Inflation in Japan is running at 4%, but Taemi Komiyama finds the cost of feeding her family is escalating much faster than that.
The 35-year-old housewife is paying ¥50,000 ($336) a month for food, up 25% from her budget last year. The prices of staples such as rice, eggs and cabbage have all surged in the past 12 months. She and her husband have stopped eating out to save money and she is considering rejoining the workforce to deal with higher costs. In the meantime, she’s cutting back on fresh produce.
"Fresh vegetables are expensive, so I try to buy frozen ones,” said Komiyama, as she shopped at discount supermarket OK in the Asakusa neighborhood of Tokyo.
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