Tag - japanese-perspectives

 
 

JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

BUSINESS / Economy / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 1, 2014
Economic figures reveal more than you see
The Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute on Jan. 17 released the finalized figures on the country's economy's stocks (the net value of accumulated assets at a balance date) and flows (net transactions, including income and expenditure, during an accounting period) that were recorded in national accounts in 2012.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 22, 2014
Return of shunto is hollow triumph for unions
Shunto is in full swing. Or so it should be. Or so they say. Shunto is the Japanese word for the annual spring round of wage negotiations conducted between big business and trade unions. This "spring offensive" used to feature large in the annual economic calendar. As the deflationary 1990s and beyond set in, this offensive became an offensive no more. Faced with the prospect of corporate bankruptcies and accompanying job losses, labor unions rapidly lost their teeth.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 25, 2014
In Davos, gripping kabuki with little substance
Afriend asks via email: "Did you see the video of Abe in Davos?"
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 4, 2014
Reform vows, Constitution to dog Abe in 2014
At the beginning of the new year, I would like to review the achievements of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the challenges it faces in its second year on the economic and political fronts.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 21, 2013
It's business as usual 'back in the USSR'
Paul McCartney was in Japan some weeks ago. Having spent a totally Beatlemaniac four years of my pre-teen existence in the U.K., it was nice to see the erstwhile Beatle in such good form.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 7, 2013
Who is responsible for a corporate scandal?
Recent scandals involving Japanese businesses have included bank loans to the underworld and misrepresentations of restaurant menus at leading hotels, and many of the media reports have focused on how management takes responsibility for the mess. I would like to highlight three points that need to be taken into account when discussing such issues:
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 30, 2013
The secret of keeping official secrets secret
"He that would keep a secret must keep it secret that he hath a secret to keep," says Sir Humphrey Appleby, permanent secretary to the Department of Administrative Affairs, a fictitious branch of the British government. He is one of the main characters in the highly acclaimed 1980s BBC television series "Yes Minister" and its equally phenomenal sequel, "Yes Prime Minister." Sir Humphrey's axiom would surely be readily shared by current real-life Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he bulldozes his bill for the protection of special official secrets through parliament.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 6, 2013
Abe should consult father of economics for sage advice on sales tax
Three guesses on who said the following.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 15, 2013
Japan must avoid using 2020 Olympics as excuse to put off fiscal rehab
The G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, ended Sept. 6 with the conclusion that it is premature to declare that the global economic crisis has ended, despite signs of improvement.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 1, 2013
Pax No Man's Land needs more than Fed's tapering to smooth things over
U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke hints at policy change. He is looking for an exit from quantitative easing whereby he has been buying financial assets to the order of $85 billion per month since the end of last year. He has emphasized the exit shall be a "tapering" procedure — no abrupt moves, no jumping on the brakes. Everything will be nice and gradual. Believe me. You really won't see me go. I shall just fade away.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 4, 2013
Japan increases TPP possibilities but not its own competitiveness
Japan finally entered the trade talks for hammering out the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement during the 18th round last month in the Malaysian resort of Kota Kinabalu.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 21, 2013
Beware your heroes and heed the lesson of stargazer Galileo Galilei
A scene from "The Life of Galilei" seems to encapsulate the dilemma Japan faces as it gropes for new leadership.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 24, 2013
Abe's rhetoric reveals a growth strategy aimed at global conquest
The greatly hyped "third arrow" of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic plans has fallen spectacularly by the wayside. The stock prices on which Abe & Co. had staked their all began falling even as he was explaining his economic strategy in a speech.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 17, 2013
'Abenomics' and the wild pursuit of inflation for inflation's sake
From June 5 to 6, more than five months after launching his Cabinet, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened the government's three councils on economic and fiscal policy, industrial competitiveness and science and technology.
BUSINESS / Economy / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 20, 2013
Utility, ubiquity playing key roles in corrupting policymakers' thinking
Two mind-sets seem to be catching on in Japan these days. They worry me. One is the notion that something has to be useful to be of value. The other is that anything is justifiable on the grounds that everybody else is doing it.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 13, 2013
Upper House poll to test public will on economy, TPP and Constitution
The House of Councilors election will be held within three months, and the focus is on whether the split in the Diet — where the two chambers of the legislature are controlled by different camps — will finally be mended.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 8, 2013
Team Abe's grand plan leaves ghosts in charge of a haunted house
As I observe Team Abe in action at the helm of the Bank of Japan and elsewhere, a rather terrifying passage from a poem by William Hughes Mearns comes to mind:
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 25, 2013
'Abenomists' beware: Rising prices just one pitfall of spiraling yen
The Bank of Japan on Wednesday installed a new governor and two deputy governors who — in line with the wishes of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — are advocates of ultra-easy monetary policy.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 18, 2013
Sir Norman's hat and the baldfaced policies of the Bank of Japan
A new executive team is about to take office at the Bank of Japan, but at least two of the incoming members will be wearing hats somewhat different than those doffed by employees of the central bank: The initials on their head gear will spell ABE instead of BOJ.
COMMENTARY / Japan / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 4, 2013
Abe's 15-month reversal budget fudges cost of swapping people and butter for concrete and guns
The government of Shinzo Abe has just unveiled its budget for fiscal 2013 starting in April. Abeu2019s stated intention was to u201cradically resetu201d spending priorities.

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A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world