Why aren’t there more mass protests/revolutions because of the weak yen?

This seems like something that would cause an uproar. Have you seen the USD/Yen exchange rate?

42 comments
  1. Why would there be? Most people aren’t going overseas and prices haven’t gone up that much.

  2. The exchange rate doesn’t really matter for people who live in Japan and get payed in yen. The cost of living here is still remarkably low compared to other countries right now.

  3. The Japanese live in Japan and spend money in Japan in yen. It largely doesn’t affect them, unless they travel to the US. It can also be quite helpful to their economy as it boosts exports, although some imported items may become more expensive.

  4. Because it doesn’t affect a homogeneous inwardly-focused island population where less than 20% of people even have a passport.

    The cost of living is hilariously low here.

  5. Real wages are down only 2.6% and that is considering average inflation.

    The currency exchange rate has a thinner impact than what most would think, and that is for a country so dependent on imports like Japan.

  6. I still do not truly get how inflation isn’t vastly higher…

    Spent a few weeks in London and honestly Tokyo is something like half-price for day to day living.

  7. The government is aware of the problem, they are also aware that one of the few weapons they have fighting it, raising interest rates, would have a significant impact on people who have housing loans with floating interest rates, which is a lot of them. So they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, looks like they are going to ride it out and hoping that interest rates eventually fall in the US.

  8. You have to think about the effect and whom is affected.

    An average Japanese family will be affected at the grocery story, at the restaurants, maybe with some other goods but for the most part it just feels like some inflation/shrinkflation.

    Exporters are probably doing quite well but it does depend on where their raw materials come from.

    Tourism – great.

    FDI has a good chance of rising.

    So you have this group of people that is screwed (like expats and more international Japanese) but it isn’t a large enough or cohesive enough group to put pressure on.

    And tbf, there isn’t that much the BoJ can do. They can tweak, but we aren’t going to raise interest rates to 5% so…we wait until the US rate hike cycle is over basically.

  9. Ask a normal Japanese person that does not need to deal with import/export or any other sort of overseas dealings what the JPY-USD exchange rate is and they will say they don’t know.

  10. People don’t care about exchange rates. People do not need to buy USD in general. Most people do not go abroad. People know about the weak yen and talk about it because they undrestand that food and energy prices are linked to it on account of the massive amount of importing.

    They do care about food/gas/energy prices. My personal belief is that there was a lot of pent up inflation over the years that was held back and is all now kicking in, and people are hurting but handling it. Gov’t is also trying a bunch to keep things from going up more.

    Kishida’s approval is very low right now though, It feels like we’re going to enter another phase of musical chairs soon (I know nothing ofc).

  11. Do you really expect me to go riot just because たけのこの里 went up by 30 yen?

    Things aren’t peachy in the world right now but all things considered we have gotten off rather easily. Destroying our country isn’t going to solve the problem and will only contribute to making it worse. If you want to behave that way then go to it in your old country; we’re not going to make Japan look like America did in 2020 just because there’s 2 cookies less in a pack of Noire.

  12. What will be the aim of the protest? An effective protest has a particular aim and plan of action.

  13. For one, this is JAPAN.

    The Japanese are NOT known for their “Rioting” – **Or even expressing their Honest Opinions MOST OF THE TIME.**

    Things would need to get real Real REAL dire before people would even consider speaking up and actually Doing something about it.

  14. Honestly I can tell there has been an increase but it’s not a huge one for me personally. I don’t need to send money back anywhere so for someone living in Japan , spending in Japan., it’s not a problem at all. 🤷

  15. why are americans pathologically incapable of conceiving of a world outside of their dying empire?

  16. I don’t know if you’ve lived a sheltered life or not, but things are wildly stable here, both socially and economically. You would need huge portions of the population living in precarity for something like this. Instead, you can get sukiyaki w/ beef, udon, tofu, and leeks over an open fire plus rice and a raw egg for around ¥700 at Yoshinoya currently.

  17. Contrary to what loads of people are saying to you, it’s reasonable to ask why more people aren’t upset about the weak yen. It hurts more than just expats.

    But asking why these hasn’t been a revolution is a bit extreme. Has Japan ever in its entire history had a revolution?

  18. Get out of your sofa and lead it if you want one? It not like other parts of the world haven’t sucked up to 15% ish stagflation before, and it isn’t even that bad at the moment.

  19. What is it with everyone talking about revolution online these days? Go back to wherever you came from and be revolting there.

  20. People do notice some things like imported getting up in prices because of it but most of it isn’t something that hurts too much for most people. It does hurt, don’t get me wrong but not to the extent you think.
    There’s also a lot of people who were around last time they hiked interest rates too fast in, *that* caused a lot of damage over the long term and killed growth for a while.

  21. Because life in Japan is still excellent for most people.

    If it gets to the point that a significant number of people can’t feed their kids, you can expect a lot more in the way of civil unrest. We are nowhere near that now.

  22. Why would there be an uproar ?
    People still have their homes, and go about their lives in relative peace. Sure, things are a little bit more expensive, but compare to other countries, inflation is mild. I went to my local farmer’s market every weekend, still grabbing 100 yen veggies, spent a total of 5000yen weekly for food, virtually no different from a year ago. Chicken breast is still 69yen/100gram, slices of pork for 98yen/100gram, get Canadian imported ones for 69yen/100gram. 4 pieces of Sardines for 200yen, lol. The government bulk buy and has been releasing its flour reserves into the market, gyoumu still sell flour for 100yen/kg.
    Just don’t go to Costco.

  23. Step 1: See yen is weak
    Step 2: Go out and yell about it
    Step 3: ???
    Step 4: yen becomes strong

  24. People by and large are pretty apathetic here. It’s been bred into them through the school system it just accept things. I recall back in 2011 when the last best chance for political reform in Japan died out when the people voted out the Democratic Party of Japan. The country was still reeling from the tsunami, and voters felt felt that they hadn’t accomplished enough in the two years that they had been given to reform the entire system. It was a sad day, since the bureaucracy just dragged its feet as usual until the LDP could get back into power.

    That said, I think what might make the people riot would be the cost of rice increasing dramatically due to the current economic climate. But that hasn’t happened, unlike every other foodstuff out there. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is probably due to government intervention, since they control the entire market anyway and have likely absorbed the extra production and energy costs to keep the price of a bag of rice stable.

  25. People don’t protest because of a weak currency, they protest about inflation. And an inflation rate of 3.2% is not something that brings people into the streets in any country.

  26. What are people fighting *for*, though? You need a goal to get everyone riled up, and most people have no fucking clue how to get the *endaka* up, myself included.

  27. Weak yen isn’t 100% a bad thing. It’s super helpful for exporters which in turn helps the economy. Japanese electronics and cars will be able to be sold for way cheaper abroad and make the same profits at home.

  28. um, what is a protest going to accomplish? The bank of Japan isn’t going to look out the window at a mob of angry people and push a big red button to make the yen go up.

  29. Why would there be? Unless people are spending their money abroad, it doesn’t really affect them.

    Also, a revolution because of a poor exchange rate? Seriously?

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