Slight Increase in Inflation

Also on Monday there were reports of sligh inflation growth in the Japanese economy for the first time in many years. While not much its showing signs of improvement.

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/02/16/growth-data-show-signal-of-inflation-for-first-time-in-17-years/


http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/sna/data/data_list/sokuhou/files/2014/qe144/pdf/gaiyou1441.pdf

Slight Recovery

The latest economic news about the Japanese economy showed modest but positive growth of 2.2 percent for the 4th quarter of 2014. Economic forecasters were expecting 3.6 percent. It must be remembered, except for the US, most economies are not near growth projections. Even China has not shown strong growth, compared to it past growth record. But for Japan, after two consecutive negative growth periods, has shown again, that its not dead.

Except for the U.S. economy of late, most economies have not been able to show sustained economic growth. Consumer demand probably remains fragile in Japan along with business investment. But even 2.2 percent is still huge for an economy the size of Japans. Take that 2.2 percent against any of the individual EU countries and I would be sure they would be happy for that kind of growth.


© 2015 Tom Metts,  all rights reserved

Japan Trip

First day on trip in Yokohama. I will be watching closely the shopping habits of Japanese consumers. At a Starbucks now. It seems less crowded than before, even for a weekday. However this location sometimes has less customers than other places. A lot of people walking around but do not see a lot carrying bags. There is a much larger shopping area nearby that might be more busy.

 

After spending 10 days in Japan, mostly watching and observing the economy, around Tokyo and Yokohama, I would like to say Japan is not as bad off as news reports tend to think. Japan is still a large economy. Third or fourth depending on stats. What is usually lost on news reports is how much economic activity there is in this economy. Even when its not a full potential, which is hasn't been for a while, it is still bigger than all but a few in the world.

 

An interesting observation was the number of Chinese tourists I saw while I was there. Everyday, no matter where I was, there were large groups of Chinese. In the hotels, in McDonalds, yes I went there in Japan, just to visit. In the large discount electronic stores, in the major shopping districts, large groups of Chinese everywhere spending money.

 

Again, the Japanese economy might not be running at full potential, like everyone wants, but it is still a huge economic engine.

 

Since the trip there has been a lot of news about the Japan economy. I will be commenting on some of that news later.


© 2015 Tom Metts,  all rights reserved