Japan 01 (May 08 - Dec 09)

[winston]

TOL:-

Wonder whether after 20 years, the Japanese real estate investors who bought at the top, have managed to break-even ?

[winston]

And continuing the discussion on the last two decades ...

Did you remembered what Japan did when the bubble burst ? They stimulated the economy thinking that after a few years, things would recover...

And after 20 years, they are still trying to stimulate the economy.

This is not too different from what some countries are doing now. There's a feeling of arrogance in these countries that somehow they are above market forces ..

[kennynah]

i think japanese have largely given up hope on politicians' efforts... they have been just relying on their conglomerates to rebuild their wealth...which they have done so quite successfully...

i remember speaking to several japanese and many do not even know or care who their PM was then... the only government authority they were interested in is their Ministry of Trade

[winston]

Japan unveils ambitious economic growth strategy
Dec 30, 2009 03:43 EST

Japan's prime minister unveiled an ambitious goal Wednesday to create millions of jobs and return Asia's biggest economy to steady growth as he battles a drop in his popularity and a funding scandal.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said his three-month-old government aimed to create 4.76 million jobs by 2020. He set a target of annual economic growth of more than two percent, adjusted for price changes, over the next decade.

"I'm determined to accomplish this," he told a news conference.

But the government was vague about exactly how he would achieve the lofty goals, saying it would come up with more concrete measures by around June.

It aims to create new demand worth more than 100 trillion yen (1.1 trillion dollars), seeking to resuscitate the world's second largest economy after its worst recession in decades.

The government has forecast a 2.6 percent contraction in real gross domestic product in the current fiscal year to March 2010.

While in the past, "people served the economy," now the economy needs to benefit the people, Hatoyama said.

"In other words, we have to create demand," he said.

The government hopes 1.4 million jobs will be created in the environment and energy sectors by encouraging development of new technology, such as fuel-efficient cars, along with 2.8 million jobs in the healthcare sector.

It aims to reduce the unemployment rate to about three percent in the medium term.

Japan's jobless rate hit a record 5.7 percent in July. Although it has since retreated somewhat, in November it worsened for the first time in four months, rising to 5.2 percent.

Hatoyama said Japan would work on establishing an Asia-Pacific free trade area by 2020 to boost growth by accelerating cross-border trade and investment.

"We need to see Asia as a new frontier," he said. "By achieving growth of Asia as a whole, Japan can achieve growth as well."

Japan's economy is widely expected to lose its place as the world's second largest economy to China, possibly next year.

But without China's rapid economic growth, Japan's own economy might be much weaker, analysts say, because the Asian powerhouse is Japan's biggest trading partner.

Hatoyama's Democrats swept to power in August elections, ousting the long-ruling conservatives with a pledge to put the focus back on households instead of big business.

His government "has been criticised that they have no growth strategy, so it's good to have one," said Yukio Takahashi, a stock market analyst at Shinko Securities.

"But unless there are more concrete plans on how to implement these policies... the impact on the market would be negligible," he said.

Hatoyama last week marked a troubled first 100 days in office that has seen his public approval rating sink below 50 percent, compared with more than 70 percent in his first weeks in office.

Last week he apologised after one of his former aides was indicted for allegedly misreporting millions of dollars of political donations.

On Friday his cabinet approved a record budget worth 92.3 trillion yen (1.0 trillion dollars) for the next financial year starting in April, seeking to revive the stricken economy.

Weeks of hard work on the public finances resulted in the hospitalisation of Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, 77, due to high blood pressure and fatigue.

Fujii left hospital temporarily Wednesday to attend a cabinet meeting, but said he was exhausted and would follow doctors' advice about when to return to work full-time.

Source: AFP Asian Edition

[kennynah]

Japan unveils ambitious economic growth strategy
Dec 30, 2009 03:43 EST

Japan's prime minister unveiled an ambitious goal Wednesday to create millions of jobs and return Asia's biggest economy to steady growth as he battles a drop in his popularity and a funding scandal.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said his three-month-old government aimed to create 4.76 million jobs by 2020. He set a target of annual economic growth of more than two percent, adjusted for price changes, over the next decade.

japan has 600million population... this 4.76million is less than 0.79%...

[winston]

Japan has only about 130m population not 600m

I dont think they have Casinoes in Japan so maybe opening up a few IRs may create some jobs as well

[kennynah]

oh really.. my mistake...

10 years to increase work by 3.6% (stats will change if population increases)... hmmm... is this good enough?

[Poles]

i think japanese have largely given up hope on politicians' efforts... they have been just relying on their conglomerates to rebuild their wealth...which they have done so quite successfully...

i remember speaking to several japanese and many do not even know or care who their PM was then... the only government authority they were interested in is their Ministry of Trade

this is the irony....japan/taiwan always got political problems....japan pm change is handphone model change...every 6 months.BUT these country got strong private sector(people). The private are on auto-mode ...lesser interference from government is better....in singapore context I think we are quite opposite...fortunate or not...i dunnoe..