Japan’s cherry blossom picnics feel the pinch of global inflation

TOKYO: 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% 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.

The findings ‌showed ⁠the cost of “hanami” was up 4.2% in February from year-before levels, and rose 25.0% from the base year of 2020.

Japanese sweet buns recorded the biggest price rise, up 46.1% from 2020 levels, followed by carbonated drinks at ​45.7% and rice balls ​at 45.0%, ⁠the index showed.

“A weak yen and rising global commodity prices are causing cost-push inflation in Japan,” Kumano said. “Hanami is ​clearly facing the negative effect of the global inflationary ​trend.”

After being ⁠mired in decades of deflation, Japan has seen inflation creep up since the Ukraine war as a falling yen and rising commodity prices boosted the ⁠cost ​of raw material imports.

Core consumer inflation stayed above ​the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for nearly four years before slowing to 1.6% in February ​due largely to generous government fuel subsidies.