Japan's Export Decline Slows (Slightly) In March

The rate of decline in Japan’s export slowed in March, after four-months of record breaking contractions. Evidentally this constitutes some sort of sign that the intensity of the recession may have started to ease.Overseas shipments were down 45.6 percent from a year earlier, as compared with February’s unprecedented 49.4 percent plunge. Most notable was the fact that (on an annual basis)

Data supporting the concept of continued deflation in Japan

Bloomberg's Jason Clenfield has a piece out today describing how Japan's business have been coping with economic weakness by cutting wages rather than through layoffs. This is not really a surprise given that "lifetime employment" is a concept that still has some support in the country. However, the piece refers to OECD data showing "Japanese salaries have fallen in seven of the last 10 years".

A Perspective on Carry Trading

By Claus Vistesen: CopenhagenARE carry trades back in Vogue? With all the talk about second derivatives, equity rallies, and for my own part spring sensation in the market place this question is, I think, a natural one to ask. And by all means, I am not the only one who is asking it. Actually, I think most serious FX punters out there are considering (or have considered) whether it is

US Treasury holdings: Japan vs China

This is based on data from the Treasury Department on Major Foreign Holders of U.S. Treasury Securities. The chart below(click to enlarge) through January 2009 shows that China passed Japan in official holdings in September 2008. Now we know from Brad Setser's analyses that there is more than just official Treasury holdings to consider when comparing total foreign

A shortage of leadership and ideas

Yesterday Japanese Prime Minister Aso released his administration's economic support plan, amounting to 15.4 trillion yen or about $150 billion. Bloomberg reports that PM Aso's stimulus plan is receiving largely negative reviews from economists. This plan would result in Japan's total debt reaching 800 trillion yen by next March. The Bloomberg piece states that "Aso, 68, said the government

How to Increase Consumption in Japan?

By Claus Vistesen: Copenhagen Even though the big news of last week undoubtedly is represented by the one trillion session in London, the smaller than expected nudge from the gents at Kaiserstrasse and the emerging talk of a market bottom and impending recovery, I am going to wonkishly stay on the topic with respect to my latest long piece on the land of the rising sun and its economic

An analysis of Japan's financial system that is likely still valid

Michael J. Oakes, in a Reason piece titled More Bang For the Yen? from 1998 describes how fiscal policies relating to savings and investment affect individual financial decisions in Japan:"Japanese haven't accumulated large savings merely because of cultural preferences. The tax system encourages savings and discourages participation by individuals in stock and bond markets. (Dividends are