Prices are rising in Japan, but not wages
The pandemic and commodity prices have done what years of loose monetary policy could not
Umaibo has delighted Japanese people for decades. The cylindrical puffed-corn treat, whose name means “delicious stick”, comes in 15 flavours, from salami to spicy cod roe. The price makes it all the more appealing: the same ten yen ($0.08) since it hit the market in 1979. So when Yaokin Corporation, the firm which makes Umaibo, put up prices by two yen in January, it made national news. “We’re witnessing a turning point in history,” tweeted Osawa Atsushi, a musician whose rock band crooned about Umaibo’s “miracle price” in a hit song in 2010.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Tasty stick growth”
Asia August 20th 2022
- The Rohingyas are being wiped out in slow motion
- A secret government power grab is revealed in Australia
- A judgment in Europe awards billions to a forgotten Filipino monarchy
- America and South Korea restart their big military drills
- Prices are rising in Japan, but not wages
- The rising prominence of the Indian Ocean worries the countries in it
From the August 20th 2022 edition
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