A lack of homegrown tech giants has contributed to Japan's "digital deficit": It imports far more digital services than it exports to the rest of the world. © Illustration by Yoshiko Kawano

Japan's love of Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium piles pressure on yen

'Digital deficit' drags down the country's trade balance

AKANE OKUTSU and LISA KIM, Nikkei staff writers

July 15, 2024 06:05 JST

TOKYO -- Mizuki Nakamura, a 28-year-old who lives in Tokyo, is the kind of Japanese consumer putting pressure on the yen without even knowing it. The reason is her love for social media.

At work, she listens to music on YouTube Premium. To "gather information," she spends about three hours a day on Instagram. During her free time, she watches shows on Amazon Prime, browses on X, chats on Line, and feeds her passion for anime on d Anime Store.