Return of the Son of Futility Watch

This month's gas price here in Tottori: About $6.25 a gallon. (Still better than in Europe.) Some localities in Japan, further away from the processing centers, are over 200 yen a liter...that's over $7 a gallon.

The price of gas in Japan includes a ¥30 or so per liter tax, earmarked for road maintenance and construction projects. This is a temporary, provisional tax. Temporary, despite the fact that it was enacted during the "oil shock" back in the '70s.

Due to some sort of governmental mixup, this tax actually expired back on April 1. The government scrambled to re-enact it, but due to procedural requirements, the earliest they could put it back in was May 1. Almost all gas stations in Japan dropped their prices during April, despite the fact that they were still paying for gas bought from wholesalers in March. This caused a few stations to lose money for April, but it was nice for us consumers. (I wonder what American gas stations would have done?)

Other than April, gas prices usually jump at least 10 yen a liter at the beginning of each month. The lines on the last day bring back vague memories of the Carter years....