2.6 JAPAN

In Japan, even though the pandemic continued in 2022, the government no longer asked people to refrain from going out, so people are on the move again, driving the recovery of personal consumption. Economic recovery is expected to continue in 2023, with economic activities continuing to resume as the pandemic situation improves. Moreover, it is thought that the delayed recovery of capital investments will progress too. However, there is a possibility that global inflation will exert a negative impact on the Japanese economy. In Japan, even though employment and wages are recovering, real income is expected to remain negative until around the first half of 2023 due to inflation, which is likely to weigh on personal consumption.