A bartender serves a flute of champagne at Goss, a champagne bar, at Ginza shopping district in Tokyo June 10, 2014. Watching a bevy of young professionals quaffing sparkling wine, there was little sign that an increase in Japan's sales tax in April caused anything more than a hiccup in the economy. Japan needs people spending with confidence if a radical strategy adopted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to succeed in breaking the economy free of two decades of deflation and sub-par growth. Government data covering the period after the tax was increased to 8 percent from 5 percent at the start of April has begun to trickle in. Household spending and retail sales in April dropped the most in three years. But policymakers need to wait until July or so for a fuller picture of the tax impact. For the time being, champagne sales and other untraditional measures may offer a good early read on consumption, which makes up 60 percent of the economy. Picture taken June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Issei Kato (JAPAN - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS SOCIETY)