The Japanese stock market is back, but what are the people living there going through?

Economic Observer reporter Liu Xu 24-year-old Kantaro is currently working in Osaka, Japan, a company focusing on mobile phone business services, his monthly salary is about 270,000 yen (equivalent to about 13,000 yuan, the yen to the yuan exchange rate of 1:0.048), which is a common income level for local college graduates.

In 2024, he found that the cost of trains and buses had become higher, and "each train stop had risen by about 10 yen." On February 21, he spent 1,600 yen on his commute.

"Maybe it's due to the depreciation of the yen. But from my point of view, it's just that the price has risen, and it's not good to save money. ”

On February 22, 2024, the Nikkei 225 Index opened higher throughout the day, rising 2.19% to 39,098.68 points as of the close, reaching a new all-time high. The last Nikkei high was on December 29, 1989, when the Nikkei closed at 38,915.87. After 36 years, the Nikkei index has finally "unbundled".

Over the past year, the Japanese economy has undergone various changes, with the CPI (average core consumer price index) gradually rising and gradually emerging from decades of deflation, the yen continuing to decline, and nominal GDP being overtaken by Germany falling out of the top three......

Economists and analysts have joined the discussion about these changes, but whether they are good or bad, and whether Japan will be able to emerge from the lost 30 years, is still inconclusive. But what is certain is that the Japanese economy is at a critical turning point.

Japanese people and foreigners working in Japan are slowly perceiving these changes in a personal way.

Japanese youth saving money

The 24-year-old is saving money to leave Japan for work in Spain.

After calculation, Kantaro thought that his monthly expenses of 50,000 yen would be enough, and his current monthly salary is about 270,000 yen. In Japan, this is a common income for university graduates. He chose to live at home, so that he could save tens of thousands of yen in rent.

But recently, rising prices have challenged his savings plans.

Yasutaro took the flyer from the supermarket and looked at the prices on it: a bag of tomatoes costs 450 yen, and a carrot costs 133 yen. The price was 20 yen more expensive than he expected. The two Labradors of the Kantaro family, one black and one white, are now quietly napping on their cushions. They have no idea about inflation, but their dog food has gone up by 30 yen.

Fast food restaurants have also seen price increases. Last year, the price of a regular hamburger was about 100 yen, but now it costs about 200 yen. Other snacks are 50 to 100 yen more expensive than before. Kantaro likes to eat ramen very much, and this year he found that udon noodles are also about 50 yen more expensive. A good bowl of curry rice is now 2,000 yen, and Kantaro heard from a friend that the price is twice as expensive. Last year, the 100 yen juice sold at the vending machines is gone, and now the price is around 120 to 150 yen.

Occasionally, Kantaro would go to a department store to read a book or buy a magazine. The last time he was reading a Shueisha manga magazine, he noticed that the magazine in his hand had also increased by 50 yen.

According to data recently released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, Japan's average core consumer price index (CPI) after excluding fresh food in 2023 rose by 3.1% year-on-year, a 41-year high. Some researchers believe that Japan has emerged from deflation that has lasted for 30 years.

Kantaro has an older sister and a younger sister, and he used to go out to eat as a family. But this year, he rarely goes out to eat with his family.

Although these price changes are only equivalent to one or two yuan in renminbi, these subtle price changes seem to be quietly affecting Kontaro's life in Japan, where prices are generally rising.

In the past year, Kantaro hasn't bought many new items in his home. His grandmother was unhappy because of the reduction in pensions, which also made the family atmosphere a little strained. In search of a moment of tranquility, Kantaro often drives an hour to Koyasan. There is a temple on the hill, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Kantaro enjoys walking along the trails hundreds of meters long in the mountain forest.

But he recently heard that hotel prices near the attraction have risen dramatically. "The number of tourists has increased a lot at sightseeing spots far from the city center," says Yautaro. ”

The center of Osaka has been attracting more and more tourists in recent years as a tourist attraction. On the train to work, Kantaro would always hear people talking in a foreign language. When he goes to the restaurant to eat, he also sees some new menus in English, Chinese and Korean.

After saving enough money, Kantaro wanted to go to Madrid and work as a tattoo designer. "In Japan, people are focused on work, which is difficult for me, and I would prefer to go to Spain and live the life I love. He said.

Most of the friends around Kotaro are engaged in sales, and there is a lot of pressure on their performance. A friend of mine recently quit his job and went to study in the Philippines.

Revenues have also risen

After nearly two hours of talking, Liu Bingyan had consumed most of the newly opened "Wrigley" cigarettes in his hand. He recalls that the pack of cigarettes cost 450 yen when he first came to Japan, but now it has risen to 500 yen.

On October 3, 2019, Liu Bingyan came to Japan to study and experienced the first "landing price increase". At that time, Japan was undergoing consumption tax reform. With effect from 1 October, the consumption tax will be raised from 8% to 10%. Prices are also gradually rising.

Liu Bingyan clearly remembers that in 2022, when he bought a bag (3) of tomatoes, the price without tax was 300 yen. Now he buys the same bag of tomatoes, and the price has risen to 457 yen, and if you add the consumption tax, the total price will be more than 500 yen.

Thankfully, incomes are starting to rise.

Like most of his classmates, Liu Bingyan chose to work odd jobs to earn tuition during the holidays. In the summer of 2022, Liu Bingyan went to a construction site in Tokyo. He is responsible for demolishing the interior decoration of the walls, floor tiles, floors, furniture, etc. in the house. After the demolition workers used a cutting machine to cut the cement on the ground, Liu Bingyan needed to carry the discarded cement and stone weighing forty or fifty catties one by one. This kind of work can be exchanged for 10,000 yen per day.

In 2023, the average daily wage for this job has risen to 12,000 yen, which is 2,000 yen more than a year ago.

Last year, Liu Bingyan accidentally fell at work and injured his waist. After being taken to the hospital, he told his boss that he had lost sensation in his lower body and felt pain whenever he moved. The owner offered two options. The first is to use the national health insurance purchased by Liu Bingyan himself, and the company will cover his surgery and hospital bed costs, and provide an additional 1 million yen as compensation. In this way, there will be no "stain" on the construction company; the second is to take the company's labor accident insurance, which is similar to the domestic work-related injury insurance, and all surgical and hospitalization expenses are borne by the government.

Liu Bingyan chose the first option, but the doctor saw the CT scan and decided that the injury was serious and needed to be solved by complex surgery. If he does not recover well, Liu Bingyan will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. After the boss saw the results, he persuaded him to take the government's labor disaster insurance.

The operation went well. At present, Liu Bingyan's recovery is not bad, although he needs to put a pillow behind his back every day when he sits on a chair, he has no problem walking. On February 29, he will also set off to Nagasaki to learn to drive and get a driver's license.

Liu Bingyan's winter vacation is not short, from mid-January to early April, which is enough for part-time jobs and exams.

After finishing his senior year at Nagoya University of Commerce this year, Liu Bingyan is about to submit his resume. He hopes to be able to find a job and stay in Japan after completing his degree. He often participates in the enterprise information meetings organized by the school, and many companies come to the school to promote and recruit talents. In Liu Bingyan's experience, there have been more and more enterprises preaching in recent years, and more than 10 companies have come to the latest preaching. There are many people attending each time, and the occupancy rate of a lecture can be about 90%.

Liu Bingyan said: "In the second year of work, I will earn more, at least I have hope." He majored in finance and economics, and after graduation, he plans to engage in foreign trade or sales.

According to Liu Bingyan, the first year of working in Nagoya after graduation will be difficult, but it will be much better after the first year. Most companies will pay bonuses at least once after one year of employment, which is about one to two months' monthly salary each time.

He has a friend who has been working for two years and has raised his salary by changing jobs. Liu Bingyan's friend used to work in sales at a subsidiary of Toyota, with a monthly salary of about 170,000 yen (about 8,124 yuan) before tax, and later went to a cosmetics store in Kanazawa to do sales, earning about 300,000 yen (about 14,337 yuan) before tax every month.

But over the course of a year, her friends were probably only able to save 200,000 yen. "In Japan, where everything is rising, the cost of living is really not low. Liu Bingyan said.

Liu Bingyan and his roommate live in a suburb one hour's drive from central Nagoya, and spend about 50,000 yen a month on rent and property fees. If you go to the city, the price doubles.

In the face of high prices, Japan has increased subsidies. For those with an annual income of 1.26 million yen or less, a subsidy of 30,000 yen is provided every year. In 2023, the subsidy amount will be increased to 100,000 yen. Liu Bingyan submitted the subsidy receipt form on January 20 this year. Two to three weeks later, he received his payment.

Chen Zilei, a professor of economics at the School of International Business and Economics at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and director of the Japan Economic Research Center, told the Economic Observer that the government's subsidy policy is a distributive measure to deal with inflation, which cannot solve Japan's inflation. The inflation formed in Japan is mainly imported inflation, which needs to be converted into demand-driven inflation through corporate wage increases, forming a good circular relationship between prices and wages.

Chen Zilei said that rising prices will put greater pressure on the household consumption of ordinary wage earners. How to achieve a virtuous cycle of prices and wages through wage increases, and how to stop the sharp depreciation of the yen against the dollar, are the key factors in whether the Japanese economy can achieve a real recovery.

Restart business

In Sakai City, Osaka, Japan, a café is about to be transformed into a tazakaya. On the other end of the phone, Huiyun told reporters that she plans to restart her business this year.

Keimo came to Japan in 1999 and has lived in Osaka for many years. In 2011, she started her own Chinese restaurant and opened her own club at the same time.

In 2020, Keimo opened the café, but found that the results were not good: the price of 500 yen to 1,000 yen for a cup of coffee was not too expensive. But at the end of the day, the store's revenue was only about 10,000 yen. Not long after, due to the epidemic prevention policy, the café in Keimo in Imachi was closed.

In September last year, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, the proportion of people over 65 years old in Japan reached 29.1% of the total population, once again setting a new historical record in Japan and ranking first in the world.

There are many elderly people in Sakai City, and there are fewer and fewer young people. When he used to open a Chinese restaurant, Imachi Keiyun often chose older women to recruit people. Based on her experience of living in Japan for many years, younger couples may both work outside the home, while older women tend to retire from the workplace and return to their families after marriage. In their spare time, they would go to some restaurants to do odd jobs to earn some money to support their families.

Instead of selling coffee at a loss, it is better to target the elderly market. "Older people don't like to drink coffee, they drink more. Keiyun said. If you turn it into an izakaya, you will have to pay a seat fee of 1,000 to 1,500 yen for a drink, which includes a glass of sake. Go sing karaoke. In this way, there will be 50,000 to 100,000 yen in revenue a day.

Last year, Megumi Imachi's Japanese husband died of cancer. According to her account, the Japanese had been working in Japan's fire department, 10 days a month, 24 hours a day, until his retirement around 2011.

Like most men in Japan, he would give his wife the full amount of his salary every month. From the bills he sees each month, he can feel the impact of the Japanese economy on specific people. Around 1989, his monthly salary was around 1.3 million to 1.4 million yen, and he was given an additional three months of bonuses in June and December every year. After the bubble economy passed, his monthly salary slowly fell, similar to the Nikkei chart, and stabilized at around 800,000 to 1 million yen after the turn of the millennium. The twice-a-year bonus has also been reduced from 3 months' monthly salary to 2 months' monthly salary until retirement. Compared to the change in the national pension for ordinary people, her husband, as a government worker, has not changed much in his pension, and at most it has decreased by a few tens of yen.

When it comes to the economy in the last year or two, Keiyun can clearly feel the price increase when he buys goods.

In terms of bulk procurement of ingredients, the amount of invoices that Imachi receives from suppliers is increasing every year. In her experience, the price of raw materials will rise by about 30% this year, which is not an unexpected figure for her. "If the material cost increases, the price of the things I sell will also increase in proportion. Keiyun said.

She said that this is a common operation of merchants. There are regulations on the increase in the price of goods, and the price difference between the price of a bottle of mineral water in the cupboards of retailers and hotels is generally not more than 50 yen.

Keiyun also felt the price increase of luxury goods. The LV bag she bought for 600,000 yen last year has now risen to 900,000 yen.