After three decades of falling prices, Japanese consumers are facing a new phenomenon known in other parts of the world as shrinkflation. To cope, they’re turning to grassroots websites that track how items like laundry detergent and instant noodles are getting smaller and more expensive.
Neage.jp, which translates as “price increase” in Japanese, gets about 2,000 visits each day from people seeking pricing and product data, according to Masayuki Iwasa, who created the website after he noticed his favorite chocolate bars getting shorter.
Shoppers in the island nation are facing higher living costs for the first time since the burst of an asset bubble in the early 90s ushered in decades of deflation. Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.1% in July from the previous year. Major food and beverage companies in Japan were set to increase prices for over 1,010 items in August, 50% more than a year ago, according to a report by Teikoku Databank.