Japan's mind-bending bento-box economics

Japan’s mind-bending bento-box economics The paradox of red-hot labour markets, falling demand and rising prices For much of the past three decades Japan’s economy has been defined by deflation, stagnation and fading global relevance. That is no longer the case. Between 1991 and 2021 Japan’s annual inflation rate averaged 0.35%. Inflation has been above 2% every month since April 2022. In March the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised rates for the first time in 17 years, doing away with the …