Pay Japanese salaries, get Japanese prices [0]. That $4 kombini bento feels like a $13 burrito or Cava bowl when on a Japanese salary.

Japan only appears cheap if you earn in USD, GBP, and Euros. For most Japanese households, costs have risen higher than salaries [1][2] and they are now facing inflation due to tourist spending [7][8][9].

It also doesn't help that the median household income in Japan is around $25,000 [3] compared to $83,000 [4] in the US. Even Koreans (who used to be Japan's "Mexicans") now earn more in Korea than in Japan, which is a massive psychological shock in JP.

This is why you've starting seeing the rise of populist far right parties like 参政党 in Japan campaigning on an anti-tourist and anti-foreigner plank - it's overwhelmingly young Japanese (18-34) who are facing the brunt of tourism-induced inflation and a bad job market, and have as such shifted right [5][6]. And mainstream Japanese parties like the LDP have had to shift further right as a result.

[0] - https://www.nippon.com/ja/japan-topics/c14023/

[1] - https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/apac/en/insights/markets-an...

[2] - https://www.iima.or.jp/docs/newsletter/2025/nl2025.48.pdf

[3] - https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/mro/2029703?display=1

[4] - https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-28...

[5] - https://asia.nikkei.com/opinion/sanseito-brings-far-right-po...

[6] - https://asia.nikkei.com/politics/japan-election/nostalgia-an...

[7] - https://asia.nikkei.com/business/travel-leisure/japan-s-tour...

[8] - https://therobinreport.com/japans-backlash-on-luxury-tourism...

[9] - https://www.princetonpoliticalreview.org/international-news/...