Japan's stock market has surged and luxury cars are selling fast in Tokyo after eight years of economic stimulus under Abenomics, but that new wealth is concentrated in a small slice of society rather than broadly distributed, data shows.
Addressing that divide has become a high priority for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who promised to tackle income disparity made worse by the pandemic. But he has offered few clues as to how he will do so.
"It's like everyone has become poor," said Masanori Aoki, 62, who owns a small coffee shop in a working class district of northeast Tokyo.