>From: msmitka[atx]liberty.uc.wlu.edu (Michael J. Smitka)

>Part of the answer is that the Japanese standard of living is lower than the
American level. With high food prices, you buy relatively less food -- 110 grams
of meat per person (1/4 lb) wouldn't be odd in the US, indeed 200 grams wouldn't
be odd, but it would be in Tokyo. With high housing prices, you buy less
housing. So you can save.

I don't see why you only use meat consumption as a gauge for food consumption.
Why not use fish consumption?

Also, the question was how the Japanese save more instead of why.

I always thought that part of the reason had to do with family demographics.
There are economies of scale in household size, that is as a household grows from say one to five, the amount of resources needed to support each person decreases.

Most of the focus has been on why the Japanese save more, however.

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Anthony M. Miyake