Japan 01 (May 08 - Dec 09)

[ishak]

Japan's July trade surplus drops 86.6% on-year
21 August 2008, ChannelNewsAsia

TOKYO: Japan's trade surplus in July fell 86.6 per cent to 91.1 billion yen (US$830 million) from a year ago, the finance ministry said Thursday, as high oil prices drove up the cost of energy imports.

It marked the fifth straight month of decline for the trade surplus, as the value of imports rose 18.2 per cent to 7.54 trillion yen, outpacing exports which rose 8.1 per cent to 7.63 trillion yen.

The data came after the ministry reported a month ago that exports in June dropped for the first time in more than four years, as the world's second largest economy was hit by the global financial crisis and high energy costs.

By regions, July exports to the rest of Asia gained 12.7 per cent to a new record high of 3.86 trillion yen.

Asia-bound imports also marked a new record high by gaining 5.7 per cent to 2.93 trillion yen, leaving the surplus of 928.5 billion yen, up 42.3 per cent from a year ago.

The figures included China-bound exports, which rose 16.8 per cent to a record high 1.29 trillion yen, while Chinese imports also marked a new record high of 1.36 trillion yen, up 5.1 per cent year on year.

But exports to the United States continued to fall, shrinking 11.5 per cent in July to 1.28 trillion yen, while US imports also fell 3.5 per cent to 676.0 billion yen.

Japanese auto exports to the US market, one of the key drivers of the Japanese economy, dropped 11.7 per cent while US-bound auto parts exports also fell 12.3 per cent.

Exports to the European Union rose 4.1 per cent to 1.03 trillion yen, but European imports fell 6.3 per cent to 658.4 billion yen, the ministry said.

[ishak]

Key Japan real estate sector seen tripling
Logistics property market investments may grow 3-fold in a few years: LaSalle
Reuters, 21 Aug 2008

(TOKYO) Japan's market for investment in logistics real estate - such as warehouses, distribution centres and ports - is seen growing threefold within a few years as more players enter a sector considered stable even in an economic slowdown, an executive of LaSalle Investment Management said.

The real estate securitisation investment market was about 320 billion yen (S$4 billion) in 2007, accounting for only 3.8 per cent of Japan's total Reit (real estate investment trust) investment.

But LaSalle, which manages US$54 billion assets in global real estate markets, sees such logistics-area investment accounting for more than 10 per cent of total J-Reit investment in the near future, executive officer Yosuke Yoshikawa told a Tokyo seminar.

'Logistics property investment is still immature here for reasons such as a dearth of investment opportunities and limited information disclosure . . . maybe that's why only one J-Reit is solely focusing on the logistics field,' Mr Yoshikawa said.

'But considering its big and established presence in Europe, especially in Britain, and the relative strength of the economic slowdown, logistics real estate investment has a big growth potential,' he said.

After raising 360 billion yen, the Tokyo-based investor launched 'LaSalle Japan Logistics Fund Two' last year.

LaSalle still has some 280 billion yen left to invest until 2010 after spending 80 billion yen since the fund's launch, another executive told Reuters after the seminar.

A planned investment would include development of multi-purpose logistics centres and 'off-balance- sheet' support for logistics companies.

LaSalle is a unit of Chicago-based property services company Jones Lang LaSalle Group which manages property investments of institutional investors such as pension funds and companies.

Tokyo-based LaSalle bought out an asset management company in 2007 and injected fresh capital into a Reit that has since been renamed LaSalle Japan Reit Inc.

LaSalle Japan Reit closed down 12.3 per cent at 191,200 yen yesterday, while the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Reit index shed 0.3 per cent to 1,269.54.

[ishak]

Japan's economic package to reach US$73b
AFP, 23 August 2008

TOKYO - Japan is set to unveil a stimulus package worth eight trillion yen (US$73 billion) in a bid to shore up the economy, a report said on Saturday.

Economic fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano delivered a draft of the planned measures to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki on Friday, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

In early August, Mr Fukuda ordered Mr Yosano to draw up a package to boost economic growth and support small businesses as well as farmers and fishermen hit by soaring oil prices.

The measures are also designed to discount expressway tolls, support young job seekers and expand the nation's medicare services for the elderly, the mass circulation daily said.

The latest stimulus is still smaller than a reform programme worth 14.8 trillion yen announced by then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in December 2002.

The finance ministry is largely expected to submit an extra budget to parliament to finance the package, but Mr Ibuki has said the government was not expecting to issue new bonds to finance it.

The government faces calls from some lawmakers within the ruling coalition for a big injection of public money to boost Asia's largest economy, which contracted in the second quarter, moving closer to recession.

Japan has already unveiled measures to ease the burden of high oil prices, including a 74.5 billion yen package last month to help fishermen, who have held strikes to protest against soaring fuel costs.

Resource-poor Japan relies heavily on imports of crude oil, the price of which has doubled over the past two years and risen five-fold since 2003.

But some ministers have also stressed the need to rebuild the country's debt-ridden finances.

Japan's public debt is the highest among industrialised nations after the government spent trillions of yen on emergency spending packages to try to haul the economy out of the doldrums in the 1990s.

[ishak]

Japan plans $103-billion stimulus
Todayonline, 25 Aug 2008

Tokyo — Japan is set to unveil a stimulus package worth ¥8 trillion ($103 billion) in a bid to shore up the economy, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun report on Saturday.

Economic Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano has delivered a draft of the planned measures to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki, the newspaper said.

In early August, Mr Fukuda ordered Mr Yosano to draw up a package to boost economic growth and support small businesses as well as farmers and fishermen hit by soaring oil prices. The measures are also designed to offset expressway tolls, support young job seekers and expand the nation’s Medicare services for the elderly, the mass circulation daily said.

The latest stimulus is still smaller than a reform programme worth ¥14.8 trillion announced by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in December 2002.

The Finance Ministry is largely expected to submit an extra budget to Parliament to finance the package, but Mr Ibuki has said the government was not expecting to issue new bonds to finance it.

The government faces calls from some lawmakers within the ruling coalition for a big injection of public money to boost Asia’s largest economy, which contracted in the second quarter, moving closer to recession.

Japan has already unveiled measures to ease the burden of high oil prices, including a ¥74.5-billion package last month to help fishermen, who have held strikes to protest against soaring fuel costs. Resource-poor Japan relies heavily on imports of crude oil, the price of which has doubled over the past two years and risen five-fold since 2003.

But some ministers have also stressed the need to rebuild the country’s debtridden finances. Japan’s public debt is the highest among industrialised nations, after the government spent trillions of yen on emergency spending packages to try to haul the economy out of the doldrums in the 1990s.

[kennynah]

that's about 10% of their accumulated reserves... pump up the economy... what else can they do... already invented the kinkiest play toys ...still cant help boost GDP...so what to do...?

[winston]

Mainland China overtook the US as Japan's largest export destination for the first time last month, underlining the growing importance of Chinese demand to the world's second-largest economy.

Exports to China, which have risen in each of the last 38 months, expanded by 16.8 per cent in July to their highest level since the Japanese government began compiling statistics in 1950.

At the same time, exports to the US declined by 11.5 per cent, marking the 11th consecutive monthly drop. Overall, shipments rose by 8.1 per cent by value, after falling in June for the first time since 2003, the finance ministry said.

– Financial Times

[ishak]

Japan to avoid deep economic slump
CNA, 25 August 2008

TOKYO : Japan is likely to avoid a deep economic downturn thanks to the robust health of the corporate sector and the country's super-low interest rates, the head of the central bank said Monday.

While growth is expected to remain sluggish for now, "Japan's economy is unlikely to experience a deep adjustment phase," Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa said.

Corporate restructuring has eliminated the kind of production, employment and debt excesses that weighed heavily on Asia's largest economy during past downturns, he said at a meeting with business leaders in Osaka.

Also, "losses incurred by Japanese financial institutions due to the subprime mortgage problem are limited compared with those of US and European financial institutions and Japanese financial markets continue to be stable," he said.

At the same time borrowing costs remain low, helping to facilitate business activity, Shirakawa said.

Japan's central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent - the lowest among major economies - since February 2007.

While economic growth stalled in the second quarter, inflation is running at the fastest pace in a decade due to the soaring cost of commodity imports.

Consumer price inflation is likely to pick up slightly over the coming months but should slow afterwards as global commodity markets cool, Shirakawa said.

Japan's core inflation rate hit a decade-high of 1.9 per cent in June. Wholesale inflation jumped to a 27-year high of 7.1 per cent in July.

[ishak]

Japan economy package stuck in tax cut rift
Coalition partner wants income tax cut for low-income earners; LDP says no
BT, 27 Aug 2008

Japanese ministers struggled to complete an economic package to ease the pain of high energy and food prices yesterday as a rift emerged over whether it should include a temporary cut in income tax.

Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said the Cabinet wanted to compile the package by the end of the week, though the government had not yet decided its size or how it should be funded.

The New Komeito party, the junior member of the ruling coalition, upped the ante by stepping up its call for an income tax cut for those on low incomes - an idea not favoured by many in its partner, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

New Komeito policy chief Natsuo Yamaguchi said he told Mr Yosano the government needs to include a cut in income tax. 'We will seek to reach an agreement on this with grave resolution,' he told reporters. His comments came as speculation simmered that New Komeito, a partner of the LDP for nearly a decade, was growing unhappy with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

LDP policy chief Kosuke Hori said on Monday it was difficult to include tax cuts in the package, which he said could be worth 2-3 trillion yen (S$26-39 billion).

He did not specify if he meant new spending or if the figure included non- spending measures such as special loan facilities.

Ministers have said they do not want to issue extra government bonds to fund the package, given that Japan is already saddled with huge public debt amounting to almost double its GDP.

Government officials have taken pains to say the package is intended to provide relief to households and companies struggling with steep costs and will not be a return to the massive public spending projects of the past.

Asked if issuance of debt-financing bonds would be needed to finance it, Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki said: 'The prime minister has said he wants to avoid such issuance, so it is a Cabinet minister's job to seek that.'

Mr Ibuki told a news conference that the debate on how to fund the package would include the possibility of compiling an extra budget, although the prime minister had not asked him to do so.

The possibility of an extra budget is in focus because the government could fund it by reallocating existing spending or tapping into reserves rather than issuing debt, depending on its size.

Mr Yosano reiterated that he wanted to avoid more bond issuance but added: 'It will depend on whether we have steps that need to be implemented even if that will entail borrowing.'

[winston]

It's Fun to Know: Fruity Gifts

Would you pay $2,000 for a honeydew melon? How about $900 for a bunch of grapes? In Japan, these incredibly high prices are not uncommon. But we're not talking about your run-of-the-mill grocery store produce. These fruits have been painstakingly cultivated to be the most ideal specimens possible.

The Japanese don't buy these perfect, pricey fruits to eat them. They are extremely popular as gifts. It has to do with the ancient Japanese tradition of giving away the very best instead of keeping it for yourself.

(Source: Associated Press, Daily Express)

[kennynah]

make friends with japanese women...they give terrific valentine's chocolates, if they like u enough...that's really a signal for the men to act upon...(for singles only) wink