made the Japanese people any richer?
You probably don't realize it, but people all over the world are protesting over inflation even when their wages go up.
Except Japan's real wages have been negative since 2022.
So you're saying Japan's fine, that's why there are no protests?
Takaichi keeps changing her story bit by bit, you know.
"Proactive fiscal policy"
"Responsible proactive fiscal policy"
"We're not in deflation"
In the EU where riots are breaking out, especially France,
gasoline runs about 500 yen a liter.
Japan's built up oil reserves and secured more emergency supply sources,
so gasoline circulates domestically at a far cheaper price.
Utility bills are steep since it's cold, though.
Plenty of losers who'll go terrorize the weak, though.
This country really is pathetic.
So why don't YOU do it then? lol
Got nothing to do with national character.
People rioted plenty back in the poor years.
Clueless — you don't even know how many protests there were during the Showa era.
The fact there are so few protests now just means we're that much better off.
I guarantee you're living it up somewhere.
I know a guy who hit Starbucks like clockwork 2-3 days a week,
running his mouth with "it's only like 700 yen, who cares?"
700 yen only buys you 4 liters of gas these days.
Whether you spend it or not barely makes a difference.
From the Showa era into early Heisei, dropping 500 yen at a coffee shop was normal, and people could hit izakayas and hostess bars every night for 3,000-4,000 yen.
Just how poor has this country gotten? Even the dining-out industry is vanishing.
You're just looking at the tiny world you live in,
yet acting like you understand all of humanity —
that kind of know-it-all act is embarrassing, you should probably stop.
If the Bank of Japan raises rates, it'll go back to that.
If rates go up, wage hikes get harder to come by.
If they don't raise rates, this stagflation just keeps going.
That said, I'm investing over half my salary,
so my assets keep growing regardless.
Investing really is everything —
whether you do it or not creates an insane gap.
Investing takes seed money and some skill,
so it's not like just anyone can jump in.
I'd do it too if I could.
If you measure that in gold terms, it's actually shrinking lol
Nothing to brag about there.
Sure it matters, but everything's been on a tear lately, so don't use right now as your baseline.
Be ready for it to drop by half.
Yep. A real winner, getting to eat at such bargain prices.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Food price hikes are mainly chalked up to rising raw material and logistics costs, while electricity rates reflect monthly swings in fuel prices — a structure that makes it easy for them to keep hitting record highs. The thread split between the optimistic view that “wages must be rising too” and the pessimistic one that “real wages aren’t increasing,” with some replies backing the pessimistic side by pointing to stagnant real wages since 2022. The easy misunderstanding here is that even though some individuals have seen nominal wage increases, real wages — once inflation is factored in — haven’t grown overall; this gap in personal experience is what makes the discussion talk past itself. Differing views on economic policy also got tangled up in it, with political stances amplifying the conflict even more than the price hikes themselves.
*This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (News Express+) thread ““No Point Working However Hard You Try,” “Life’s Tough” — Around 1,500 Items Get Price Hikes, Electricity Bills Also Hit Record High, “My Wallet’s Suddenly Empty”.”
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