Food prices have shot up an insane amount. I was getting milk for 130 yen a carton 3 years ago and now it's 230 and up. Wheat is virtually all imported and prices for that are incredibly high. Even when food is produced locally (only about 38% self-sufficiency rate--most are exports[1]), it depends on foreign materials. e.g. Animals are fed imported grains, plants use imported fertilizers, manufacturing depends on imported materials.

The biggest complaint from Japanese Japanese (not expats paid in USD) is that food prices have blown up tremendously. It's literally daily headline news. But yeah yeah, the underclass is only complaining about their Apple hardware prices.

[1] https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/yomiuri-editorial/...

One of a big reason why Japanese aren't be hurt so much (compared to Europe?) by inflation is because govt support for raised gas and electricity price. Some foods are made in local, but gas for production and transportation is 100% imported.

This seems pretty spot on. I would bet that the median Japanese citizen cares infinitely more about local food prices than the cost of a chanel bag.

> As we are salty about the price of Apple products. But how often do you buy this stuff?

Even if you splurge on a foreign luxury product once a year, it can seem like a downgrade in standard of living. Perhaps especially so if your special occasion is impacted and meanwhile you’re not seeing any higher affordability of domestic goods.

I mean, my whole family got a kick out of spending much less than expected for a week while we were in Japan, even though the other 51 weeks this year we will be dealing with US inflation. Psychology around inflation is weird.