Japan's cherry blossom picnics feel the pinch of global inflation
CNA
TOKYO, March 24 : Global inflation is taking a bite out of Japan's iconic "hanami" cherry blossom picnics, with an index tracking food and drink costs up 25 per cent since 2020, private think tank Dai-ichi Life Research Institute said on Tuesday.Around late March to early April of each year, the Japanese fill
TOKYO, March 24 : Global inflation is taking a bite out of Japan's iconic "hanami" cherry blossom picnics, with an index tracking food and drink costs up 25 per cent since 2020, private think tank Dai-ichi Life Research Institute said on Tuesday.
Around late March to early April of each year, the Japanese fill parks and riverbanks with blue tarps, lunch boxes, snacks and drinks to picnic under blooming cherry trees with family and friends in a custom called "hanami."
The event, a must-do for many Japanese, is not immune to the hit from rising raw material costs that has prodded companies to charge more for a wide range of food and beverages.
To gauge the degree of pain, Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research, updated an index he created in 2020, using the latest data to track the weighted average price of 14 popular "hanami" items including rice balls, bento boxes, fried chicken, potato chips and beer.
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