“When I was your age, a loaf of bread cost a nickel!”
I wonder common this kind of statement is around the world. At the time I thought it was just a sign that “Things change”.
Later someone must have put it in my head that a certain level of inflation is a sign of economic growth, and while it seems reasonable that that CAN be true, it certainly doesn’t seem to be the case now.
Cerrain people are doing very well. Those with hard assets. Those with government contracts. Those with cushy positions at big companies.
For the rest of us…well, it’s hard to imagine how everyone is doing really, but you get the sense that things are tough, even in a culture where most people have their basic needs met.
Businesses are closing. Your friend tells you in confident that he’s a month behind on paying back his credit card debt. Everyone seems to get busier by the season.
Today I saw a department store in Shinjuku station will close after 40 years. The place is always busy and looks brand new despite being that old. I guess the government offered them subsidies to rebuild in order to stimulate the economy, which moght explain why my taxes are 20% higher this year from last. Glad I could contribute to a department store in need 🙄
I’m joking except I am kind of not…
Something rarely talked about in and of Japan is how it’s hardly a competitive society at all. People compete for their high school and college entrance exams. That’s it.
They say they compete for jobs but because companies tend to prefer indescript workers who don’t have much ambition and take orders, it’s really just a random luck of the draw. People apply for as many jobs as they have to and take the first or second one they get accepted into.
Almost no one thinks about starting their own business now. If they do, it’s only after corproate life has tired them out and they have some savings.
Then if their shop survives or not it’s almost entirely based on the habits (left over from the bubble era) of people feeling guilty about not ordering enough, that sitting somewhere and not buying a few drinks and a few dishes is considered rude.
People have overindulged for so long that business owners almost feel entitled to it. A student of mine who owns a restaruant was complaining to me about how two women sat and only ordered two drinks and two side dishes and sat for a whole hour on a busy Friday.
“What the hell is wrong with that!?” I thought. Why does every customer need to drink and eat like a horse? But that is how restaurants have survived in Japan, and other businesses as well.
It’s interesting how people get used to certain standards and have a hard tome breaking their habits even when it becomes unsustainable. And so restaruants and shopping in Tokyo seem to be doing alright even though more people are depleting their bank accounts and living paycheck to paycheck, or doing side hustles to keep their standard of living.
I don’t believe everything needs to be about competition but having a certain level of competition gives people room create improvements in how things are done, and making it hard for them to compete means those with power keep that power.
I have always been good at budgeting without it reducing my quality of living. I know what’s important to me and what’s not so I have fewer clothes and electronics and take fewer day trips and drink less than most people. That way I can work less and have more free time to work on my music and writing.
Still, I might have to start selling some crypto regularly to maintain this level of freedom. Luckily I planned to take profits now, although I hoped to be able to reinvest them for early retirement, and instead I will need them to survive that long.
I guess there’s no need for retirement if you are doing what you want to do though, so I don’t feel so terrible about it.
Also things could turn at any moment. Economic instability also means there are opportunities to get in on when things turn around.
I guess rather than trying to hold on to 80% of my bags for another cycle, I may only be able to hold on to 40% of them, but instead I will position myself to do much bigger and better things when the rconomy starts turning around.
It’s hard to imagine when that will be, how much longer will hot air be able to keep things up. Will things crash much harder before rhey get better? In any case, I think I will be fine, but if there is one take away from all this, it’s that you should keep building for the future but always prioritize the present moment because there is so much about the future that we can’t predict.
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