I wrote an article for the Japan Times this week about the recent consumption tax hike.
I was very interested by the reactions of my students to the tax increase, and I heard some funny stories. One of my students told me that she felt everyone was saving money by buying things before the tax increase, and she didn’t want to lose out. She didn’t need to buy anything expensive, and the only thing she could think of to buy was toilet paper. So on the last day before the tax was increased, she made three trips to the shops to buy multi-packs of toilet paper. There were very long queues and the trips took an hour and a half in total. She saved only 48 Yen altogether, and now has to store all the toilet paper in her little apartment.
I got a shock when I bought a coffee and German dog in Doutor. I have been going there on Friday mornings for years. When I found out that it was 8 Yen more expensive, my heart started beating more quickly. Perhaps the thought of losing 8 Yen every Friday morning caused a minor panic, or maybe too many hot dogs have given me a weak heart.
You can read the full article here:
ジャパンタイムズ記事リンク
Vocabulary:
a hike – a sudden increase in price, cost,
tax, etc.
to lose out – to be disadvantaged; to miss
an opportunity when others can get it
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