Teruhiko Mano - The Japan Times

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

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 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

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

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.

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 / 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.

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

Jan 28, 2013

Inflation targeting easy to promote, but difficult to achieve without tools

T he government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan agreed last week to set a 2 percent inflation target to be achieved "as soon as possible." All sorts of issues have been raised, from the dangers of intervening in monetary policy to the waning independence of the central bank, but there are many problems inherent with inflation targeting.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Dec 17, 2012

Deflation only natural when politicians refuse to fix oversupplied Japan

Needless to say, the biggest challenge for the government to be formed after Sunday's general election is to put the Japanese economy on a growth path.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Nov 5, 2012

Excess supply, not lack of demand, weighing on the global economy

The demand and supply balance is adjusted through price fluctuations under a market economy. However, price changes often go too far, occasionally leading to creation of a bubble boom and its subsequent collapse. When Japan's bubble boom went bust in the early 1990s, Japanese companies were burdened with three excesses — excess workforce, excess debt and excess production capacity — and spent the following two "lost" decades" adjusting the redundancies.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Sep 24, 2012

Toll of double tax hikes on the economy will be even worse than in '97

The number of people in Japan aged 65 or older has reached 30.74 million, or 24.1 percent of the population, according to a government estimate released on the Respect for the Aged Day last Monday. The numbers are record highs and warn of snowballing health and welfare costs the country will soon have to face. Will Japan have enough political willpower to enforce the upcoming tax hikes and will they have a positive effect on the economy?

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Jun 4, 2012

The risks of democracy: When markets resolve what politics cannot

The European sovereign debt problem that began with Greece has entered a new phase. In addition to the ruling party's defeat in polls Greece held May 6, Nicholas Sarkozy, who helped champion fiscal austerity as the cure for the crisis, was replaced as French president by Francois Hollande, a Socialist who has called for greater emphasis on growth.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Apr 16, 2012

Trade deficit a reminder Japan needs to brace for economy's fifth stage

Japan's ¥2.49 trillion trade deficit in 2011 — its first in 31 years — tells you where the economy's development stands in relation to the balance of trade. Let's review how the trade balance has fluctuated in each stage of the nation's postwar development and look at some of the challenges ahead.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Feb 20, 2012

Lost in inflation: the trap of focusing solely on the consumer price index

Japan's wholesale price index has consistently been on the rise since December 2009 due chiefly to rising oil and food prices. But the consumer price index has fallen year on year for three years in a row. One reason behind the decline in the CPI is the rising influx of cheaper, high-quality products from overseas. This is reflected by globalized Japan's descent into its first trade deficit since 1980 and by the rivers of red ink flowing from its once mighty electronics makers.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Dec 19, 2011

Lawmaker attitudes, Tohoku both in dire need of transformation

The extraordinary Diet session closed Dec. 9 after the Upper House endorsed the opposition-submitted censure motion against Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa and consumer affairs chief Kenji Yamaoka. Was anything else accomplished? The legislature passed the third extra budget of the year for disaster recovery and enacted laws to establish a reconstruction agency and deal with the dual-loan problem burdening people in tsunami-ravaged areas.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Oct 24, 2011

Going back to the past won't help Japan Inc. protect supply chain

The joint declaration adopted Oct. 15 by the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers expressed a willingness to take resolute action to deal with the serious downside risks being faced by the global economy. But Japan, beset by the damage caused by the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, has posted three consecutive quarters of negative growth since October 2010.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Aug 8, 2011

Unbeautiful yen's rise will help the economy more than hurt it

The yen continues to appreciate as Japan struggles to get a handle on recovering from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the unresolved crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and the inability of the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan to implement policy actions to deal with the catastrophe.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Jun 20, 2011

Disaster shines light on wisdom of renting in a debt-laden world

The destruction wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake has started to appear in statistics in its full force.

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

Apr 4, 2011

Effects of the Tohoku disaster and options for Japan's response

More than three weeks after Tohoku and the eastern parts of the Kanto region were hit by a massive earthquake that triggered a tsunami and a nuclear power plant crisis — there are few indications of when Japan might get the situation under control.

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