As you might be aware, the entire nation of Japan raised their sales tax on April 1st, the first increase in 17 years. It was a modest increase, from 5% to 8%, and supposedly there is another increase planned for next year that will complete the jump to 10%.
The sales tax increase has been a great chance for everyone to raise their prices and blame the government, and one place that this change unexpectedly affected me was at the coffee machine at work. Every couple of days I buy a can of coffee to enjoy on my break. Usually the can is 100 yen, which is 20 yen cheaper than in the stores. I was surprised to see that this changed to 110 yen from the other day, and so I need to dig a little deeper to find two different coins to pay for my coffee.
I’m not sure how a 3% increase in sales tax causes a 10% increase in price for canned coffee. It sounds like a bit of a scam to me.
This week seems to be moving pretty quickly. I don’t have any big plans this weekend, but I’ll probably spend time cleaning the house, exercising, and catching up on TV shows. The usual stuff, really. Hopefully Kuniko will be feeling better and we can grill some steaks or something…
