Drastic Changes Around 100-yen Shops

However, the situation is significantly changing these days. Yiwu is no longer a place where only produce cheap daily commodities because of the increase of wages. Moreover, European buyers having strong buying power are prevailing. (NHK,n.d.)On the contrary, Japanese buyers  still stick on 100-yen, producers in Yiwu are not keen of cooperation with them.

What makes complicated this pivotal moment is that Japanese consumers still strongly seek 100-yen items. According to Japan News, in 2023, 100-yen store operators’ sales was 653 billion yen. This number grew 1.6 times in 10 years. (The Japan News[TJN], 2024)

Continuous inflation and slow wage growth in Japan is the reason of 100-yen shop flourish. (NHK.n.d.) More and more consumers are becoming budget-conscious, but companies can’t raise wages. Such situations have been continued in Japan for nearly 20years. 

Companies are struggling to secure low prices, and so do workers. Workers are hired at low wages, then they cannot improve their daily life, ironically what they produce enrich our lives. In fact, the factory in Yiwu producing low price items hired workers from poor inland areas. (NHK,n.d.)When it comes to consumers, they only seek “low” price and forget the real value of the product like I did. This is a structure of vicious consuming circle. 

Isn’t it possible to look the “TRUE” value of the product and pay decent prices? Of course, 100-yen shops play a significant role in enriching our daily lives. However, it is time to realize that we should pay for what really contributes to us.  (350)