{"id":406313,"date":"2026-03-27T06:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406313\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:50:17","slug":"japans-cherry-blossom-parties-could-wilt-as-inflation-strains-wallets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/406313\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s cherry blossom parties could wilt as inflation strains wallets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan<\/a>\u2019s cherry trees are in full bloom, heralding the arrival of spring and the beginning of hanami picnics filled with food, festivities and fun.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But stubborn inflation, the economic fallout from the war in Iran and looming unsettled weather have muted excitement for this year\u2019s gatherings \u2013 a time-honoured tradition that is also popular with tourists.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A survey by Intage found that 38 per cent of Japanese were planning to attend a cherry blossom viewing event with family, friends or colleagues, down 2.1 percentage points from last year.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Asked how much they would spend on the outings, the 2,500 respondents set their budget at an average of 6,383 yen (US$40), down from an average of 7,407 yen last spring.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt is thought that this reflects a restrained trend in leisure activities as overall consumer spending becomes more moderate,\u201d the Tokyo-based research agency said earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to the firm, nationwide cherry blossom party spending stood at 234.1 billion yen \u2013 a \u201csignificant contraction\u201d that represented just 81.5 per cent of last year\u2019s total.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s cherry trees are in full bloom, heralding the arrival of spring and the beginning of hanami picnics&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,183739,183740,179,18,183741,19,185,183742,18929,17,183743,386,183744,183745,8820,168834,8639,551,121820],"class_list":{"0":"post-406313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cherry-blossom","10":"tag-cherry-trees","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-hanami","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-inflation","16":"tag-intage","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-issei-izawa","20":"tag-japan","21":"tag-japan-meteorological-agency","22":"tag-kiyoko-date","23":"tag-middle-east","24":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","25":"tag-tokyo","26":"tag-ukraine","27":"tag-yokohama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116299813674788886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}