Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I can’t seem to get any answers searching through the heaps of text on news posts lol! I have seen that Apple have raised prices of their products as an external company however will the cost of living actually change or anything which has come from directly inside of Japan? Are we only affected by imported goods?
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For some currently if you invested in US stocks paid initially in Yen, even if the stocks are down you might be up due to the currency rate.
Not really my area of expertise but I think real estate may be affected in the future as foreign money comes in to buy up cheap real estate in yen. Hard to say though as Japan’s real estate market works a little different than elsewhere. You don’t just buy land and KNOW it will maintain or increase its value here. Mansions and homes/land in desirable areas could definitely see a quicker and more rapid increase in demand and prices (along with rents too). This is all if the yen stays weakened for a long period.
Energy prices are also up which affects almost all domestic activity. Oil/gas/etc are all imported and thus greatly affected by the value of the yen.
Most apparent for consumers is the price of commodities like food. The link to the [Yahoo news article](https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/d34a465dfc9fce175b143f1987011196a5531c5f) I referred to last month doesn’t seem to work anymore, but it reported that the price of onions was up 98.2%, cabbage 49%, lettuce 38.3%, apples 35.9%, daikon 29.3%, oranges 21.8%, maguro 17.2%, and so on. The onion price in particular is also being affected by a poor harvest in Hokkaido.
I fucking love it. ¥10000 is only like $74!
Edit: what kind of loser downvotes somebody for not being negatively affected by this 🙄
Hate it. Things are expensive. Cant send money home at the same rate before. Losing money.
Personally I think that imported goods will increase in price, maybe not now but slowly, prices will creep up as you have already seen.
I also think the Japanese government will do very little to help the situation, higher prices on goods means inflation rises, they’ve been trying for decades to get inflation to rise and this is their moment. (Rising inflation means it’ll be easier for them to chip away at the massive debt since their yen will be more valuable).
The problem is that wage growth is still stalled so the government needs to figure out how to solve this.
But yeah, overall IMO, higher cost of living on the same wage/salary.
If you get paid in yen and you send money home, you are screwed.
More expensive MacBook airs
Generally speaking a weak yen is good for exports but bad for imports. Japan imports most of its food, i.e grain, pork among others, plus fuel.
I don’t know if you noticed but almost everything here is imported lol
Those school loan payments are taking 32% more of my yen.
Ordering any items from Amazon US or even US products from Amazon JP is now much more costly. (Anti-perspirant, deoderant anyone?)
I haven’t noticed anything different at all.
I’m no expert and haven’t looked into this thoroughly but I feel like there are the following things to consider.
Negatives:
Imports are more expensive which is a damn lot of stuff including food, which has a knock-on effect on the economy.
Even things made in Japan usually buy materials or services from different countries.
Returning home or going abroad is more expensive.
Less value if you send money abroad.
Positives:
Any money or assets abroad are now worth more.
Some companies that export will benefit from a weaker yen.
On the negative side-
Anything imported from abroad will be more directly expensive, but things made in Japan will also be indirectly more expensive, because most companies need to use energy imported from abroad, which becomes more expensive of course.
Japan heavily relies on importing energy, so all utilities become more expensive.
People who have bills abroad and have to send money to pay them of course will lose money.
Some people living and working in Japan regularly send money back to their home country to support their relatives. Less money will be going to them.
On the positive side-
Japanese things and Japan become much cheaper for outside buyers and visitors. Japanese companies that mainly export their products can see a rise in sales
If and when Japan fully opens to tourists, there should be an inundation of visitors
If you are holding a foreign credit card, it’s a good idea to charge your Japanese spending to your card
Imported things will be more expensive. that includes fuel of energy sources. Also, if you send money home to pay for something it will cost more.
Everything will be more expensive, sooner or later. Some of the direct imports, we already see the price rise. For the products made in Japan, because the rise in commodities and resources (and Japan has none), the costs are rising too. Sooner or later the consumers would shoulder that rising costs. The worst thing is it wont get better any time soon. We can either pray for a quicker salary rise, from fast economy rebound after covid, or this global inflation passing soon.
Before that, I’d better cut spendings and pay with non-yen currency card when I have to.
Considering prices will go up and Japan having one of the worst increase of salaries out of the first world countries… Its not looking good for the working man tbh.
For the average consumer, at the most basic, things that need to be imported and/or which contain things that need to be imported will become more expensive.
Things made here exclusively may not increase so much in price, and may be more attractive to exporters and other countries. Note, this may also drive up prices in Japan as local producers may choose to sell at a higher price to someone abroad than they could to someone at home.
originally planned to send some money back home, but now its too low to justify it
also tech stuff has increased in prices
For someone who doesn’t send money home/ have any outside of Japan needs and just lives and works here i feel not much has been changing. I do not buy many imported goods either. Just won’t shop on ebay for a while I think or go on a trip abroad but covid has stopped me doing the later so it is not so bad. Summertime does see an increase in electricity bill but also a decrease in gas which is normal and expected. Not much change.
As a regular person the changes you’ll notice most are that imported goods will cost more and you need send more yen home (presumably) to get the same amount of a foreign currency
You can mitigate by simply avoiding buying non-Japanese goods and sending money home, if you can.
Costs have to rise. Food, packaging, materials to make packaging and items will be more expensive to import – which will lead to increased costs for consumers. Our exports will be cheaper to purchase, but we are not selling enough and will get less back (especially when considering additional manufacturing and transportation costs involved).
We can expect things to be tighter, but it’s not as bad as many other countries.
Essentially a 25% cut in pay.
Some imported items are increasing in price as importers begin to balance new prices with demand.
Things are just more expensive in general (a phenomena not limited to Japan or the yen).
Love it, as I’m paid in US dollars. Everything is on sale.
Apple just raised the price of iPhones in Japan, so there’s that…