TOKYO — In the United States, everyone is talking about inflation. While in the United States average prices have jumped by 5.4 percent in the past year, the Japanese economy has faced deflationary pressure, with prices dipping by 0.1 percent in May from the previous year. To some extent, the situation in Japan can be explained by its continued struggles with the coronavirus, which have kept shoppers at home. Before the pandemic, prices outside the volatile energy and food sectors had barely budged for years, as Japan never came close to meeting its longtime goal of 2 percent inflation. Over nearly a decade, Japanese policymakers have wielded nearly every trick in the economist’s playbook in an effort to coax prices higher.

Source: International New York Times July 15, 2021 10:07 UTC