2000 should be remembered as the first year in which it was statistically confirmed that microeconomic activities can significantly affect macroeconomic performance, according to Naoki Tanaka, president of the 21st Century Public Policy Initiative.
Tokyo's consumer price index for 2000, released in late December, fell 1 percent from the previous year, highlighting a substantial decline in the "clothing and footwear" and "food" categories.
These falls have been attributed to the aggressive pricing strategies of hamburger chain MacDonald's and Uniqlo, the highly popular discount clothing chain, Tanaka said at the symposium in Tokyo.