
The bare necessities - terpua
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11693372&fsrc=RSS
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mnemonicsloth
Anybody know what the deal is with Japan?

I've heard that basic necessities are expensive there, but I'm having trouble
getting my brain around the idea that Japan is the only developed nation in
the world that doesn't fall into the >25% category.

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antiform
I had the exact same question when I went to Japan.

Apparently, the way the Japanese government works, the rural districts are
overly represented in the Diet, with each rural district having the same clout
as an urban district, like the U.S. Senate. In other words, for political
parties, it is much more favorable to court the rural vote than the urban one.
Thus, almost all political parties want the support of the farmers and so
promise lots of subsidies and protection from foreign competition. The
farmer's associations perpetuate this cycle, because they drop support for
political parties if they are not getting their demands.

This results in some ridiculous prices for food staples. When I was in Japan
three years ago, I remember that the cheapest 5kg bag of rice was about $20.
The only plant that I could afford to eat regularly was cabbage, because
fruits like peaches and plums were about $10 each and were usually given as
gifts instead of regularly eaten as snacks or dessert.

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hugh
Countries which are surprisingly green: Venezuela (some kind of crazy
government subsidy scheme, perhaps?) and Thailand.

Countries which are surprisingly yellow: Japan, as mentioned earlier.

Countries which are surprisingly orange: Argentina. I don't know much about
it, but I was under the impression it was relatively prosperous by South
American standards, and had lots of agriculture.

No big surprises in the red ones, for me.

------
ars
Does fuel include transportation? I assume it includes utilities, and repair
of heating devices.

Because with those assumptions I'm spending more like 60% of my income on
those things, in the US. Perhaps I'm not buying enough of the other stuff.

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bgutierrez
It's really nice to know that I could tighten my belt so much more.

