The Economist (January 10)
“North Korea’s strange juggling act is becoming ever more precarious. The hubbub over The Interview has attracted unwanted attention. “Just because Mr Kim runs a paranoid, delusional despotism, does not mean that the outside world is not out to get him.” In fact, it increasingly seems “the comforting calculation for North Korea’s regime—that, painful though its existence is to its people and the outside world, its collapse would be worse—may not hold for ever in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.”
Tags: Beijing, Collapse, Delusional, Despotism, Kim, North Korea, Paranoid, Regime, Seoul, The Interview, Tokyo, Washington
Wall Street Journal (November 27)
The free-trade agreements China recently won with South Korea and Australia serve as “a reminder that the rest of the world won’t stand still while Washington and Tokyo dither…. The U.S. and Japan need to transcend their domestic special interests and finish a Pacific trade pact if they want to compete with China for economic influence.”
Tags: Agreements, Australia, China, Compete, Economic influence, Free trade, Japan, South Korea, Special interests, Tokyo, TPP, U.S., Washington
The Economist (August 9)
Abenomics may be working at the top, but it’s not trickling down to “folk who do not own bundles of shares or a flat in Tokyo’s trendy Daikanyama neighbourhood…. The mantra of Mr Abe and his advisers has been that a virtuous circle would come about whereby wages would rise and lift consumer spending, which in turn would boost investment by companies. Bingo: Japan would emerge from deflation. That is not happening and it is a conundrum.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Advisers, Consumer spending, Daikanyama, Deflation, Investment, Japan, Shares, Tokyo, Trickle down, Wages
Investment Week (May 19)
At just 3.6%, Japan’s unemployment rate is extremely low and this should promote inflation. “Labour shortages have already driven wages higher for part-time workers. Adding to this, the demand to provide new infrastructure for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the need to replace equipment should also serve to further stimulate the economy.” The OECD has forecast that “only Japan, New Zealand, and Israel are expected to grow faster than their previously forecasted GDPs in 2014.”
Tags: 2020 Olympics, Economy, Equipment, GDP, Inflation, Infrastructure, Israel, Japan, Labor, New Zealand, OECD, Shortage, Tokyo, Unemployment rate, Wages, Workers
Wall Street Journal (May 9)
“Driven by a surge in international interest, total commercial property transactions in Tokyo jumped 71% to $10.1 billion from the same period last year, leaping above New York and London.” Tokyo’s commercial real estate market was the largest in the world during the first quarter of 2014. This marked “the first time the Japanese capital has topped an ongoing survey of the world’s major cities launched a decade ago.”
Tags: Commercial property, Japan、New York, London, Market, Real estate, Surge, Tokyo, Transactions
New York Times (April 27)
“If nothing changes in the next two decades, India will need to provide chronic care for more than 100 million people with diabetes — close to the entire adult population of Russia.” In China, diabetic numbers are also skyrocketing and expected to mushroom from 98 million to 142 million by 2035. And these numbers understate the challenge. We know how to manage diabetes “in Kansas City or Tokyo.” In developing countries without sufficient chronic care medical infrastructure and with incomes that can ill afford medication, diabetes becomes a devastating affliction. “If we’re going to be any help at all, we need to make a conceptual shift.”
Tags: China, Chronic care, Conceptual shift, Developing countries, Diabetes, Incomes, India, Kansas City, Medical infrastructure, Medication, Russia, Tokyo
Washington Post (February 27, 2014)
“The United States is committed by treaty to defend Japanese administrative control in the Senkaku Islands…．But the United States doesn’t want to get dragged into war over a few crags of rock, either, so Washington is also urging caution to Tokyo.”
Tags: China, Defense, Japan, Senkaku islands, Tokyo, Treaty, U.S., War, Washington
Institutional Investor (October Issue)
“Atsushi Saito has reinvigorated the Japanese exchange world with a merger and a technology overhaul. Now comes the hard part: winning back market share in Asia.” Following the merger of the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges, the Japan Exchange Group ranks third behind only the NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX. “JPX now controls more than 90 percent of all equity-and derivatives-trading volume in Japan.” Yet, “despite its lead in listed companies, JPX trails in foreign listings. It’s also weak in terms of options, futures contracts and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), compared with the big U.S. exchanges”
Tags: Asia, Atsushi Saito, Derivatives, Equities, ETFs, Futures, IT, Japan, JPX, Market share, Merger, Nasdaq OMX, NYSE Euronext, Options, Osaka, Tokyo, Trading volume, U.S.
The Australian (October 10)
“As Sydney gears up for what could be its hottest October day on record, a landmark study warns that such extremes will be the norm in just 25 years.” The predicted climate departure dates for Australia range “from 2038 in Sydney to 2049 in Adelaide.” West Papua will get hit much earlier (2020) and Anchorage much later (2071), with Tokyo sandwiched in the middle (2041).
Tags: Adelaide, Anchorage, Australia, Climate departure, Extreme temperatures, Sydney, Tokyo, West Papua
Euromoney (September Issue)
“There is nothing understated or stumbling about the recovery in Japanese markets since the Abe government took power last December with a pledge to lift the country out of a prolonged slump. The overvalued yen has plummeted giving a massive boost to beleaguered Japanese exporters, while the Tokyo stock market has gone from global backwater to top performer.”
Tags: Abe government, Global backwater, Japan, Japanese exporters, Recovery, Slump, Tokyo, Top performer, Yen
