Commentary: Everything costs more, so why is Japan making beer cheaper?

REASON FOR CHEER

The authorities decided it was done in 2017. It decided to combine the income bands of real beer, happoshu, and third beer into one after beer income had decreased by 30 % from a 1994 top. This three-stage process will be finished in 2026.

Happoshu and next beers range in quality from ordinary to awful, which is reason to celebrate. They could have happened to you while playing karaoke( the painful head is a giveaway), or you might have only been terrible enough to pick one up off the convenience store shelf.

I switched to Clear Asahi, a” next form” alternate made with fermented barley, when money was tight. You eventually convince yourself that you hardly notice the difference.

I was fortunate enough to be able to return to authentic beer after receiving a boost at my previous job. Perhaps that Clear Asahi you will now cost roughly 10 renminbi more this month. A brewers’ organization polled nearly 25 % of respondents last year, and they predict they’ll consume more real ale once the changes take effect.

Do most users, however, have the luxury of making more purchases? Even though the taxes on real ale will drop from 77 hankering before 2020 to almost 55 by 2026, it is still half as much as the 28 Yen levied on a can of third beer prior to the changes, which is worrying the central bank.

Over the past three years, alcohol consumption is far from the only segment of society that has succumbed to cutting corners and making the wrong investments. However, Japan has reached a turning point. Despite the backlash against former Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s remarks last year, businesses have suddenly begun to accept the idea of passing on expenses, and consumers appear to be adjusting to higher prices.

Give rates increased significantly earlier this year, and in October the minimum wage was raised to an average of 1, 000 renminbi, the largest increase since data started. In addition, & nbsp,

However, it’s not entirely clear if this is a long-lasting shift or merely an adjustment. The need for additional wage increases next spring may be lessened by the fact that inflation is already declining. Yet cash-rich businesses will be forced to wait by the impending possibility of a US recession.

Pay may be less important than retirement for the time being due to the rise of the” serious curious” children who consume less alcohol than previous years.

The brewers argue that the current price is 14 times higher in Germany than it is in the US, which is why they are calling for additional cuts to the beer tax. In a country where the topic of discussion right now is how to finance optimistic defense and child-rearing programs, that seems unlikely to carry much weight.

Japan needs to invest its resources in the correct places and get rid of the kinds of negative subsidies that contributed to happiness. It would be something to raise a glass to if these changes could help jolt the government out of its multi-decade economizing mood.