Japan Inflation is Low, But Your Bento Costs 11% More

Your bento box is 11.4% more expensive, but the government says inflation is totally fine.

So what's going on?

The official number dropped for May. Inflation is at 1.4%.

That's the big headline you'll see. The Bank of Japan is probably happy, since it's under their 2% target for the fourth month in a row.

It kind of makes you feel like you're going crazy, though. You check your bank account, you see the prices at the supermarket, and then you see a number like 1.4%. The math isn't mathing.

Why it feels like you're broke

Okay, so let's ignore that main number for a second. The government doesn't include fresh food in its main index, which is one thing.

But look at the stuff you actually buy. Food in general, not the fresh stuff, is up 3.5% from last year.

And then it gets wild. Coffee beans are up 37.9%. Chocolate is up 25.8%. Your sad desk lunch, the humble bento, is up 11.4%. I'm not making these numbers up, they're from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It’s the small daily things that are adding up. That ¥10 or ¥20 increase on everything you pick up. It's real.

The government's magic trick

So how is the official rate so low? Subsidies.

The government is basically paying part of your gas bill to keep prices from looking too high. There's also a program that cut education costs, which also dragged the average down.

These things are good, I guess. But they create this weird split reality. The official data looks stable, while the cost of just… existing… and eating chocolate feels like it's spiraling.

Producers are blaming rising packaging costs because of the situation in the Middle East. They're just passing that cost straight to us.

So yeah. Inflation is 1.4%. But the feeling of your wallet getting thinner is 100% real.