Japan Economy Forum

[LeveragedBuyout]

I wonder what our anti abenomics colleagues have to say about such sobering news.

I've given up engaging with that sort, there is absolutely no intellectual payoff. The few voices of reason have been drowned by a deluge of mindless ultras, so I don't even post about their economy anymore.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

American critics of Abenomics point to this as an example of the failed third arrow. Structural reform is hard, and costs political capital, but it's the only way to secure Japan's future.

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Despite Bold Japan Trade Pledges, U.S. Still Wonders: ‘Where’s the Beef?’ - Japan Real Time - WSJ

• 

• September 27, 2014, 2:52 PM JST

Despite Bold Japan Trade Pledges, U.S. Still Wonders: ‘Where’s the Beef?’
ByMitsuru Obe

Japan Prime Minister Japan Shinzo Abe speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York Sept. 25.
Getty Images
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began and ended a trip to New York this week with bold pledges to help advance stalled talks on an ambitious pan-Pacific free-trade pact. But mid-week, his chief negotiator walked out of a Washington session with his American counterpart, after U.S. officials accused Tokyo of moving too timidly on opening up Japan’s agriculture market, leaving the agreement’s fate as uncertain as ever.

“We entered the negotiation with a flexible attitude, but it turned out that we were not on the same page,” a Japanese government spokesman said in a phone interview, explaining the latest breakdown in the talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

This week’s action followed a pattern that has become familiar ever since Mr. Abe won kudos from Americans in early 2013 for telling President Barack Obama during a Washington visit that he was prepared to enter the trade agreement, even though it would mean painful concessions for Japan’s protected and politically powerful farm lobby.

Mr. Abe has made TPP a pillar of reforms he is promoting to revive his country’s long-stalled economy. But Americans have repeatedly complained that Japan’s negotiators have failed to back up Mr. Abe’s words with concrete proposals. While the pact involves 12 nations, the main focus has been on discussions between the U.S. and Japan, by far the two largest economies participating. There’s no formal deadline for completion, but both sides have said they’re aiming to reach an agreement by the end of this year.

This past Tuesday, Mr. Abe made a passionate speech on economic reform at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “Japan is determined to boldly contribute to reaching a (TPP) agreement,” Mr. Abe said. “To be honest with you, it is indeed an enormous task to suppress the resistance from the people who have been protected by vested interests,” he added. But “there is no future for them if they are not exposed to competition.”

The speech raised expectations that Tokyo was finally prepared for the kind of dramatic market opening that TPP nations have, in principle, embraced.

But in talks the next day in Washington, Japan’s chief negotiator, Akira Amari, rebuffed American demands on opening up Japan’s beef market, and proposed only a modest reduction in tariffs for beef imports. Mr. Amari also requested in exchange a highly punishing safeguard measure, which would allow Japan to raise tariffs once imports reached a certain level, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The proposal was viewed by the U.S. as an attempt to maintain the status quo, and U.S. officials threatened to retract an earlier offer to eliminate a 2.5% tariff on Japanese auto parts. The removal of these tariffs could bring major benefits to Japan, given the huge size of the U.S. auto market.

According to Americans officials familiar with the discussions, Mr. Amari abruptly walked out of the negotiation just one hour into the meeting Wednesday – leaving behind stunned U.S. trade negotiators, and 40 sandwiches they had prepared. Americans were planning to hold discussions through lunch and the afternoon, and if necessary, through the evening to move the talks forward.

“The Americans sprung a new complication on their Japanese counterparts,” Japan’s Nikkei business newspaper reported. “Stunned by the sudden reversal, the Japanese side cried sabotage.”

The Japanese government spokesman would neither confirm nor deny whether Mr. Amari walked out of the talks.

The behavior was atypical for Mr. Amari, a patient negotiator who had endured many marathon sessions with his U.S. counterpart, Michael Froman. In April, they held talks for more than 40 hours – over meals and sometimes into the early morning hours.

Two days after the breakdown in talks in Washington, Mr. Abe, still in New York, met Friday with Vice President Joe Biden who pressed Mr. Abe to do more to help push TPP forward.

“The Vice President and the Prime Minister agreed on the strategic and economic importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the need to resolve outstanding bilateral issues in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, including on agriculture and automobiles, as soon as possible,” according to a statement released by the White House. Mr. Froman also attended the meeting, according to his office.

During the session, Mr. Abe indicated he will make more efforts to move the TPP talks forward, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The TPP talks were supposed to wrap up last year, but have been dragging on, in part due to discord over tariffs between the U.S. and Japan. Given the several months it takes to draft a bill to submit to the U.S. Congress, it is widely believed that early next year will be the deadline for the passage of the TPP ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

 

[Aepsilons]

Japan's SoftBank in talks to buy DreamWorks

(Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp (9984.T) is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA.O), the Hollywood studio behind the "Shrek" and "Madagascar" movie hits, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

An acquisition of DreamWorks by SoftBank would make it part of a cash-rich Japanese communications and media company that, under founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son, has shown a willingness to take big bets on combining disparate businesses.

The talks were first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, which quoted an unidentified source as saying a buyout would value DreamWorks at $3.4 billion.

The entertainment trade publication said SoftBank had offered $32 per share for DreamWorks, a substantial premium to the stock's Friday closing price of $22.36.

Buying DreamWorks, which is headed by veteran Hollywood producer and film executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, would make SoftBank the second Japanese technology company to buy a Hollywood studio, following Sony Corp (6758.T), which bought Columbia Pictures in 1989.

SoftBank has recently cashed in on a share of its investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and dropped its pursuit of mobile carrier T-Mobile US (TMUS.N) in the face of opposition from anti-trust regulators in the United States.

Last week, SoftBank booked a $4.6 billion gain on the share listing of Alibaba Group in New York (BABA.N). SoftBank retains a 32 percent stake, making it Alibaba's biggest shareholder.

SoftBank has significant stakes in other large listed entities, including U.S. mobile carrier Sprint (S.N), through which it had pursued a deal for T-Mobile, internet portal Yahoo Japan (4689.T) and online games maker GungHo Online Entertainment (3765.T).

A SoftBank spokesman said the company had no comment on the reported talks with DreamWorks. A representative of DreamWorks could not be immediately reached for comment.

MOVE INTO CONTENT

In July, SoftBank hired former Google (GOOGL.O) executive Nikesh Arora to run a newly created unit called SoftBank Internet and Media, reporting directly to Son, in a move that stoked speculation the telecommunications company could be considering a move to acquire content production assets.

SoftBank held the equivalent of more than $17 billion in cash and equivalents as of the end of June, its most recent reported quarter.

DreamWorks, based in Glendale, California, has seen its share price has drop 37 percent this year after two consecutive quarterly losses, a string of weak-performing releases such as "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" and investor concern about the production costs of its movies.

In July, DreamWorks said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision was investigating a writedown it took at the end of 2013 on the animated flop "Turbo".

Dreamworks Animation was spun off from DreamWorks Studios in 2004 as a separate listed company.

The earlier Dreamworks studio had been founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Katzenberg, who moved with the spin-off and remains chief executive of the animation company, which also has the franchise hit "Kung Fu Panda" and owns the rights to Felix the Cat.

The move by SoftBank comes as Alibaba is also looking to expand its video content offered through a set-top box in China. In July, the company announced a partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF.N) for its titles including "The Hunger Games".

Sony rebuffed a proposal from hedge fund Third Point to spin off its entertainment business last year in order to separate it from its loss-making electronics division.

Japan's SoftBank in talks to buy DreamWorks: source| Reuters

The TPP talks were supposed to wrap up last year, but have been dragging on, in part due to discord over tariffs between the U.S. and Japan. Given the several months it takes to draft a bill to submit to the U.S. Congress, it is widely believed that early next year will be the deadline for the passage of the TPP ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

I wonder what the specifics are to these tariff schemes that its causing such an annoying rift between both Japanese and American counterparts.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Japan's SoftBank in talks to buy DreamWorks

View attachment 93494


(Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp (9984.T) is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA.O), the Hollywood studio behind the "Shrek" and "Madagascar" movie hits, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

An acquisition of DreamWorks by SoftBank would make it part of a cash-rich Japanese communications and media company that, under founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son, has shown a willingness to take big bets on combining disparate businesses.

The talks were first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, which quoted an unidentified source as saying a buyout would value DreamWorks at $3.4 billion.

The entertainment trade publication said SoftBank had offered $32 per share for DreamWorks, a substantial premium to the stock's Friday closing price of $22.36.

Buying DreamWorks, which is headed by veteran Hollywood producer and film executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, would make SoftBank the second Japanese technology company to buy a Hollywood studio, following Sony Corp (6758.T), which bought Columbia Pictures in 1989.

SoftBank has recently cashed in on a share of its investment in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and dropped its pursuit of mobile carrier T-Mobile US (TMUS.N) in the face of opposition from anti-trust regulators in the United States.

Last week, SoftBank booked a $4.6 billion gain on the share listing of Alibaba Group in New York (BABA.N). SoftBank retains a 32 percent stake, making it Alibaba's biggest shareholder.

SoftBank has significant stakes in other large listed entities, including U.S. mobile carrier Sprint (S.N), through which it had pursued a deal for T-Mobile, internet portal Yahoo Japan (4689.T) and online games maker GungHo Online Entertainment (3765.T).

A SoftBank spokesman said the company had no comment on the reported talks with DreamWorks. A representative of DreamWorks could not be immediately reached for comment.

MOVE INTO CONTENT

In July, SoftBank hired former Google (GOOGL.O) executive Nikesh Arora to run a newly created unit called SoftBank Internet and Media, reporting directly to Son, in a move that stoked speculation the telecommunications company could be considering a move to acquire content production assets.

SoftBank held the equivalent of more than $17 billion in cash and equivalents as of the end of June, its most recent reported quarter.

DreamWorks, based in Glendale, California, has seen its share price has drop 37 percent this year after two consecutive quarterly losses, a string of weak-performing releases such as "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" and investor concern about the production costs of its movies.

In July, DreamWorks said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision was investigating a writedown it took at the end of 2013 on the animated flop "Turbo".

Dreamworks Animation was spun off from DreamWorks Studios in 2004 as a separate listed company.

The earlier Dreamworks studio had been founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Katzenberg, who moved with the spin-off and remains chief executive of the animation company, which also has the franchise hit "Kung Fu Panda" and owns the rights to Felix the Cat.

The move by SoftBank comes as Alibaba is also looking to expand its video content offered through a set-top box in China. In July, the company announced a partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF.N) for its titles including "The Hunger Games".

Sony rebuffed a proposal from hedge fund Third Point to spin off its entertainment business last year in order to separate it from its loss-making electronics division.

Japan's SoftBank in talks to buy DreamWorks: source| Reuters



I wonder what the specifics are to these tariff schemes that its causing such an annoying rift between both Japanese and American counterparts.

Time to party like it's 1989!

Regarding the TPP, it seems to be related to agricultural protectionism. India blew up the WTO over agricultural protectionism, so I am not surprised. That said, Japan has had decades to transform its fragmented, inefficient agricultural industry into a consolidated, productive set of agribusinesses. I have little patience for that argument, though--if Japan isn't ready, it should leave the TPP (and throw all of its other industries under the bus). Otherwise, agriculture is the price of participation.

It's not only the US which is deeply unhappy about Japan's stance, by the way.

 

[BigDaddyWatch]

That will boost NIKKEI up to 20000 mark. It takes long time to see such a figure.

What is the point ? The Nikkei could go to 30000 for that matter. The problem is that these gains are an illusion. It comes from the ultra low interest rate and ultra loose monetary policies from the BOJ. Once the monetary policy tightens these stocks and other assets will have to correct in price ie crash. I pitty da fool who's piling in to these inflated assets.

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

Wow, nice development. Big example for others.

 

[Aepsilons]

Nissan to make luxury cars in new China joint venture

BEIJING —

Japanese carmaker Nissan said Monday that it has formed a new joint venture with its Chinese partner Dongfeng to produce Infiniti luxury cars in the world’s largest auto market.

The partnership between Nissan Motor Co and Dongfeng Motor Corp aims to raise annual sales of Nissan’s luxury brand to 100,000 cars by 2018, more than half of which are to be locally produced, according to a statement sent to AFP by the Japanese firm’s China arm.

Production will start in November at a plant in Xiangyang in the central province of Hubei, Nissan said, marking the inauguration of Infiniti’s third global manufacturing base after Tochigi Prefecture and the U.S. state of Tennessee.

Dongfeng, China’s second biggest automaker, is controlled by the Chinese state.

In May, the company acquired 14.1% of Peugeot Citroen as part of a 3-billion-euro ($3.9-billion currently) series of capital hikes for the troubled French auto group.

Monday’s statement did not provide financial details.

“The establishment of Dongfeng Infiniti will realize the extension of Dongfeng Motor Corp’s value chain into (the) luxury segment,” Xu Ping, chairman of Dongfeng Motor Corp, said in the statement.

The new company is an independent wholly-owned subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Co, a 50-50 joint venture between the Chinese carmaker and Nissan, it added.

“I believe drawing on the valuable experience of the two parties, Dongfeng Infiniti is bound to be a success that will also boost Infiniti’s strategy to build a global premium brand,” Carlos Ghosn, president of Nissan Motor, said in the statement.

China is the most important growth market for Infiniti. The brand sold more than 18,000 vehicles in the country in the first eight months of this year, just over double the sales of the same period in 2013, the statement said.

Models to be produced in China include two tailored for the national market—Q50L, a sports sedan, and QX50, a long wheel-based SUV, Nissan said.

Locally produced models will bear the Dongfeng Infiniti mark while imported cars will be sold as Infiniti, it added.


Nissan to make luxury cars in new China joint venture ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

 

[Aepsilons]

Japan Economy Watchers Index Stable In September

A measure of people's assessment of the Japanese economy held steady in September, after declining sharply in the previous month, defying expectations for an increase, a report from the Cabinet Office indicated Wednesday.

The current conditions index of the Economy Watchers Survey showed a score of 47.4, unchanged from August. Economists had expected the index to climb to 48.5. In July, the reading was 51.3.

A score above 50 indicates optimism and a reading below 50 suggests pessimism. The survey is carried out among taxi drivers, hotel workers and restaurant staff, and shop salespersons.

The expectations index of the survey eased to 48.7 in September from 50.4 in August. The index declined for the fourth straight month. It fell below 50-threshold for the first time in six months.

The Japanese economy is continuing a gradual recovery and the reduction in demand following the sale stake hike is easing, the survey said. The rise in energy prices remain a concern, it added.

"The renewed deterioration in the outlook component of today's Economy Watchers Survey suggests that a rapid recovery of Japan's economy is not on the cards," Capital Economics Japan Economist Marcel Thieliant said.

Japan Economy Watchers Index Stable In September

Japan posts healthy current account surplus despite ongoing trade deficit


Japan posted a current account surplus of ¥287.1 billion in August for the second straight month of black ink despite a big trade deficit, as income from foreign investments surged to a record high for the month, the government said Wednesday.

Exports rose 1.0 percent from a year earlier to ¥5.64 trillion amid growing shipments of metalworking machinery, but imports climbed 2.3 percent to ¥6.48 trillion due in part to rising imports of liquefied natural gas, bringing the goods trade deficit to ¥831.8 billion, also a record high for the month, the Finance Ministry said.

The surplus in the primary income account, which reflects how much Japan earns from its foreign investments, jumped 20.6 percent to ¥1.51 trillion, up for the second straight month, buoyed by dividends from foreign direct investment with the yen weakening, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

In August, the services sector, including passenger transportation and cargo shipping, posted a deficit of ¥250.8 billion, but the travel balance of payments improved as the number of foreign passenger arrivals in Japan soared 22.4 percent from a year before, to 1.11 million, the largest for the month.

The current account surplus is expected to keep widening as the recent depreciation of the yen will push up profits from overseas investments, outweighing an expansion in fuel energy imports triggered by the suspension of nuclear power generation since the start of the Fukushima emergency in March 2011, analysts said.

“The trade deficit is unlikely to narrow soon given weak exports, but the current account surplus may increase with the yen’s slide driving up the income account surplus,” said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

Shinke added that the consumption tax hike to 8 percent on April 1 from 5 percent might also help improve the current account balance, as the increase has stifled private spending and industrial production at home, a factor that will continue to prevent imports from growing sharply.

The yen dropped versus the dollar by 5.2 percent year on year in August to ¥102.96 on an average basis and against the euro by 5.3 percent to ¥137.13, the Finance Ministry said.

A falling yen usually supports exports by making Japanese products cheaper abroad and boosts the value of overseas revenues in yen terms, though it pushes up import prices. Japan depends on imports for more than 90 percent of its energy needs.

Amid speculation that the Bank of Japan will ease its monetary grip further to stimulate the sluggish economy and that the U.S.-Japan interest rate gap will broaden, the yen has been on a downward trend versus its major counterparts.

Japan’s economy, the world’s third-biggest, plummeted an annualized real 7.1 percent in the three months through June, suffering its worst setback since the first quarter of 2009 when it fell an annualized 15.0 percent following the 2008 global financial crisis.


Japan posts healthy current account surplus despite ongoing trade deficit | The Japan Times

 

[kawaraj]

Time to party like it's 1989!

Regarding the TPP, it seems to be related to agricultural protectionism. India blew up the WTO over agricultural protectionism, so I am not surprised. That said, Japan has had decades to transform its fragmented, inefficient agricultural industry into a consolidated, productive set of agribusinesses. I have little patience for that argument, though--if Japan isn't ready, it should leave the TPP (and throw all of its other industries under the bus). Otherwise, agriculture is the price of participation.

It's not only the US which is deeply unhappy about Japan's stance, by the way.

No. You can not simply say agricultural industry is ineffeient while indeed it is fragmented as Japan's a mountainous country with limited territory and arable land. Japanese farmers are deeply mixed with local political sphere and nobody can ignore the interest of this population.

If my oberservation is correct the US is pushing Japan into this TPP thing not otherwise. So let TPP goes without Japan, and the US will get ahead with some insignificant nations in the Pacific. (China is not in. Korea is defending its agriculture as well.)

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

No. You can not simply say agricultural industry is ineffeient while indeed it is fragmented as Japan's a mountainous country with limited territory and arable land. Japanese farmers are deeply mixed with local political sphere and nobody can ignore the interest of this population.

If my oberservation is correct the US is pushing Japan into this TPP thing not otherwise. So let TPP goes without Japan, and the US will get ahead with some insignificant nations in the Pacific. (China is not in. Korea is defending its agriculture as well.)

No, on the contrary, you must now prove that Japanese agriculture is efficient. You won't be able to.

Rice farming in Japan: Political staple | The Economist

Japanese agriculture’s biggest problem is that all but 2% of farms are smaller than five hectares and many comprise just a few fields, a fragmentation preserved by the gentansystem and by other regulations. Tiny, often part-time farmers, with few economies of scale, antiquated methods and old equipment hobble the industry. The sticky rice favoured by Japanese consumers ends up costing twice or more what rice does in other countries.

To protect its wildly uncompetitive farmers, Japan has erected one of the world’s highest tariffs: the duty on imported polished rice is 777.7%. Mr Abe’s surprise decision in March to bring Japan into talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade grouping, has brought these duties under pressure. Even though a final deal on TPP is far from certain, the talks are still a powerful force for change.

The phasing out of gentan should spur rice production, allowing prices to fall at last. That in turn should encourage small landowners to hand over their paddies to be farmed by larger operators, says Takeshi Niinami, the government’s chief adviser on the reform. Another of Mr Abe’s plans is to create new agencies in each prefecture to gather farmland from smallholders, consolidate it and lease it in larger chunks to companies. The combination of the two new policies could halve the cost of growing rice from an average of ¥16,000 ($160) a 60kg sack to just ¥8,000, says Mr Niinami. At those levels, Japanese rice could hold its own against imports, and even make inroads in export markets.
​

The fragmentation and inefficiency of Japan's agricultural industry is well-known, so it's unclear where you are coming from, or what it is, exactly, that you are observing that makes you draw such conclusions.

As quoted in the article, Japan joined the TPP as part of Abe's reform drive, not because the US bullied Japan into it. Indeed, you can try proving that the US forced Japan into the TPP, but let me save you some time: you won't be able to, since it's untrue.

I agree that if Japan can't get its act together in reforming its agriculture sector in order to join the TPP, then we should bypass Japan and sign the treaty without it. Japan can continue to waste tremendous amounts of public funding on its farmers while charging its consumers outrageous prices, and the rest of the TPP members can increase trade volumes between each other and lower costs of products. Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

[Aepsilons]

No. You can not simply say agricultural industry is ineffeient while indeed it is fragmented as Japan's a mountainous country with limited territory and arable land. Japanese farmers are deeply mixed with local political sphere and nobody can ignore the interest of this population.

I understand the plight of the farmers, and given i even have sympathy towards their being subsidized by government. However, we have to think about the nation, the overall benefits of the national buyer. We all know how much Japanese-grown agricultural goods are.

Until recently, we had limited importation of foreign grown agriculture due to the stringent requirements. @kawaraj , just recently Japan had started importing Pakistani mangoes , and it was such a success with domestic buyers that there are plans to increase importation quotas from Pakistan. Now, friend, the country should expand on this. Price of quality overseas commodities is affordable for the domestic buyer.

Japan receives Pakistani mangoes

I agree that if Japan can't get its act together in reforming its agriculture sector in order to join the TPP, then we should bypass Japan and sign the treaty without it. Japan can continue to waste tremendous amounts of public funding on its farmers while charging its consumers outrageous prices, and the rest of the TPP members can increase trade volumes between each other and lower costs of products. Sounds like a win-win to me.

This is the problem with excessive protectionism that is seen in the Japanese home market. And I do hope we can honor agreements / promises of implementing TPP.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Hopefully this finally puts to rest all of the uninformed discussion about how Plaza destroyed Japan.

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Yen Weaker Now Than at Time of 1985 Plaza Accord - Japan Real Time - WSJ

• 

• October 10, 2014, 4:35 PM JST

Yen Weaker Now Than at Time of 1985 Plaza Accord
ByTakashi Nakamichi

Then U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker speaks to reporters at New York’s Plaza Hotel on Sept. 22, 1985. Finance ministers from five major Western industrial nations agreed at the time on steps to strengthen the yen against the U.S. dollar.
Associated Press
Thanks to the Bank of Japan’s aggressive easing measures, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has successfully fulfilled one pledge he made before coming to power in late 2012: weakening the yen. But has it become too weak?

While the yen is still a long way from its lows against the dollar in 2002, BOJ data suggests that in relative terms, it is at its weakest level in more than 30 years. That’s going beyond the time of the 1985 Plaza Accord, when a group of major nations agreed the yen had to be strengthened, judging it to be too low.

The yen’s relative strength is a hot button issue at the moment as policy makers, corporate executives and the public grapple with the pros and cons of its weakening.

Japanese companies’ overseas earnings are now worth more in yen terms, sparking a surge in corporate earnings. But the lower unit has shown few signs of reinvigorating exports so far as had been hoped. Some people say the currency has fallen too much, making their life more difficult by pushing up the import costs of everything from food to natural resources.

The yen’s fall has seen the dollar rise from around ¥84 in December 2012 to as much as ¥110 earlier in October, but it still lies a long way from the ¥135 seen in 2002.

In relative terms, though, the BOJ says the yen is now even weaker than it was at the time of the Plaza Accord in 1985, a landmark agreement among rich nations to help strengthen a yen that was seen as too low against the U.S. dollar.

To calculate the currency’s relative strength, the central bank compares the yen exchange rate against 59 of its trading partners, weighting each currency according to the value of trade.

The bank’s real-effective exchange rate also takes into account differences in inflation rates among the countries, another factor that changes a unit’s relative strength.

The BOJ calculations show that the real-effective exchange rate hit 74.91 in January this year, its lowest since 74.56 in November 1982 . The lower the index’s figure, the weaker the currency.

The rate has since recovered a little, hitting 77.22 in August, the month for which the latest data is available. But that level is still weaker than 85.16 in September 1985, the month in which officials from the U.S., Japan, then-West Germany, France and the U.K . met at the Plaza Hotel in New York to sign the currency accord.

When Mr. Abe took office, the rate was at 93.11.

The real-effective rate may well be an indicator for wonks that doesn’t make headlines, but it provides some evidence that the yen has weakened further than even the dollar-yen exchange rate indicates.

The BOJ says the index “captures the international competitiveness of a currency, which cannot be measured only by examining bilateral exchange rates.”

 

[Aepsilons]

This Translation App Helps Professionals Traveling in China and Japan

When it comes to tea, knowing the local language is what turns leaves into profits, according to Elyse Petersen, CEO of Las Vegas-based online marketplace Tealet. Petersen travels to China and Japan several times per year to source products; the problem is, no one on her four-person staff speaks or reads Japanese or any Chinese dialect.

In an effort to streamline Tealet's transcription burden, Petersen began experimenting with transliteration tools and found Waygo, a mobile app that takes a snapshot of, say, a menu, street sign or document, and translates the text into basic English. The app doesn't need to connect to the web to work; a week of use runs $1.99, and lifetime usage costs $6.99.

Petersen uses Waygo to assist her local translators, who often struggle with written business texts like sales presentations and memos. "With the app I can figure out what a memo, slide deck or dinner menu is basically about," she says. "That lets the meeting stay about business and not about the fact that I can't tell the pork on the menu from the turtle."

"The app is all about 'helping in the moment' of travel or direct conversations," says Ryan Rogowski, CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based Waygo. Since launching in 2013, it has logged more than 1 million translations, and Rogowski expects that number to jump once his seven-person team launches new languages for the app later this year. (He wouldn't reveal which ones.)

For Petersen, Waygo has become a welcome companion on buying trips. "I don't see this replacing a translator or guide," she says. "But it's a clever, low-cost tool."


This Translation App Helps Professionals Traveling in China and Japan

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Oh, Japan...

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Japan Financial Firms Make Investing Cute - Japan Real Time - WSJ

• 

• October 14, 2014, 9:30 AM JST

Japan Financial Firms Make Investing Cute
ByEleanor Warnock

Financial information company Quick Corp. is trying to generate interest in stock investing among the young by using cute, female, anime characters.
Quick Corp.
What do you think about when you buy Japanese stocks?

If you’re buying shares of diaper-maker Unicharm Corp., one financial information company wants you to think of a blonde cartoon damsel in a flowing white dress.

And if you’re into Japan Tobacco Inc., make it a “cool beauty” in a labcoat and miniskirt who “loves udon noodles.”

Anime and cute mascots have been used to push everything from Communism to government bonds in Japan. Now, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe trying to get people to put less money into bank accounts and more into stocks, financial firms such as data provider Quick Corp. are putting a sweeter face on investing.

Quick, part of the Nikkei group of companies and known for compiling the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, is pairing cute, animated characters with specific companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Although Quick doesn’t sell financial securities itself, it hopes to raise awareness about stock investing among youth.

“Young people at the company raised the point that if the young move away from stocks, that’s a concern for us as a company,” said Yoshihiro Ohkochi, head of a seven-member team of young employees tasked with popularizing stock investing among their peers. “So we looked into what young people like, and it was young, female characters.”

So far, the team’s work has meant doing things they had never done before, such as hiring illustrators and finding a voice actress for the project’s main character.

“At first we didn’t even know how much an illustrator should cost,” Mr. Ohkochi said.

Each character is designed by artists and then proposed to companies that Quick thinks would appeal to investors.

The characters appear alongside hard-headed statistics like market capitalization and return on equity. The firm hopes get 100 firms on board with the initiative this year, and 100 next year. While Quick is giving the data away for free, it hopes to license the project to securities companies.

Meanwhile, Japan’s biggest brokerage, Nomura Securities Co., is also taking an animated approach. This summer, the firm started a website using cartoons and the metaphor of farming to explain concepts such as asset diversification.

Nomura planted an actual farm on top of a downtown Tokyo shopping center, where 100 people got to try the produce Saturday.

“It was a steep learning curve to understand how to use social media to deliver messages that are not only accurate, but light-hearted enough to attract followers,” said marketing department executive director Shinya Takahashi.

But neither Nomura nor Quick expect young people to have much disposable income for stock investing — for now.

“We wanted to approach young people … in the hopes that one day they become our customers,” Mr. Takahashi said.

 

[kawaraj]

Oh, Japan...

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Japan Financial Firms Make Investing Cute - Japan Real Time - WSJ

View attachment 131198

• View attachment 131199

• October 14, 2014, 9:30 AM JST

Japan Financial Firms Make Investing Cute
ByEleanor Warnock
View attachment 131200
Financial information company Quick Corp. is trying to generate interest in stock investing among the young by using cute, female, anime characters.
Quick Corp.
What do you think about when you buy Japanese stocks?

If you’re buying shares of diaper-maker Unicharm Corp., one financial information company wants you to think of a blonde cartoon damsel in a flowing white dress.

And if you’re into Japan Tobacco Inc., make it a “cool beauty” in a labcoat and miniskirt who “loves udon noodles.”

Anime and cute mascots have been used to push everything from Communism to government bonds in Japan. Now, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe trying to get people to put less money into bank accounts and more into stocks, financial firms such as data provider Quick Corp. are putting a sweeter face on investing.

Quick, part of the Nikkei group of companies and known for compiling the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, is pairing cute, animated characters with specific companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Although Quick doesn’t sell financial securities itself, it hopes to raise awareness about stock investing among youth.

“Young people at the company raised the point that if the young move away from stocks, that’s a concern for us as a company,” said Yoshihiro Ohkochi, head of a seven-member team of young employees tasked with popularizing stock investing among their peers. “So we looked into what young people like, and it was young, female characters.”

So far, the team’s work has meant doing things they had never done before, such as hiring illustrators and finding a voice actress for the project’s main character.

“At first we didn’t even know how much an illustrator should cost,” Mr. Ohkochi said.

Each character is designed by artists and then proposed to companies that Quick thinks would appeal to investors.

The characters appear alongside hard-headed statistics like market capitalization and return on equity. The firm hopes get 100 firms on board with the initiative this year, and 100 next year. While Quick is giving the data away for free, it hopes to license the project to securities companies.

Meanwhile, Japan’s biggest brokerage, Nomura Securities Co., is also taking an animated approach. This summer, the firm started a website using cartoons and the metaphor of farming to explain concepts such as asset diversification.

Nomura planted an actual farm on top of a downtown Tokyo shopping center, where 100 people got to try the produce Saturday.

“It was a steep learning curve to understand how to use social media to deliver messages that are not only accurate, but light-hearted enough to attract followers,” said marketing department executive director Shinya Takahashi.

But neither Nomura nor Quick expect young people to have much disposable income for stock investing — for now.

“We wanted to approach young people … in the hopes that one day they become our customers,” Mr. Takahashi said.

It won't work. The underlining is Investment does not work this way, but nice try and cute indeed.