Your last paragraph is correct, but I was using the term in more macro environment context. 25 year of unchanged nominal price is symptom of deflationary envir

Your last paragraph is correct, but I was using the term in more macro environment context. 25 year of unchanged nominal price is symptom of deflationary environment. The reluctance by the Japanese company to raise price even when costs were going up speaks volume about the strong downward pricing pressure in the Japanese market. Though not to the same degree, similar environment has been brewing here in the U.S. for awhile. Companies don't want to raise prices, and only do so as a last resort. If economy was better, they would do so without fear that their competitors would not follow suit.