Up to 74 percent of impoverished households with small children are facing a “dire” financial situation amid commodity price hikes, according to a recent advocacy group survey.

“People have nothing more they can cut because prices have all gone up,” said Yumiko Watanabe, chair of Kidsdoor, a Tokyo-based designated nonprofit organization. “The health of children has been severely impacted.

“The state should face up to the catastrophe and take quick steps to extend support by any means.”

UNABLE TO BUY ANYTHING

Kidsdoor, which conducted the study from Nov. 11 to 16, found that almost all the surveyed families feel their circumstances have become “somewhat” or “much” more difficult.

A single mother living in Osaka Prefecture with two sons, one in junior high school and one in preschool, said she often finds herself picking up food at the grocery store only to return it to the shelf in embarrassment after checking the price.

Her oldest son likes beef, but a package of meat previously available for 400 yen ($2.80) now costs a hefty 700 yen. The price of her second boy’s favorite food, bananas, rose from 128 yen to more than 200 yen. Toilet paper has also risen from 298 yen to 398 yen.

“I can’t afford them when they’re at such prices,” the mother said.

Asked when they are especially aware of inflation, with multiple answers allowed, 99 percent of respondents to the survey said their spending on foodstuffs reminds them of the general price hikes. Those pointing to utility expenses and the cost of everyday items accounted for 85 and 81 percent, respectively.

Even when the mother’s children say they want something while accompanying their mother when she goes shopping, she cannot buy them anything. She said she often leaves shops without purchasing anything at all.

The single mother suffered from domestic economic abuse as her former husband deprived her of any access to money. For this and other reasons, she has recently divorced and relocated.

As it was difficult for her to find employment or a day care center to promptly put her child in amid the novel coronavirus crisis, the woman started living on public relief a year ago.

The percentage of food spending of her total family budget continuously grew since this past autumn. She formerly bought foodstuffs totaling 40,000 yen monthly, but such costs currently come to 55,000 yen. The monthly spending for the woman on everyday items likewise soared by a few thousand yen.

With 84 percent of respondents to the survey saying they “have slashed food spending” to restrain household expenditures, clothing expenses and everyday item purchases were also reduced among 74 percent and 62 percent of families. Those refraining from turning on heating systems made up 73 percent.

The mother often asks her oldest son to look after his younger brother so she can go to the grocery store just before closing to find soon-to-expire food articles with discount stickers attached.

She also frequents drugstores in search of cheaper offerings.

“I don’t like doing all of this,” confessed the mother, “but I can’t tell my sons, ‘You have nothing to eat anymore.’”

PARED-DOWN CURRY

The mother’s children love curry, but that dish is now put on the table without onions due to the vegetable’s surging price. Meat prices rising by a few hundred yen also means curry served with no meat.

Believing that enough food should be provided to her children for their physical growth in their important developmental stages, the mother resorts to eating instant noodles on her own.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents to the survey said they now “eat out” less frequently, and 65 percent said their children have smaller amounts of “confectionery treats” for fun. In 63 percent of households, they consumed less “meat or fish.”

Hoping to provide more food for their children, 49 percent of parents stated they “reduce or skip their own meals.”

About half of respondents said rising prices were having a “bad” or “very bad” impact on their children’s growths.

The mother does not own a bicycle, nor does she take advantage of buses for outings to cut spending as much as possible. The mother walks 40 minutes to visit a grocery store where she can shop at the cheapest prices in her neighborhood.

One lifeline for the family is support from an acquaintance who regularly stopped by with donated packaged foodstuffs and rice. She wonders what would happen were it not for the kindness of such outside supporters.

“My family may have not been able to survive,” the mother said.

Respondents were also asked to pick out one or more influences of inflation on their high school children’s career and educational plans following their graduation.

The largest portion, at 54 percent, said their offspring could not go to cram or prep schools. Forty percent said they “are unable to buy supplementary textbooks” and 19 percent said their children “have given up on the school of their choice due to financial reasons.”

GOVERNMENT MUST DO MORE

Every time she listens to news reports about commodity price hikes, the single mother feels people “do not understand our difficulties and feelings in a real sense.”

Although the government is considering distributing several thousand yen to each household per month to cover power costs from next year, the mother said that would not be enough given recent spikes in prices across a range of products and services.

Based on the results, Kidsdoor made an emergency proposal that the government should “offer cash to poor households with small children on a continual basis” and “expand its child allowance framework.”

The single mother said policymakers seemingly have never had to shop at stores for discounted items or been on the verge of tears after finding only toilet paper that is so hard that one’s skin is chaffed off.

“First and foremost, I want them to actually, truly, understand our plights,” she said.

The online questionnaire research covered 2,900 impoverished guardians who receive the advocacy group’s assistance. Responses came from 1,846.

(This article was written by Misako Yamauchi and Natsumi Nakai.)