MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Determined to loose weight? try Tokyo

The gap in food prices between cities famous for their high cost of living such as New York and London, and Tokyo kept increasing according to a report from the Japanese government.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ministry paper shows that food retail prices in Tokyo surged faster during 2004, than in other overseas expensive cities, mainly because of the increase in vegetable prices battered by extreme weather conditions.

According to the report the retail prices index for 29 food items, including milk and flour reached 87 in New York and 78 in London compared to 100 in Tokyo.

The prices gap between the Japanese capital and the two western metropolises actually increased 5 and 6 points last year.

This was not the case for Paris where the index actually remained unchanged at 93 points, with a four point reduction compared to Tokyo because of the yen weakness against the Euro.

Anyhow it's still much dearer to go food shopping in the Japanese capital than in Paris.

The only other city ahead of Tokyo was Geneva in Switzerland where the similar food retail price index reached 129 points, with the gap actually increasing seven points over the Japanese capital's 100 points.