About 90% of those surveyed said that, due to rising food prices, they don't have enough money to buy food for their family, while 60% of respondents said they had reduced or stopped buying staple food items because of high food costs.
TOKYO, 18 August 2025 - More than 90% of low-income families polled in Japan said they struggle to buy food for their children due to rising food costs, according to a Save the Children survey.
The survey, which polled about 7,850 households earning less than the average monthly wage* in Japan and included about 14,000 children, is part of Save the Children Japan’s “Food Box for Children” initiative which delivers boxes of food to households with children who might be missing out on meals during school breaks.
Those who took part in the survey were mostly women (97%) and from single parent households (95%).
About 90% of those surveyed said that, due to rising food prices, they don't have enough money to buy food for their family, while 60% of respondents said they had reduced or stopped buying staple food items because of high food costs.
The report comes after Japan experienced its highest inflation rate in almost a decade in 2024, reaching an average of about 2.7%.[1]
The survey, which takes place annually and is the biggest of its kind in Japan, included questions about each household’s monthly income, expenditures and whether households think their children are getting enough to eat.
When asked about the quantity of children’s meals, 50% said their children were not receiving enough food during the school holidays, up from 43 % in 2024 [2].
About 73% also said that the type of support they wanted for their children’s meals were food deliveries or food assistance from food banks.
When asked to give general feedback, many parents said they were concerned about the dire state of their children's diets.
Mamiko*, a 40-year-old mother from Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan said:
“I've lost weight, and although I tell people around me that I'm on a diet, I'm extremely hungry. I've even collapsed at work. I'm careful not to let my children get too thin. I want the price of rice to go back to normal soon.”
Kiko*, another single, mother in her 40s from Okinawa Prefecture said:
“It would be great if there were regular food assistance or free meal assistance.”
In July, Save the Children distributed food boxes to about 5,000 households in Japan. The boxes included Japanese staple foods such as rice and noodles as well as pasta sauces, canned goods, jam and beverages.
Save the Children is calling on the Japanese government to establish and expand public food assistance programmes, make school lunches free, provide meals or lunch subsidies for high school students who do not have access to school lunches, and to implement targeted cash transfers for families who are facing economic hardship.
Save the Children Japan, established in 1986, engages in international programmes in health, nutrition, and education, and provides emergency assistance during conflicts and disasters. In Japan, we focus on child poverty, emergency response, and disaster risk reduction, working to realize children’s rights.
*Names changed to protect anonymity
* Families of two with a monthly income of less than ¥112,000 yen (758 USD), and families of four with a monthly income of less than ¥151,000 yen (1,022 USD) qualified as facing economic hardship per the survey’s eligibility criteria.[3] This is below the national average monthly income per family which stood at about ¥977,000 (US$6,600) in June 2025, according to government data. [4]
References
Link to July 2025 report: https://www.savechildren.or.jp/news/publications/download/report-foodbox2025.pdf
https://www.savechildren.or.jp/scjcms/press.php?d=4759
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/270095/inflation-rate-in-japan/
[2] https://www.savechildren.or.jp/news/publications/download/report-foodbox2024.pdf
[3] https://www.savechildren.or.jp/scjcms/sc_activity.php?d=4718
[4] Statistics Bureau of Japan: https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/kakei/156.html
For media enquiries
Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Global Media Manager: Asia
Amy.Lefevre@savethechildren.org
