Japan prepares to go to the polls
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Japan goes to the polls this weekend. Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. I'm Guy Kilty. Good morning. Japanese voters will give their verdict on the government of Sanae Takeichi this weekend. Japan's first female prime minister called a snap election just months into her term. With the rise in the cost of living front of mind for many voters, Phoebe Amoroso looks at how the economy is shaping this campaign and what people want from their next government.
Here in Tokyo, the streets are bustling with weekend shoppers. But people are streaming past both sales advertisements and political campaigners. Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi has called a snap election just three months into her term, asking the public for a clear mandate on her leadership. For many here, the economy is a key issue. as the cost of living continues to rise.
What are the key issues influencing Japan's upcoming election?
I asked people for their thoughts. People are suffering greatly from the rise in prices. Low-income earners are suffering even more from the rising prices and I'm not sure how the government will respond. They say they're providing a lot of subsidies, but it's still not trickling down to the lower classes. Prices are definitely rising, but it also feels like people are just generally more depressed. Things don't feel very hopeful lately.
With the upcoming election, is there anything you'd like the next government to do?
I want the government to do something to do with the economy, like getting rid of the consumption tax or doing something that actually reaches ordinary people.
I really want them to put proper policies in place.
Hiroyuki Okano has been working in the restaurant industry for more than 30 years.
How is the rising cost of living affecting Japanese voters?
His latest restaurant in West Tokyo is just over one year old. He runs the place by himself, serving up a mix of French and Japanese-style dishes, including claypot rice. But the cost of rice has risen sharply since late 2024. It's not just rice that's going up.
Everything is. Rice prices have certainly gone up. But meat, vegetables and fish prices have all gone up by one and a half to nearly two times. So the impact is that if we don't raise prices, we won't make a profit. But if we do, customers won't come. So we can't raise them.
As a new restaurant you want to build relationships with your customers but the cost of ingredients is also rising. How do you balance that?
Right now we don't have many customers, but we want to attract good customers, so we're offering very low prices. My food cost percentage is about 60%. Normally you're supposed to keep it at around 30%, but right now it's costing me double that. Still, I keep going like that to earn customers' trust. But it means I'm basically not making any profit at all. It's been exactly a year now, but I haven't been in the black even once. I've been in the red the whole time. And even so, I still have to pay consumption tax. Honestly, the tax system is just the worst.
Down south in Okinawa, Japan's poorest prefecture, businesses are also feeling the pinch. I don't think economic climate will get any better in the future. That's the voice of Miyako Nimi. She runs a small coffee shop in Naha, Okinawa's capital.
Especially now with the week in yen, we've become so dependent on tourists. So I'm really worried about what will happen when the number of tourists decreases and we're left with only Japanese people. Every day I'm thinking, what will tomorrow be like? Will there be a lot of tourists? Will there be a few? I worry every day.
That was Miyako Nimi, a coffee shop owner in Okinawa, Japan, ending that report by Phoebe Amoroso. Let's do the numbers. Shares in the European carmaker Stellantis, which owns brands like Chrysler and Fiat, are down 20% on Friday after it said it would take a $25 billion write-down on its electric car business. And Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year. A single Bitcoin is now worth around $65,000. Just three months ago, it was worth more than double that amount. The Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, says his government is trying to solve an energy crisis exacerbated by the US blocking oil shipments to the country.
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