C.  Prices  Next, I would like to talk about price developments in Japan. The year-on-year rate of increase in the CPI has been around 1¼ percent.
So I devoted quite a bit of time and attention to local economic development. Within my market, I served at various times on a number of public and non-profit boards and commissions focused on regional development. That experience gave me a deep appreciation of the challenges and accomplishments of those working in economic development at the local level.