夢の国「イラン」についていろいろ教えて

It is true that Japan is one of the most expensive country in the world to live in.

The biggest reason for the high prices in Japan lies in the great and rapid revaluation
of Yen against US$ and other currencies. Be patient with my lecture for a moment.

One US dollar was equal to 360 Yen for a long time till 1971 under a settlement of IMF. At that
time, nobody claimed that Japanese price level was high. Now one dollar is about 110 yen as
you may know. This means Japanese price level went up three times higher for foreign currency
holders.

Of course in a world of globalization, now we can imnport foreign goods much cheaper
than before from abroad and this helps giving downward pressure to domestic products. This
explains partly the present situation of deflation in Japan. But door is not fully open against
foreign products. Many cheap agricultural products produced abroad are not allowed
to sell in Japan and even if they are allowed, very high import taxes are added. This is a
main reason why food here are so expensive.

The other reason for the high price comes from high wages here. In service products such
as hair dresser and taxi most of the cost is wages. More or less high wages in Japan explains high price level.

Another reason I want to add is that there are still so many government restrictions and
rules that hinder free competition. If there were no such rules, new entrants with cheaper prices
would lower the prices of many products.

Well, that is not full explanations about Japanese high price and others may have different
views, but I hope I could give you some ideas why it is so.