Not long after the sales tax was increased from 5% to 8% in 2014, I started noticing changes in the products I regularly bought. Slices of cheese were now being sold in packs of 7 rather than 10. My favorite brand of milk now came in cartons that were 10% smaller.

This phenomenon, called "shrinkflation" is not unique to Japan. It has been well documented, and whined about, in the West where companies didn't even try to conceal their cost-cutting schemes.

In Japan, companies have been subtler and if you weren't on the ball, you might have missed the changes entirely. Fortunately, someone has been paying attention and cataloging the changes. Every now and then, I will return to this post and add examples of shrinkflation. 

This is a work in progress. I will make a gallery of these photos soon.