Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2019 Stories: TAX HIKE

What were the words and topics that Japanese couldn’t get enough of in 2019? What were the buzzwords on everyone’s lips? 

For this five-part series, we picked a selection from the popular “Trending Topic of the Year” award, given by U-Can Inc., and now give you JAPAN Forward’s articles that tackled those popular topics.  

Follow our countdown, with one topic per day, to what has been the most discussed online among the Japanese this year! 

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5. Tax Hike

It’s no wonder that many were preoccupied with the tax hike. It affected the prices of food, consumer goods, and, in general, shopping cravings! Jokes aside, the decision was not taken lightly, and was, in fact, debated hotly both in Parliament and among experts, as well as by ordinary people. 

At JAPAN Forward, we covered the topic in different ways, including giving voice to some of the commentators who argued for the tax hike to be delayed: 

• No Excuses, Prime Minister Abe Should Order Freeze on Consumption Tax

There were fears that the consumption tax increase would hurt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the summer election, but the electorate proved that the Prime Minister’s support for the tax hike did not affect their support for his leadership. 

• Shinzo Abe’s Party, Allies Dominate Upper House Elections in Japan

Despite the to and fro of the politicians, on October 1, after much debate, Japan introduced an increase in the consumption tax from 8% to 10% on selected products. 

Read below to learn what products were affected and how. For example, did you know that take-away and eat-in have different costs now?

• Japan’s Consumption Tax By October 1: Which Products, Services Get 8% and 10%?

Author: JAPAN Forward