Japan’s famed 100-yen shops fall victim to cost-of-living squeeze

A 100-yen store in Tokyo, Japan. The popular discount outlets are having to raise prices due to soaring raw material costs and a weaker yen. Photograph: Marek Slusarczyk/Alamy

There can’t be a household in Japan that doesn’t own a few items from a 100-yen shop – anything from chopsticks and teacups to air freshener and bin bags.

But the wildly popular discount stores – whose roots lie in the country’s long battle with deflation – are having to compromise on their USP, as soaring raw material costs, the war in Ukraine and a weak yen force companies to raise prices.