Food consumption in Japan is often referred to as "matured." This study is an attempt to give as exact an idea as possible to the recent state of the Japanese food consumption structure by examining the relationship between trends and income elasticities of about 130 individual food items during the period 1969-1993, based on The Family Income and Expenditure Survey. The basic working hypothesis is that maturing means:
1) The disappearance of or weaker trends in per capita consumption of individual food items,
2) Weaker influence of income or budget restriction on food consumption.
The results of the present study confirm these hypotheses. Firstly, the number of food items with increasing trends in per capita consumption declined from about 40% in the first sub-period to less than 25% in the last sub-period. Secondly, the number of income elasticities of demand for food items which are statistically insignificant has increased from 35% in the first sub-period to 68% in the last sub-period. Thirdly, the remaining trends in per capita consumption of food items can hardly be accounted for by income elasticities and the trend in income.
Another factor discussed in this paper is the income elasticities of the demand for food quality which is measured by the difference in unit value among different income classes. It is shown that income does not cause much difference in the quality of foods. This also supports the hypothesis that food consumption in Japan is in maturity since it is free from budget restriction.
View full abstract