Restaurants, food producers and retailers are among a small but growing number of companies doing what few managed for long during Japan's lost decades: raising prices.
From beef bowl chain Matsuya Foods Co. to supermarket and convenience store operator Seven & I Holdings Co., enterprising businesses are increasingly betting that consumers will pay more for premium products, shifting from discount-driven strategies that Fast Retailing Co. used to build its Uniqlo brand into a force during the long years of deflation.
"We are no longer at the stage where lower prices mean higher sales," Seven & I President Noritoshi Murata said in April, when the company posted its fourth straight year of record operating profit. "The key is how many new products of greater value we can bring to the market."