The 1990s room

Housing and Land Survey (住宅・土地統計調査) — via Japan Statistical Yearbook
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From HLS 1993 via JSY 2016 Table 21-5 (jsy2016-y652105000.xls): 24,376 thousand owned ÷ 40,773 thousand occupied dwellings = 59.8% (homeownership ratio). The 1998 survey gave 60.3%. Homeownership held near 60% through the decade despite the post-bubble property-price collapse; it would not return above 61% until 2003. 1993 is the HLS year closest to the 1995 income anchor.
Source note: Quinquennial since 1948 (first survey was a census). Renamed from 'Housing Survey' to 'Housing and Land Survey' in 1998. English stat.go.jp pages provide only survey outlines; summary results extracted from Japan Statistical Yearbook (JSY) Excel tables: JSY 2016 (65nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-8 covering 1988–2013, JSY 2026 (75nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-6 covering 2013–2023. Homeownership rate, floor area, rooms per dwelling available. Basic bath/toilet facility data NOT in English JSY tables — needs e-Stat.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

Housing and Land Survey (住宅・土地統計調査) — via Japan Statistical Yearbook
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From HLS 1993 via JSY 2016 Table 21-1 (jsy2016-y652101000.xls): 91.92 m² floor space per dwelling (occupied dwellings). Up from 89.29 m² (1988); the 1998 survey gave 92.43 m². Floor area continued rising even as property prices fell.
Source note: Quinquennial since 1948 (first survey was a census). Renamed from 'Housing Survey' to 'Housing and Land Survey' in 1998. English stat.go.jp pages provide only survey outlines; summary results extracted from Japan Statistical Yearbook (JSY) Excel tables: JSY 2016 (65nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-8 covering 1988–2013, JSY 2026 (75nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-6 covering 2013–2023. Homeownership rate, floor area, rooms per dwelling available. Basic bath/toilet facility data NOT in English JSY tables — needs e-Stat.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

Housing and Land Survey (住宅・土地統計調査) — via Japan Statistical Yearbook
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From HLS 1993 via JSY 2016 Table 21-1 (jsy2016-y652101000.xls): 4.85 rooms per dwelling. The 1998 survey gave 4.79. Persons per room 0.62 (down from 0.66 in 1988) as household size fell. Nationwide.
Source note: Quinquennial since 1948 (first survey was a census). Renamed from 'Housing Survey' to 'Housing and Land Survey' in 1998. English stat.go.jp pages provide only survey outlines; summary results extracted from Japan Statistical Yearbook (JSY) Excel tables: JSY 2016 (65nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-8 covering 1988–2013, JSY 2026 (75nenkan) tables 21-1/21-5/21-6 covering 2013–2023. Homeownership rate, floor area, rooms per dwelling available. Basic bath/toilet facility data NOT in English JSY tables — needs e-Stat.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

Family Income and Expenditure Survey (家計調査) — long-run time-series tables
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Basis: Monthly figure
Curator note: From FIES long-run time-series (fies-a18-2.xls), 1995, column 実収入, workers' households. This is the peak of the workers'-household income series — nominal income would decline to ¥522,629 by 2005 and stagnate through 2015 (¥525,955), the lost-decades effect. Two-or-more-person workers' households, Japan.
Source note: Monthly survey of household income and expenditure, continuous from 1946. Three universes: workers' households, all two-or-more-person households, one-person households. Expenditure classification revised in 1981 (methodology seam). Long-run Excel tables downloaded: fies-18-02-a.xls (workers' households, all cities, 1948–1962), fies-a18-2.xls (workers' households, 1963–2017), fies-a18-1.xls (all two-or-more-person households, 1963–2017). Before 1962 the survey covered cities only — pre-1962 facts carry the urban-rural-split caveat. URL CORRECTION 2026-08-14: the Statistics Bureau reorganized the English site and the old /data/kakei/tsuki/ deep link 404s; repointed at the FIES English landing page, which links the outline, results, and Q&A pages (1560–1563). The long-run Excel tables cited above remain in samples/.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Values are shown in period money
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families
Assumption: Japan's lost decades: nominal stagnation amid real gains

Monthly Labour Survey (毎月勤労統計調査) — long-term actual data
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Basis: Monthly figure
Curator note: From MLS long-term actual data (mls-long-term-actual.csv), year=1995, month=CY, industry=TL, size=0, emp_type=0. Calendar-year average of monthly total cash earnings. Peak of the MLS nominal series; declined to ¥381,807 (2005) and ¥361,684 (2015) as the lost decades wore on. Establishment/payroll survey, not household income.
Source note: Monthly payroll survey of employment, wages (total cash earnings), and working hours. Long-term actual CSV (mls-long-term-actual.csv) covers 1960–2026 at industry level; all-industry (TL) total available from 1970. Data for 1955/1965 taken from scanned Japan Statistical Yearbook pages. 'Total cash earnings' includes regular pay (所定内給与) and special pay (特別に支給された給与).
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Values are shown in period money
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families
Assumption: Japan's lost decades: nominal stagnation amid real gains

Family Income and Expenditure Survey (家計調査) — long-run time-series tables
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Basis: Monthly figure
Curator note: From FIES long-run time-series (fies-a18-1.xls), 1995, all two-or-more-person households. Peak of the nominal consumption series; declined to ¥300,903 (2005) and ¥288,326 (2015) — nominal stagnation amid the lost decades. Population differs from the income fact (all households vs workers' households).
Source note: Monthly survey of household income and expenditure, continuous from 1946. Three universes: workers' households, all two-or-more-person households, one-person households. Expenditure classification revised in 1981 (methodology seam). Long-run Excel tables downloaded: fies-18-02-a.xls (workers' households, all cities, 1948–1962), fies-a18-2.xls (workers' households, 1963–2017), fies-a18-1.xls (all two-or-more-person households, 1963–2017). Before 1962 the survey covered cities only — pre-1962 facts carry the urban-rural-split caveat. URL CORRECTION 2026-08-14: the Statistics Bureau reorganized the English site and the old /data/kakei/tsuki/ deep link 404s; repointed at the FIES English landing page, which links the outline, results, and Q&A pages (1560–1563). The long-run Excel tables cited above remain in samples/.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Values are shown in period money
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families
Assumption: Japan's lost decades: nominal stagnation amid real gains

Family Income and Expenditure Survey (家計調査) — long-run time-series tables
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From FIES (fies-a18-1.xls), 1995: food ¥77,886 ÷ consumption ¥329,062 = 23.7%. All two-or-more-person households. The Engel ratio continued its long decline (38.1% in 1965 → 27.0% in 1985 → 23.7% in 1995) as affluence rose.
Source note: Monthly survey of household income and expenditure, continuous from 1946. Three universes: workers' households, all two-or-more-person households, one-person households. Expenditure classification revised in 1981 (methodology seam). Long-run Excel tables downloaded: fies-18-02-a.xls (workers' households, all cities, 1948–1962), fies-a18-2.xls (workers' households, 1963–2017), fies-a18-1.xls (all two-or-more-person households, 1963–2017). Before 1962 the survey covered cities only — pre-1962 facts carry the urban-rural-split caveat. URL CORRECTION 2026-08-14: the Statistics Bureau reorganized the English site and the old /data/kakei/tsuki/ deep link 404s; repointed at the FIES English landing page, which links the outline, results, and Q&A pages (1560–1563). The long-run Excel tables cited above remain in samples/.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

Monthly Labour Survey (毎月勤労統計調査) — long-term actual data
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), 2025 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From MLS long-term actual data (mls-long-term-actual.csv), year=1995, month=CY, industry=TL, size=0, emp_type=0. Calendar-year average of monthly working hours. Down sharply from 175.8 (1985) — the 1992 reduction of the statutory working week (to 40 hours) and collective-bargaining cuts drove hours down through the decade. Establishments with 30+ regular workers, all surveyed industries.
Source note: Monthly payroll survey of employment, wages (total cash earnings), and working hours. Long-term actual CSV (mls-long-term-actual.csv) covers 1960–2026 at industry level; all-industry (TL) total available from 1970. Data for 1955/1965 taken from scanned Japan Statistical Yearbook pages. 'Total cash earnings' includes regular pay (所定内給与) and special pay (特別に支給された給与).
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (全国消費実態調査) — durable goods summaries
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2009 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From NSFIIE 1999 summary (https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/zensho/1999/1.html), narrative text: PC ownership rate 37.7% (485 units per 1,000 households). PCs had increased 2.6-fold from 1994. The 1994 NSFIIE English summary is not in the archive; 1999 is the earliest available English-language NSFIIE durable-goods data. Two-or-more-person households, nationwide, as of end of October.
Source note: Quinquennial deep-dive survey since 1959. Publishes 'Summary of Results Concerning Major Durable Goods' with possession rates (% of households) and ownership quantities (per 1,000 households) for ~40 categories. English HTML summaries available for 1999, 2004, 2009. The 2014 and 2019 (renamed) surveys do not publish English durable-goods summaries — data only via e-Stat (Japanese). Main data tables are image-based (GIF) on HTML pages; numbers transcribed from narrative text.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (全国消費実態調査) — durable goods summaries
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2009 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From NSFIIE 1999 summary, narrative text: mobile phones (including PHS) ownership rate 64.9% (1,061 units per 1,000 households — many households owned multiple). Mobile subscriptions had surged from 2.1M (1993) to 51.1M (1999) per ICWP. Two-or-more-person households, nationwide.
Source note: Quinquennial deep-dive survey since 1959. Publishes 'Summary of Results Concerning Major Durable Goods' with possession rates (% of households) and ownership quantities (per 1,000 households) for ~40 categories. English HTML summaries available for 1999, 2004, 2009. The 2014 and 2019 (renamed) surveys do not publish English durable-goods summaries — data only via e-Stat (Japanese). Main data tables are image-based (GIF) on HTML pages; numbers transcribed from narrative text.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (全国消費実態調査) — durable goods summaries
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2009 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From NSFIIE 1999 summary, narrative text: facsimile ownership rate 33.1% (337 units per 1,000 households). Faxes had increased 3.5-fold from 1994 — a distinctly Japanese diffusion pattern, as the fax remained common in Japan far longer than in the US/UK. Two-or-more-person households, nationwide.
Source note: Quinquennial deep-dive survey since 1959. Publishes 'Summary of Results Concerning Major Durable Goods' with possession rates (% of households) and ownership quantities (per 1,000 households) for ~40 categories. English HTML summaries available for 1999, 2004, 2009. The 2014 and 2019 (renamed) surveys do not publish English durable-goods summaries — data only via e-Stat (Japanese). Main data tables are image-based (GIF) on HTML pages; numbers transcribed from narrative text.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families

National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (全国消費実態調査) — durable goods summaries
Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), 2009 · source
Confidence: A — Official series
Curator note: From NSFIIE 1999 summary, narrative text: word processor ownership rate 44.8% (508 units per 1,000 households). The standalone word processor (ワープロ) was a Japanese-market category that peaked in this era before being displaced by the PC. Two-or-more-person households, nationwide.
Source note: Quinquennial deep-dive survey since 1959. Publishes 'Summary of Results Concerning Major Durable Goods' with possession rates (% of households) and ownership quantities (per 1,000 households) for ~40 categories. English HTML summaries available for 1999, 2004, 2009. The 2014 and 2019 (renamed) surveys do not publish English durable-goods summaries — data only via e-Stat (Japanese). Main data tables are image-based (GIF) on HTML pages; numbers transcribed from narrative text.
Assumption: The composite family
Assumption: Japanese surveys measure households, not four-person families