Commuters crowd a train station in Tokyo. The ratio of single-member households with no financial assets in Japan climbed to almost 48% in 2015, the highest level since 2007, from about 39% a year earlier, according to an annual survey by the central bank.

Bloomberg
Tokyo

Signs of inequality in Japan are increasing as people living on their own fall further behind and wealthier households accumulate more assets, according to surveys released on Thursday by the Bank of Japan.
The ratio of single-member households with no financial assets climbed to almost 48% in 2015, the highest level since 2007, from about 39% a year earlier, according to an annual survey by the central bank. At the same time, households with two or more people who held assets such as stocks and bonds saw these rise to a record high ¥18.2mn ($149,597), a separate BoJ report showed.
The widening inequality highlights Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s challenge as he seeks to spread the benefits of record corporate profits and stock prices that this year reached levels not seen since 1996. Low-income households are feeling the effects of last year’s sales-tax hike and limited wages gains while more well off Japanese are benefiting from the swelling value of their investment portfolios.
“Inequality seems to be widening,” said Hiroshi Hanada, head of economic research at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. “A sales-tax hike and price increases last year hit households hard. Abe hasn’t succeeded to bring benefits to most ordinary people.”  While the percentage of single households with no financial assets surged, it barely budged among households with more than two people, going to 30.9% from 30.4% last year.
The median of financial assets among one-person households dropped to ¥200,000 from ¥750,000 last year, according to the BoJ data.
The central bank surveyed 2,500 one-person households of people ages 20 to 69 in an e-mail survey. For households with two or more people, the bank received 3,474 responses. This survey was conducted in person and via the mail.