Jun 29, 2012

Making what people will buy

The Noda Cabinet on June 5 endorsed a fiscal 2011 white book for promoting Japan’s core manufacturing technologies. The report, jointly compiled by the trade and industry ministry, the labor and welfare ministry, and the education ministry, expresses a sense of crisis over the ...

Jun 15, 2012

Direct yen-yuan trade

On June 1, new currency markets opened in Tokyo and Shanghai for direct trading between the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. The direct trading of the two currencies has been motivated largely by the instability of the main currencies such as the U.S. ...

May 2, 2012

Lightening the load on businesses

The Bank of Japan on Friday announced that it will boost the size of its asset purchase program by ¥5 trillion. The decision follows an earlier decision in February to add ¥10 trillion to the program. As a result, the total size of the ...

Mar 14, 2012

Japan's cautionary tale for the U.S.

by Robert J. Samuelson

Since the financial crisis, a shadow has hovered over the U.S. economy: Japan. Could what happened there happen to us? The bursting of Japan’s real estate and stock bubble in the early 1990s has had lasting consequences: a “lost decade” (actually, two) of meager ...

Mar 9, 2012

The pay-cut bandwagon

Wage cuts for national public servants under a special law recently enacted will have repercussions in various areas. The law, jointly written by lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, was enacted by the Upper House on Feb. ...

Feb 27, 2012

Could EU use a global growth plan?

by Gordon Brown

Talleyrand said of the Bourbon dynasty that ruled France both before and after that country’s revolution: “They have learned nothing and have forgotten nothing.” Today, with the same shortsightedness, Europe’s leaders stick unblinkingly to policies that the whole world can see have already failed. ...

Jan 31, 2012

A worrisome trade deficit

Japan’s trade balance went into the red in 2011 — the first since 1980 when soaring oil prices caused a trade deficit. But the current account balance is still in the black thanks to income generated by Japan’s overseas net assets amounting to some ...

Dec 6, 2010

Deceptive GDP performance

Japan’s gross domestic product increased 0.9 percent in real terms in the July-September quarter from the April-June quarter for an annualized 3.9 percent growth rate. The 0.9 percent increase contrasts with the 0.4 percent rise registered in the previous quarter. Domestic demand pushed up ...