Japan's rice price shoots up 98% in April, driving CPI higher
A record surge in the price of rice drove Japan's consumer inflation higher in April. The country's staple crop nearly doubled in price compared to the same month a year earlier.
The internal affairs ministry says the 98.4 percent jump was the highest since the government started keeping comparable data in 1971. It was 6.3 points higher than in March, extending a record for the seventh-straight month.
Japan's consumers paid more for popular rice-based dishes. Onigiri rice balls were up 18.1 percent and restaurant sushi increased 5 percent.
Overall, Japan's consumer price index rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier. It was the fifth-straight month for the reading to be at or above 3 percent.
Egg prices rose 10 percent due to a series of bird-flu outbreaks throughout Japan. Beer was up 4.6 percent.
Households paid 13.5 percent more on their electricity bills and 4.7 percent for city gas. Those rises came after the government cut back on energy subsidies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
40 minutes ago
- Japan Times
More Moritomo Gakuen documents disclosed to widow of MOF official
The Finance Ministry disclosed Wednesday another set of documents related to the dubious sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen to the widow of MOF official Toshio Akagi, who killed himself after being ordered to tamper with official records on the sale. The newly disclosed 8,800-page documents, kept by the ministry's Kinki Local Finance Bureau, where Akagi was working, contain his handwritten notes as well as emails and other internal records associated with his job. They are the second set of Moritomo documents voluntarily submitted to prosecutors and disclosed to the widow, Masako Akagi, by the ministry after a bundle of some 2,200 pages made available to her in April. In response to an Osaka High Court ruling revoking the ministry's decision not to release the documents, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato in March promised their full disclosure. The papers that were handed to the widow in April unveiled the process of the land plot in question being sold to the Osaka-based private school operator at a substantial discount as the construction site for an elementary school. The ministry started tampering with the Moritomo documents after then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary meeting in 2017 that he would quit not only as prime minister but as a lawmaker if he or his wife, Akie, or both were found to have been involved in the land deal. Akie was named honorary principal of the planned elementary school. The ministry intends to gradually disclose all the documents, which total more than 170,000 pages. In a related development, the ministry disclosed in June 2021 the so-called "Akagi file," which was compiled by the deceased official to show how he was forced to tamper with the documents. However, the partially blackened-out file failed to reveal details of the ministry's misconduct.
NHK
2 hours ago
- NHK
US CPI picks up in May
The US Labor Department says the consumer price index in May rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier. The rate is up by 0.1 percentage point from April and the first rate rise in four months. The department said on Wednesday that the core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy, was up 2.8 percent year-on-year. The pace of the rise remained unchanged from the previous month. By item, housing rose 3.9 percent and food away from home increased 3.8 percent while gasoline plunged 12 percent and apparel edged down 0.9 percent. Inflation in the US has been on a declining trend. But following the new data, there is a sense of caution about the risk of higher inflation due to the tariff policy of the administration of President Donald Trump. The speculation is spreading that the Federal Reserve will not cut its key interest rate but keep it unchanged at the policy meeting next week. Trump called on the Fed to cut the rate in a social media post. He called the latest CPI data "great numbers." And he said: "Fed should lower one full point. Would pay much less interest on debt coming due. So important!!!"
Japan Today
3 hours ago
- Japan Today
Hakuho's lofty 'global sumo' ambitions bolstered by generous backers with deep pockets
In a June 9 press conference, former sumo stablemaster Miyagino, a retired yokozuna (grand champion) who formerly competed under the name Hakuho, announced his resignation from the Japan Sumo Association. The Mongolian-born Hakuho, now age 40, holds sumo's all-time record of 45 tournament victories, but was nudged out of sumo when the stable he managed, Miyagino, was disbanded over his failure to discipline Mongolia-born Hokuseiho, a senior wrestler who had allegedly physically abused junior grapplers. But as Shukan Post (June 20) reports, Hakuho's seemingly ignominious departure from sumo may have a silver lining, as he informed the media that he still hopes "to share sumo's appeal with many people around the world, not just in Japan." An unnamed stablemaster remarked that Hakuho no doubt expects to continue organizing the annual "Hakuho Cup," a junior sumo tournament held every February at the Kokugikan sumo arena in Ryogoku since 2010. And thanks to cash contributions from wealthy supporters, Hakuho is said to be in good shape financially. "His retirement ceremony in January 2023 made news because of the extremely high ticket price of 5 million yen," confided a supporter, who noted that several major corporations such as Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Tokyo-based amusement machine giant Sankyo Co Ltd were among the sponsors. "He's also known to have a close relationship with Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda," the stablemaster noted. Nagoya hosts a grand sumo tournament each July. As opposed to traditionally spartan lodgings for wrestlers at Buddhist temples, since 2019, the grapplers of Hakuho's stable had been cozily accommodated at the Toyota Sports Center in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, an air-conditioned sports facility that also houses an athletics track, gymnasium and swimming pool. Toyota also sponsored Hakuho's dampatsushiki (hair-cutting retirement ceremony), where Chairman Toyoda was accorded the honor of being the penultimate person to snip off Hakuho's topknot, just before his stablemaster. "Toyoda's substantial gift of 5 million yen set tongues wagging," a Hakuho supporter was quoted as saying. Rather than sponsorship via the Sumo Association, Toyota appears to be backing Hakuho on a personal basis. "Hakuho is also involved with the Sports Academy, an industry-government-academia collaboration project established by Toyota, Chukyo University and Toyota City," the supporter noted. Asked if he would continue to support Hakuho, Toyoda was quoted as saying, "I have a good relationship with him as a friend. When we met from time to time, our conversation was always about the development of Japanese sumo, connecting the world through sumo, and what we can do for the next generation. "Hakuho's love of sumo and his sincere dedication to the development and passing on of sumo culture has resonated with many people, leading to the founding of the Tokai Miyagino Stable Supporters Association two years ago," Toyoda continued. "I am also a friend and serve as honorary chairman of the supporters' association. I'd like to consult with him about any assistance I can provide for his future activities." By harnessing his relationships with global companies, Hakuho aims to "expand sumo globally," Toyoda added. "Hakuho says he plans to create a new organization and first get involved in sumo events, and then set up a global organization for amateur sumo," an unnamed sumo journalist tells Shukan Post. "Just as judo was internationalized in the past, he wants to develop sumo into a global sport, creating a 'Second Sumo Association,' with himself as its head, that would organize a Sumo World Cup." The groundwork for that is already in place in the form of the aforementioned "Hakuho Cup," which this year marked its 15th anniversary. "The Japan Sumo Association did not participate in the sponsorship, but Hakuho himself solicited sponsors, and was supported by special sponsors including Sankyo and Toyota," the journalist explained. "Despite Hakuho's stable having been shuttered last year, entrants into this year's Hakuho Cup attracted an impressive 203 organizations and 1,144 wrestlers from 15 countries and regions, including amateurs from 40 of Japan's 47 prefectures, as well as from Mongolia, Hawaii, South Korea, Brazil, Poland and Ukraine." The sumo journalist remarked that Hakuho possesses exceptional skills at recruiting sponsors and organizing events. It's entirely possible that a fight for the international sumo market will unfold in the future, but from Hakuho's perspective, such a fight would further expose the "closed nature" of the association that forced him out. "Some members of the association look down on the former yokozuna, saying, 'Once he's gone, without the association's affiliation, he's a nobody.' But is it really going to be that simple?" the journalist asked. "Hakuho is trying to use his situation to his advantage, to recruit and develop talented foreign wrestlers and internationalize sumo," he added, predicting "The day may come in the future when a Japanese team is defeated by Mongolia, led by Hakuho, in a Sumo World Cup." © Japan Today
