Red dots show year-on-year changes in the PCE deflator (all items less fresh food and energy) for the United States, and those in the CPI (all items less fresh food, energy, and excluding direct effects of consumption tax hikes) for Japan. 2. Bold black lines indicate inflation rate of 2 percentage points. 3.
Black broken lines indicate average inflation rate after CY 95 (discontinued at the introduction of QQE for Japan). 4. Gray bands indicate recession periods (peaks and bottoms of business cycle are those determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research for the United States and Cabinet Office for Japan).