Report Confirms Japan’s High Prices: Japan’s government...

Report Confirms Japan’s High Prices: Japan’s government confirmed what many business people already know: Doing business there is more expensive than in other nations. In a report, the trade ministry said prices of industrial services such as transportation, telecommunications and office rentals, for example, were 63% higher in Japan on average than in the United States and 72% higher than in Germany. The report says the price of raw materials for manufacturing in Japan was 41% more expensive than in South Korea, 14% higher than in the United States and 3% higher than in Germany. Office rent in Japan was 1.36 times higher than in the United States; 18.80 times higher than in South Korea, 4.67 times higher than in Germany, 6.36 times higher than in Singapore, 1.97 times more than in China and 1.3 times higher than in Hong Kong.