Rakuraku comments

HopeSpringsEternalToday  01:51 pm JST

More proof the $ and ALL the currencies tied to the dollar are losing their purchasing power due to money printing, growing deficits AND a growing multi polar world NOT interested in toilet paper currencies!

It is not the USD or the currencies tied to the USD (actually the USD index is up 4% over the past 10 years).The Bitcoin is up sharply against all currencies

shogun36Today  07:11 pm JST

budget, reforms on agenda

VERY easy solution. 

Cut ALL Diet member's salary in half off the top. NO exceptions. 

Also eliminate per diem and set a travel budget for every single member. 

That would open up a LOT of funds in the "budget

I looked at the figures. This would save 100 million USD equivalent, which is 0.01% of the Japanese national budget. It may be important from a symbolic point of view, but hardly a game-changer when it comes to improving public finances.

Financing such a massive package requires keeping interest rates very low. This will inevitably lead to further depreciation of the JPY and increased imported inflation.

As a result, whatever people gain from cash handouts and subsidies will likely be more than offset by inflation. This is especially true for low-income earners, who typically consume their entire income. A one-off payment of 30,000 JPY will never compensate for the additional inflation they will face.

This economic policy is absurd.

daito_hakToday  12:01 pm JST

France had more than 100 millions of tourists in 2023. Yet you don’t hear them complaining about what is objectively rare occurrence of bad behavior. 

The reaction of Japanese to mass tourism is grotesque yet again Japan has far less tourists than other countries. They should swallow their arrogance and learn a little bit of humility from those countries

France has had tons of tourists for decades, so they are accustomed to it.

In addition if you Google it you will find that many French people also hate mass tourism. Preferred destinations, such as the south of France, have seen one-third of their accommodations converted into Airbnbs, causing rents for locals to become outrageously high.

« Japan's famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand »

When they refer to autumn leaves I guess it is a reference to the beautiful red maple trees leaves. If such a case why on earth would they come in October when a quick Google search would have tell them it takes place end of November, beginning of December.

WeiWeiToday  05:21 pm JST

Only due to inflation. If adjustedfoe inflation it did not grow at all.

No. When economists talk about growth they refer to real figures (adjusted for inflation) not nominal.

MeiyouwentiToday  07:56 am JST

Hit back when attacked. That’s the normal and healthy reaction of all living creatures, from microbes to humans

Don’t you think it is man’s unique nature to be able to rise above his instincts?

@dagon

I doubt they protested when Abenomics slashed corporate taxes and the effect of corporate welfare on tax revenues

It’s actually the exact opposite. The MOF despised Abenomics. Their obsession has always been a return to fiscal orthodoxy—not to please voters like politicians. However, they had to bow to Abe, as he was very powerful.

garymalmgrenToday  07:36 am JST

This is not a problem for Japan alone.

ALL developed countries (Australia is a 1.5 live births per woman) and most developing countries (India etc) are facing a dramatic population decline and not one has reversed it.

Any theory of why Japan is facing this problem and how it should deal with it should be weighed against what we see in other countries.

Korea has a low birth rate along with active outward immigration. Yet those Koreans who settle in a new country emulate the low birth rate trend at home.

Every trick in the book has been tried and failed.

Countries that have a reasonable population growth are actually achieving that by inward immigration. That however is just a gap filling fix.

Exactly . It is a global trend in developed countries. Spain, Italy and Germany all have the same 1.3 fertility rate as Japan. Even France rate which was an exception is now falling rapidly.

Of course good to have support for people who want to have kids but it is unlikely to change much.

We just need to find ways to live with aging societies. Easier said than done though.

owzerToday  02:11 pm JST

My National Health Insurance is about 50,000 yen/month. If they don't reduce this, then no matter what the prices are for commodities won't matter.

Start a small business and save!

But if he is successful he will end up paying the maximum which is 106,000 per month !

JennieToday  10:41 am JST

I’ve given up on the minimum wage here, and it will be very difficult for small firms to hike their wages. I agree on cutting taxes, especially 10% consumption tax is ridiculously high.

Actually no. 10% is the lowest among the G7 except for a few US states. Other countries are around 20%. But on the other hand they have a much more generous pension system so things are difficult to compare.

JeffLeeToday  09:21 am JST

Higher interest rates will also make servicing Japan's colossal debts more expensive.

So what? Most of the coupon payments will flow back to the govt, as most "debt" is already in the public sector. The other bond holders will be receiving yen they can spend or investment, ie "stimulus."

If this were so magical, why would all countries do the same?

There is an excellent book by the two prominent Harvard academics, Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, called This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. By collecting data over centuries, they demonstrated that for all countries with public debt as large as Japan’s it always ended up in tears for the population.This outcome holds true even when the debt is 100% held by domestic investors.

Interestingly, the male-only succession rule was not originally a Japanese concept. Historically, Japan had seven reigning empresses. The male-only succession model was influenced by the Prussian system, which maintained strict male-line inheritance. Japan adopted this approach in the 1889 Meiji Constitution, which formally restricted imperial succession to males in order to align with Western standards of monarchy.

This inflation is self-inflicted. It arose from keeping rates too low for too long, which led to a sharp depreciation of the JPY and high imported inflation. Now they realize it’s an issue. Absurd.

It may seem like a step in the right direction; unfortunately, with the CDP lacking an absolute majority (unlike the DPJ in 2009), it’s likely just going to be a big mess.

tamanegiToday  08:42 pm JST

Just finished a nice dinner with my wife's family. 6 Japanese adults in total. Not one voted today and had zero interest in the election.

Even worse than the meager 29% voter turnout. Sad.

socrateosToday  07:03 am JST

"Regardless of what the election results are, Ishiba's longevity as prime minister is in question," said Rintaro Nishimura at think-tank The Asia Group.

Give me a break. They haven’t even given him a chance to lead Japan yet! Give him a chance before making any judgments about him.

If he wanted to be given a chance, he didn’t have to dissolve the parliament so quickly. He could have first shown us what he was capable of and then made his decision. This is a bet that backfired on him. It’s all self-inflicted.

Tax cuts, despite having the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world, are entirely demagogic and irresponsible. Moreover, Japan’s consumption tax is the lowest among G7 countries, except in some U.S. states.

@Kipling

indeed. Public spending is the only reason Japan is not in a structural recession.

@tora

It is perfectly transparent. They provide two indices: one including fresh food and the other excluding it. The reason for showing the index without fresh food is that fresh food prices vary significantly each month depending on weather, among other factors. Showing an index without fresh food offers a better indication of the medium-term inflation trend.

@JeffLee

I suspect the Japanese govt is deliberately keeping the yen weak...

The Bank of Japan is, not the govt, which has introduced support measures for households to blunt the sting of inflation.

The BOJ is much less (euphemism) independent from the government than other central banks . It is therefore evident that the government has some influence over the level of the JPY. Its sharp fall following Ishiba’s comments on monetary policy after he became prime minister clearly illustrates this.

Agent_NeoToday  07:20 pm JST

Those who say that a weak yen is bad for Japan have little evidence to support their argument. If the yen continues to weaken, it will be a tailwind for the Japanese economy. I hope the yen stays weak for the time being.

Consumption has been very weak because of the impact of the weak JPY on inflation and consumption is 60% of Japanese economy so beyond a certain level the JPY weakness is no more a positive factor for the economy. This is why recently politician like Motegi and Kono put pressure on the BOJ to hike rate to avoid further weakening of the JOY.

Nearly all Japanese would prefer to see Aiko on the throne rather than him.

In fact, Japan has had eight empresses in its history, with the last one reigning from 1762 to 1771.

It was only after the Meiji Restoration, when Japan copied the male-only succession law from Prussia, that it became impossible for a woman to ascend the throne. Japan should return to its original system.

Several people seem to enjoy convenience store sando. I've always found them totally tasteless and offering very little choice. Just try the ones from Marks & Spencer, and you'll understand what I mean.

Other prepared meal while not healthy taste nice though.

Considering that these convenience stores operate around the clock couche jamais would be more appropriate!

Ricky Kaminski13Today  08:21 am JST

Something about Ishiba that just gives me the creeps. The way he talks to the media and people as if he were giving a stern lecture to a child, he is confident I’ll give him that but there’s a background coldness and arrogance to him that just doesn’t work for me somehow. Very much get the feeling that he is talking down to everyone, not exactly endearing or high on the relatable scale.

I completely agree. There’s something about him that makes me feel very uncomfortable. I’ve never understood why public opinion considered him the most suitable candidate for prime minister.

SeigiToday  09:33 am JST

I am not surprised. 1970s and 1980s or even 1990s and remnants of early 2000s would worship anyone who was blonde and blue-eyed.

You must be confusing him with another actor. Delon's hair was dark brown!

06:58 pm JST

The plutocracy at work in this country yet again. Privatisation has been a failure everywhere else it's been done. What could possibly go wrong!

Do you think the privatization of JR was a failure? Everyone recognizes that the Japanese train system is probably the best in the world.

On the other hand, take a public company like SNCF in France. It is a disaster, with 20% of trains being late and very frequent strikes, especially during school holidays when people want to travel!

Probably the most well-known French person in Japan of all time, along with Napoleon.

The company may not use it in a systematic way but at an individual level I think (hope) that many employees use generative tools like Chat GPT in their daily work to generate email, correcting mistakes in a text , improving style, summarizing text, translation …etc. No need for any expertise for that.