GEM note on Japan

Cross-post from Alpha.Sources Many clouds surround the coming decision by the BOJ to raise rates to 0.75% or whether to stay put. Today's rather dim data on domestic consumption further adds to the issues facing the BOJ at the August meeting. However, there also seems to be mounting evidence that what seemed to represent a sustainable recovery based on domestic demand at the end of 2006

Blogging The Japanese Elections

Well, since it is a very hot Sunday here in Barcelona, I am going to try and keep cool by live-blogging the Japanese elections. JEW's in-house political analyst Manuel Alvarez of Election Resources on the Internet will also be updating his Global Economy Matters Post as events unfold.Apart from all the heat - and as Claus indicates in his last post here - these elections come at an especially

Japan Goes to the Polls

Japanese voters go to the polls this Sunday to decide the future composition of the upper house of the parliament. As you will read in the analyses this election is not of major importance regarding the government of Japan (see more of the political system at Manuel Alvarez' Electionressources) but the election is still an important test for the ruling party LDP which is set alongside its partner

Why Japanese consumers are feeling even worse off than US consumers

I just discovered Japan Economy News & Blog, mentioned by Edward in a previous post, which has a recent post concerning "Increased tax burdens, consumer pessimism, excessively low interest rates, and the BOJ’s June Standard of Living Survey." That is certainly a mouthful; the gist of the article is that "With many households nervous over future prospects, a potential rise in the consumption tax,

June Trade Surplus

Well, Japan's trade surplus powered ahead again in June, up 53.4% from June 2006, according to Bloomberg. Japan's trade surplus surged in June as a weaker yen and higher overseas demand for electronics and cars helped exports rise at the fastest pace in five months.The surplus expanded 53.4 percent to 1.23 trillion yen ($10.2 billion) from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in Tokyo.

The Eternal Yen Waiting Game?

This is UBS' Jonathan Anderson writing on the Yen (hat tip; RGE's Economonitor) ... This is a well written piece which point to a number of important structural characteristics of the Japanese economy ... the question then becomes, why are we seeing these structural characteristics?Here is Jonathan ...(...)Every one of Japan’s neighbors is strengthening against the dollar ... what will it take to

A Bit of Both from the Domestic Economy

This small snippet is really a recognition of the fine job by Ken Worsley who maintains the Japan Economy and News blog. Between him and JEW you should be able to find top notch economic commentary and coverage on Japan. So what is in store this time? Well, as I have argued before regarding the much hailed August meeting at the BOJ much will depend on the outlook of domestic demand. In fact, I