Japan Unemployment Rate: Updated June 6, 2025.

Japan's unemployment rate, job availability ratio unchanged in April

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250530/p2g/00m/0bu/022000c

Ideas

Many sectors in Japan might be facing worker shortages, but an economies' unemployment rate will never reach 0 percent as there are always going to be workers in or out of the workforce for a number of reasons.

The worker shortage situation in Japan was a long time coming and should have been seen or known long before it happened. But as always. like many economies, there are priorities and then there are situations that are just left hoping they will resolve themselves.

There might have  been 126 jobs for every 100 job seekers but are they the kind of jobs workers are looking for these days. And there is always the possibility there is a miss-match between jobs available and the skills of job candidates.

And then is the possibility of job candidate expectations and the kinds of jobs available as many young workers are not interested in the type of jobs their parents had as they are looking for something but different and some maybe for better work-life situations in a job.

Its possible that the number of people employed decreased as some people might have quit their present jobs in order to look for a new job as a chance to get a better job is very high now in Japan.

And then there is the chance that some companies decided to lay-off some workers and the Japanese economy is not that good and they had no choice and there are no many companies just barely making it.

You would think, in a economy that is facing a worker shortage that those unemployed would not increase but again there is the chance some people quit their existing job to look for a better job, as again there chance of getting a new job is much better now in Japan.

An economy is always in a state of change as all economies are never in a complete state of stagnation as there are always changes taking place in any economy, such as people quitting jobs, people being laid-off, people being hired or re-hired and so on, not to mention those who decide to leave their jobs and retire.

First we need to know just what is meant by jobless in Japan and does it mean no job for a long time, no job just now, no job because they quit their job etc.

There might be a tight labor market in Japan but again what kind of jobs are available and what are the wages of those jobs being offered.

It might be possible that many of some of the jobs being offered are at small and mid-size companies that can't afford to increase wages and they might not be able to attract the kind of workers they really need.

Most likely the 460,000 who left their jobs involuntarily, the company might have had financial challenges and or if they were in a services company the company might have lost customers and their sales were significantly decreasing.

Of the 740,000 who left their jobs voluntarily they might have decided they could easily find a a new job, and or the wages they were getting was not that good and they wanted something different.

The information and communication sector, for while after the pandemic actually lost jobs and or laid-off a lot of workers, but now maybe they are trying to make-up for the lost jobs, right after the pandemic.

And with the services sector they might have had to lay-off a lot of workers during the pandemic and now they are trying to make up for the lay-offs they had to do during the pandemic.

Again, if there really is a tight job market, then the chance of those 500,000 finding new jobs quickly or easily should not  be a problem. 

Again, there is always the chance that many job seekers are looking for jobs that really don't exist and or there expectations might be too high as the jobs they want or even need don't exist at this time.

And then there is the chance that company expectations for new job seekers are not aligned with the current group of people looking for a job, as they are looking for either the ideal candidate or the perfect candidate that just doesn't exist.

The lifestyle and entertainment services sector might be suffering a loss in revenue due to the continued inflation in Japan and consumers are not going to those places these days.

With the hotel and restaurant sector, they might be losing workers or not able to hire new workers as maybe there profit margins are too thin and they just can't hire any new workers and or they are losing workers to other companies that pay better wages.

 Have a nice day!

Japan Industrial Output: Updated June 5, 2025.

Japan's April industrial output falls 0.9%, 1st drop in 3 months

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250530/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

Ideas

Japan's industrial output index is very important for the Japanese economy has Japan is focused on manufacturing and exporting more than other countries.

Manufacturing and exports have become major economic drivers even more than consumer spending or company investments, as the Japanese domestic economy is somewhat stagnant these days.

An index reading of 101.5 might sound good which it is but for Japan it should be a little better to help with economic growth.

While others countries focus more on services and technology, Japan seems to still focus on industry and manufacturing to keep its economy moving forward.

And yes, the Japanese economy, like all advanced economies these days is very much a services and technology, but also Japan is heavily focused on industry and manufacturing

Revisions on data is always being revised as more data becomes available and or as revisions are needed due miscalculations in in the data. That doesn't mean there was anything bad with the data as all data gets revised sometimes many times over the course of a year.

Japan recently has become a major pharmaceutical products producer and pharmaceuticals have become a major export product for Japan.

While Japan is always focused on industrial production, at the same time, it's sometimes not very stable due to the fact that Japan exports a lot globally and demand can fluctuate indecisively a lot.

While industrial production has been a more economic driver of the Japanese economy, and many products are global leaders or used to be global leaders, the global landscape has changed with South Korea and China now having more global leader products than Japan now.

The US tariff situation has not really affected Japan yet, as many companies in the US that sell Japanese products still have a two or three months supply of products which are not affected by the tariffs. 

The US tariffs, sometime this summer, might begin to have an affect as then US companies will increase their prices and US consumers will think twice about buying Japanese products if some kind of trade deal is not reached.

An economy with many different sectors doesn't always see all sectors grow equally each month or each quarter as some will increase and some will decrease, depending on demand from global customers and customers in Japan too.

A one month drop in one sector doesn't mean much as there could be many reasons for the drop besides decreased demand for a product. Many times companies will keep producing a product despite information that demand is down and they have already committed to producing a specific amount for that month.

Again, an economy and all of the various sectors in an economy doesn't increase or decrease exactly the same, as demand for products might cause a sector to see decreased. And at the same time there might be supply chain challenges which could slow down production which happened a lot during the pandemic.

So again, just because demand might be less than expected, there could be many reasons for the slow-down in production, including breakdowns in equipment, low raw materials needed and so on.

Some might say production and industry are the backbone of an economy and yes, that is probably true and especially for Japan. But at the same time an economy needs a strong consumer spending sector, which at this time it seems to be far behind the other advanced economies in the world.

Consumer spending in Japan is only about 50 percent of its GDP while in the US is maybe 65 percent of its GDP, which is why the US is a strong consumer economy and Japan is still not there yet.

Manufacturing output, again, is very important for Japan has its needs a strong manufacturing sector due to the fact that its domestic consumer spending sector seems to still be stagnant at this time.

However, with a record number of foreign tourists entering Japan, and the Japanese yen is relatively weak foreign tourists have more purchasing power and foreign tourist spending might help, but it will never makeup for the less than stagnant consumer spending situation in Japan.

Have a nice day!

Japan Inflation: Updated June 3, 2025.

Japan inflation accelerates in April on reduced energy subsidies

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250523/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c

Ideas:

Government subsidies help some or many families but the problem is people become dependent on them to survive and when they are reduced or withdrawn people are back there the started at in the beginning.

And then add in inflation or increased prices and its even more stressful for many people and especially the low-income groups or the fixed income groups in a society.

Japanese households might be thinking when is it going to end, when are prices finally going to go down or level off as it seems they have been this way since the pandemic.

Most central banks try to keep inflation around the 2 percent level as they feel that is a good level for an economy and it's usually easily manageable, but in Japan it seems like its been above the 2 percent level for a very long time with no end in sight for Japanese families.

Most people, in a society don't follow the latest economic stats as they only know that the food they buy the clothes they buy keep going up and that is all they care about.

Perhaps the Japanese government needs to implement price controls into the Japanese economy on a temporary basis as a way to help Japanese families. For example price controls for a year so that Japanese consumers can have some kind of relief from the high prices.

Japan is resource-poor country which means they have to import all that they need including oil and gas along with all of the food that they need, which of course means they might be subject to the increases or decreases of global prices.

Government subsidies, again, are good and maybe needed. but society can get addicted to them and when they are reduced or withdrawn most citizens are back where they started.

Prices increases on food might be very stressful for some families and some families might not even notice the price increases. But it's always the low-income groups and the fixed income groups that feel the prices increase the most in a society.

Rice has been a major stress for many in Japanese society since last summer as somehow, whomever, hasn't been able to correct the situation with constant shortages, or hording by supplies or any number of reasons for the situation now.

Sometimes price increases have nothing to do with material or energy cost increases but just normal supply and demand, which is when the demand for a product increases a lot companies of course will increase the price of that product.

Services are an intangible product and when a service increases the wages of their employees of course they are going to pass-on the wages increases to the next in the supply chain meaning usually the final customer.

Most service companies usually have very thin profit margins which means they have very little room for wage increases so they have no choice but to pass-on their costs to the customer.

The reason the US tariffs have had limited impact on the Japanese economy so far is because many businesses in the US that sell Japanese products usually have a two or three month supply of Japanese products including Japanese cars.

The impact will probably begin to get in some time later in the summer and then we might see US consumers begin to cutback on buying some Japanese products such as Japanese cars.

The increase in rice prices don't have anything to do with consumer demand as it seems supply mismanagement has been the major problem since last summer.

If demand for rice was normal or not related to the current situation, then yes, the BOJ might increase the key rate as a way to reduce consumer spending but that it not the case in this situation.

The BOJ should not add to the stress of Japanese society by increasing the key rate as this time and even if the tariff situation is decided in favor of Japan, again the BOJ should not add on to the stress of Japanese society or Japanese companies which at this time are all under extreme stress from the continued inflation situation.

Have a nice day!

Bank of Japan Ideas: Updated June 1, 2025.

BOJ should take cautious stance on rate hikes: board member

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250522/p2g/00m/0bu/028000c

Ideas

Most central banks are very conservative and the Bank of Japan is no exception as it might be the most conservative, as for example while other central banks, globally, were decreasing its key rate, the Bank of Japan was not as it suggested the Japanese economy was too weak at the  time to decrease rates.

Every economy is different and has it own unique qualities, and has to be seen as such, and the Japanese economy is similar very much different from other economies as just because the US or the EU cuts or increases is rate doesn't mean the Bank of Japan should do the same thing.

Yes, the Bank of Japan needs to examine the data and especially the data that might be affected by a rate increase or decrease. And even more importantly the BOJ needs to examine the mood of the Japanese business community and Japanese households related to a rate increase or decrease to see what both group feel or need from the Bank of Japan.

Any time a central bank increases or decrease the key rate, its takes some time for the affects of the increase or decrease to be seen in an economy. Its not an overnight action as it could take months for any action to be seen in an economy.

Because the Japanese economy was in a stagnant mode or more importantly as deflation mode, or continuous low prices, the Bank of Japan was very reluctant, back then, to increase the key as again it said the Japanese economy was just too weak to handle rate increases. 

What the BOJ did do, over time, was lower the key rate to zero or less than zero as a way to get businesses and Japanese households to borrow money and begin to use that money in the economy.

Another idea for businesses to use their huge savings in the economy as the sub-zero interest rate meant they would be losing money each money so it was the plan of the BOJ to get companies to "use their money" or lose their money.

The Bank of Japan is/was the largest buyer of Japanese bonds to try and help the Japanese economy to get out of its current rut but the goal didn't work as the Japanese economy essentially has been stuck in  a rut for some time.

The only thing the buying of Japanese bonds did was to increase the GDP to Debt ratio which put the Japanese government into even more debt. But some would say Japan owns its own debt which is correct but still has a problem that needs to be looked at before it gets too big.

The Bank of Japan has been buying Japanese bonds for who knows how long exactly and they have a log of assets in bonds that they need to get rid of somehow before they begin to affect the Japanese economy.

The BOJ could try to sell the bonds to other countries at a reduced rate but who wants assets at a reduced rate. And or they could try and re-sell them back to the Japanese government again, at a reduced rate to reduce their balance sheet.

The Bank of Japan can't really do anything now to help the Japanese economy unit it can reduce its bloated balance sheet. When it does it has more room to maneuver and then it can help the Japanese economy even more.

Market stability is very important as the one thing the Bank of Japan doesn't want to do is cause harm in the market so they are very concerned with what they do and how it might affect the financial markets in Japan and globally too.

Have a nice day! 

Japan Real Wages: Updated May 22, 2025.

Japan's real wages fall 0.5% in FY 2024, down for 3rd straight year.

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250522/p2g/00m/0bu/002000c

Ideas

To be honest, Japan is not acting like an advanced economy as it seems to lack behind many up and coming economies these days.

Japan's per capita income lags behind many advanced economies and the way that pay growth is lagging behind prices is a telling concern for the Japanese economy.

There was a time in the late 1980's where some thought Japan was going to surpass the US economy but those days seem long gone.

Nominal wages are not important as they don't tell the real story related to households and their spending power which is way behind related to price increases in Japan.

This situation has been a long time in the making but its seems the Japanese government or Japanese businesses were not interested in trying to fix or help the situation, as they were only interested in their small piece of the pie in Japan.

Some have called this the 3 decade loss of Japan which before it was called the lost decade when economic growth was less than normal or less than expected.

Nominal wages include inflation so they really are not that important as what really matters is real wages and purchasing power for an economy.

Real Wages indicate how much a Japanese household can really spend in the economy while nominal wages again include inflation which might be considered inflated wages with no real purchasing power.

Real wages need to be considered against inflation to see how much purchasing power Japanese households really have and how much disposable income they have left after paying their bills.

Unfortunately many Japanese companies were reluctant to increase wages for their workers as they were more focused on taking care of their shareholders instead of their stakeholders working in the company.

At the same time, inflation have been creeping up steadily causing many companies to have very weak profit margins and when inflation really hit they were not prepared how to handle the continued increase in raw material costs, energy costs, and especially the need to increase wages.

Yes, the problem is many companies were late in increasing wages and the 5 percent wage increases given in 2024 were too little too late as they should have been giving wages increases many years before.

At the same time it must be remembered that up to 70 percent of the Japanese workforce doesn't work for the large name-brand companies but small and midsize companies which don't have the resources that large companies have and can't pay the same wage increases.

All previous Japanese Prime Ministers have tried different strategies to improve the Japanese economy and most have failed to do what they wanted to do or the results were only short-term fixes but then the same situation returned or was worse.

Focusing on small and mid-size companies is good but can they all be helped as its going to take a lot of resources to help that many of companies and or that many Japanese households that work for small and mid-size companies in Japan.

Again this is a situation that has been known for a long time as wages in Japan have steadily been declining compared to wages in other advanced economies but know one seemed to notice or pay attention to it until long-term inflation kicked in and many Japanese households and business were significantly challenged.

This situation, has been known for a very long time as many have known that Japan was/is falling behind many other advanced economies and some have even suggested Japan should be like Switzerland and not worry too much about its place in the global economy.

But unfortunately, these days, no country is a island unto itself, and no pun intended related to Japan as an island nation, all countries and economies these days are too interconnected for Japan to isolate itself from the rest of the world.

Have a nice day!

Japan Govt. Economic View: Updated May 24, 2025.

Japan gov't maintains economic view for May despite GDP contraction

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250522/p2g/00m/0bu/039000c

Ideas

All governments try to sound like their economy is not too bad and they use phrases like recovering moderately as a way to calm the markets and not sound too alarmist.

Indeed the Japanese economy is always in some kind of recovering moderately phase is seems like it can't get out of the recovery phase.

Most likely the new tariffs don't seem to be affecting any real important consumer products as has been suggested many Japanese companies or suppliers have an inventory already of two or three months supplies, what happens later this summer is still in question.

Japanese exports to the US and or Japanese companies in the US always seem to be in good shape as the challenge is the Japanese domestic economy and inflation and then of course consumer demand in Japan which is the real challenge.

Yes, there is definite uncertainty with what is going to happen in the US with more tariffs planned and it makes it very difficult for both US and Japanese companies to plan for the future.

Japan, if possible, needs to find a way to stay a step ahead of the negotiations and prove to the US delegation how important Japan is for the US economy and the idea of tariffs is going to hurt both economies equally.

Again, some other articles have suggested that Japanese car dealers have a two or three month supply on hand, which are not affected by the tariffs but after that its not quite sure how the US consumer is going to react to the increase prices of Japanese cars.

The Japanese domestic economy is always being challenged with sluggish private consumption or consumer spending as the Japanese economy just isn't a major consumer spending economy but has been more of a savings economy for a very long time.

Japan is a resource-poor country and has to import much of what it needs and imports into Japan are challenged if the Japanese yen is weak which means imports are higher than what they really should be which puts a lot stress on importers and Japanese households too.

The Japanese domestic economy needs to show more than just being in the recovery mode as it needs to break out of that phase with some real economic growth.

There needs to be a real paradigm shift in the Japanese economy, somehow, to get consumer spending to the level so that the Japanese economy can see some real significant growth.

Private consumption or consumer spending needs to be more than half of Japan's GDP as it needs to be around 60 percent for any real growth to take place.

But the structure of the Japanese population might not allow for that as Japan is an ageing society now and Japan needs some changes in immigration to increase their population as the birth rate is just too low for the economy.

The US economy might have contracted some but it's still the largest economy in the world and the most robust. But yes, the global economy might be in a lull at this time especially with China still not where it should be an the EU is like the sick child of the global economy as it can't seem to get out of its stagnant phase at this time.

Have a nice day!

Japan Trade Deficit: Updated May 24, 2025.

Japan logs 116 bil. yen trade deficit in April, exports to US down

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250521/p2g/00m/0bu/005000c

Ideas

There is always going to be this tension between exports and imports as exports improve economic growth while imports lessen economic growth.

Japan is a resource-poor country which means it always has to import a lot of what it means which then means it affects economic growth if exports are down from month to month. 

And it can get even worse if the Japanese yen is weak which means import prices are going to be even higher.

It might take a few month or even longer for the tariff situation to have any affect on Japan's exports to the US as tariff negotiations seem to be on and off lately.\

It might be that demand for Japanese products in the US was just taking a lull and most likely they will improve again next month.

You would think, whenever there is going to be an increase in prices, which a tariff will do, then consumers might rush to buy more of the product but that doesn't seem to be happening at this time.

But despite the overall increase in exports for April, imports for April might have seen an unexpected surge in demand for some products.

For example of prices for some products such as oil and gas decreased they might have been an increase in the volume of those commodities.

But then again it might have just been a one-off month of imports being more than exports which caused the red ink of trade deficit.

Both semiconductor equipment and Japanese seafood are both high end export products and the demand for these products continue to be very high.

Imports may have decreased but exports too were much lower than expected for Japan, which is a significant export economy.

Japan needs to show US tariff trade negotiators how important Japan is to the US economy in the tariff negotiations including how Nippon Steel is going to help US manufacturing and the US steel industry.

Both the US and Japan need each other as the two economies are now too interlinked to have any major discrepancies such a tariff situation.

Once again, the current US admin. doesn't seem to know or care about absolute advantage and comparative advantage when it comes to international trade situations.

Tariffs are going to significantly affect Japanese companies and also US companies and US consumers as again, both economies are too interlinked and supply chains are too interconnected and could be significantly affected in the future.

Japanese products in the US could see reductions in inventory this summer as the prices of Japanese products will increase which means US consumers are going to be shocked at how much prices are going up and of course reduce their buying of Japanese products.

Global trade over the next four years is not going to be business as usual and might see some significant changes until a different US admin. is in control.

China's economy has been going through a transformation period for a long time and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight for it. 

Unfortunately, China is still a quasi-state run economy which tends to favor a large supply side situation and doesn't seem to think about supply and demand in an economy.

Japan is smart to try and expand its trade situation with the rest of Asia as the situation with the US is still very uncertain as US companies and Japanese companies don't know how to plan for whatever is going to happen in the future.

It's unfortunate that the 27 nation EU and Japan are not on  equal terms related to trade as Japan seems to import more from the EU than what the EU buys from Japan.

Part of it might be related to the Ukraine situation and some it might be related to demand for Japanese products in the EU are not what they used to be.

Part of it might the overall EU economy/economies are not in a a very good situation right now and the demand for Japanese products just isn't that strong at this time.

Have a nice day!

Japan GDP: Updated May 21, 2025.

Japan Jan.-March GDP shrinks for 1st time in 1 yr amid weak spending

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250516/p2g/00m/0bu/020000c

Ideas
Japan's economy has been in a stagnant phase for a very long time and it hardly ever grows that much. It might have a quarter of positive growth and then a quarter of not so positive growth or like now a Jan. to March periods of not so good. 

An annualized decrease of 0.7 percent just shows what would happen if the economy performed exactly the same way as the Jan. or March quarter.

And yes, because of inflation domestic spending has been constrained with Japanese households and businesses not interested in spending that much right now.

The Japanese economy seems to be stuck in a downward spiral related to continued inflation, weak consumer spending, and increased import cost due to the weak Japanese yen.

Again, Japan's gross domestic product just can't seem to move forward as its always stuck at or near the recession grey area.

This is not to say that the Japanese economy is all bad as its a very stable economy as it doesn't shrink that much each quarter or year, but also doesn't grow that much, when it does show some growth.

All the supposed tariffs are really going to do is maybe decrease demand for Japanese products as the real losers in the tariff situation are US consumers and US companies that need Japanese products.

But there are no winners in a supposed tariffs war and both the suppliers and the buyers of the products will lose out with decreased demand of Japanese products and increased prices on Japanese products which will only dampen demand for the products in the US.

It's easy to say Japan should not give in to the demands of the US administration, as many Japanese exports companies are not worried about what is going to happen in the future with their products in the US.

An annualized decline of 0.19 is not that much to emphasize again the Japanese economy doesn't decrease all that much but again doesn't grow all that much too.

Now, if you were to ask the average Japanese consumer about the GDP they would probably not know much about it as they are just thinking day to day trying to survive and trying to make ends meet each week each day.

And even globally, GDP is not in the minds of the average person in each country and they are just trying to make it from day to day and they aren't really into GDP stats or information that much.

The last few Prime Ministers in Japan has tried to help or improve the Japanese economy without much success, as they too tried economic packages but the packages didn't do much to help Japanese households.

What hasn't really been tried, which the EU and the US have done is increase the key interest rate, but the Bank of Japan, in past years, has suggested the Japanese economy is/was just too weak for a key rate increase, as it would have too many negative side-affects.

An increase of 0.04 percent in private consumption or consumer spending is an improvement but its not the same to get the Japanese economy moving again.

And yes, if inflation continues to grow faster than wage increases then Japanese households and or Japanese consumers' disposable income will be less than needed to spend in the economy and the Japanese economy will continue to be stuck in a stagnant phase.

The Japanese economy was built on exporting which has been its main economic driver for a very long time, and at the same time Japan's domestic economy is not that strong.

If Japan's domestic economy was much stronger Japan wouldn't have to depend so much on exporting or even foreign tourists spending in Japan to help as again the overall domestic economy just isn't that strong at this time.

The GDP formula is something like this; Consumer spending + business investment spending+ government spending + exports - imports to get the final value for GDP.

So imports do affect GDP growth but unfortunately Japan has to import much of what it needs which can have an effect on Japan's GDP and Japan's GDP growth.

Japan shouldn't expect too much in the negotiations as it seems China, Japan, and South Korea are not looking too good as all three are major exporters to the US and for whatever reason the US admin. doesn't seem to know anything about comparative or absolute advantage related to international trade.

You would think after all these years, that Japan might have transformed itself into a real consumer spending economy but it hasn't reached that level yet as consumer spending is only about 50 percent of Japan's GDP while other major economies consumer spending is over 60 percent maybe even reaching 65 percent.

Consumer  spending might have increased but not because of real consumer demand which is what is really important. The only thing that changed was Japanese households had to spend more on daily necessities but not on other things in the economy.

Capital investments might have increased 1.4 percent but that too is very weak and capital investments need to be more as a way to make up for the weak consumer spending in the Japanese economy.

The problem with the Japanese economy is not all of its growth engines are firing at the same time, as one area might improve but another area might not and it goes on this every quarter or some sectors growing but some sectors decreasing at the same time.

Have a nice day!

More Japan Rice News: Updated May 26, 2025.

Japan weighs doubling stockpiled rice release to rein in price surge

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250515/p2g/00m/0bu/032000c

Ideas

The Japanese government keeps increasing the rice supply but the price of rice remains high which might indicate there is something not quite right in the rice supply chains.

Most likely either rice suppliers such as producers, wholesalers, middlemen, and even supermarkets are keeping the price of rice high.

This seems very unusual as whenever the supply is increased normal supply and demand would put pressure to lower the price of rice in the market.

Again, normal supply and demand would put pressure on the rice market to begin to lower the price of rice but again something is amiss in Japan related to the rice market.

Prices usually control a market but maybe in this case there is some other factor which might have too much market control or market power which is keeping rice prices higher than normal.

There might be some collusion among some suppliers or middlemen that have formed some kind of cartel in the rice market that is keeping the prices of rice higher that usual.

There is always the possibility or idea that the Japanese government should maybe buy foreign rice as way to increase its stockpiles. Its time for the Japanese rice market to be less nationalistic for the good of Japan society and bring in stockpiles of foreign rice in case there is another possible rice shortage.

But there are always some who might think foreign rice is either not good enough and or doesn't taste very good and then there are those who might think the Japanese rice market should be for Japanese rice only.

Rice supplies should never have been that low as the Japanese government or government agencies related to agriculture should never have allowed the supply to be that low. 

If there was a possible shortage of rice the Japanese government should have or could have bought foreign rice to supplement the rice market as a way to keep prices down as most likely Japanese consumers would eventually have gotten used to the taste of foreign rice like consumers get used to many things foreign in many countries.

If the 2024 rice harvest was good and the 2024 rice harvest saw an increase of 180,000 tons then there is something amiss in the rice market in Japan. 

Most likely, or not. wholesalers and farmers formed some kind of informal cartel to keep prices high to benefit them despite the challenges of Japanese households.

The Japanese government needs to intervene for the good of Japanese society and find a ways to force farmers and wholesalers to follow normal supply and demand principles in the rice market.

If rice is a major stable in Japan has assumed why would the Japanese government not release enough rice into the market and or buy foreign rice as needed to keep the supply and demand normal instead of letting the farmers and wholesalers control the market and prices.

Yes, there might have been an increase in foreign tourists into Japan but could that have been the only reason for the rice shortage. Articles keep suggesting that foreign tourists are the reason for the rice shortage in Japan.

To be fair this all doesn't make sense, as farmers produce rice and sell in in auctions and then wholesalers take over and sell it to supermarkets and so on.

The government or suppliers or wholesalers, if needed should buy enough foreign rice to keep the price of rice in the market normal that supply and demand are always in some kind of equilibrium.

There should never be the need to buy back rice or any other agricultural product in Japan with normal supply and demand principles.

Yes at auctions, for the most part, farmers are price takers and have to accept the rice as given in a rice auction. Of course they could always decline to sell their supply of rice in the auctions which might be what's happening in Japan now.

This should never have happened in Japan if rice is such an important food stable for Japanese households and whomever should in the Japanese government should have been in more control for the good of Japanese society and Japanese households.

Have a nice day!

World Trade and Japan: Updated May 28, 2025.

World trade chief says global free trade is in a 'crisis' while on visit to Japan

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250513/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

Ideas

Global trade was/is never perfect but its what has lifted millions if not billions of people out of poverty and into the middle class.

Yes, there are those who don't play by the rules or those who try to gain more market power over others but overall it's the only thing that really works all these years.

Some might say China doesn't play by the rules or some might say the US has too much market power or political power, but again it's a system in place what continues to work for the good of most countries.

Japan is not perfect but its a good example of open markets or as open as Japan wants them, as they too have high tariffs on some of their products, that protects some Japanese markets from too much competition.

Some would say, back in the 1980's that Japan wasn't playing by the rules as its companies and products were gaining too much market share with the lower prices they were charging in the US. 

But the real problem, back then, was the US became lazy and were too arrogant to upgrade their products as Japanese products were outselling many US products.

Global trade and supply chains can always be upgraded for new and better ways of doing things, but not at the expense of people or families around the world.

But the tariff situation as proposed by the US admin. is not the right way to do things as its going to completely disrupt supply chains and might put thousands of people out of needed jobs.

It seems like every ten years or less these days there are global crisis situations such as the 2001 NYC crisis, the 2008, global financial crisis, and many semi-crisis in the 2010's period and then of course the 2020 global pandemic that almost shut down the global economy.

The tariff situation potentially could be as big as the global pandemic as it could significantly challenge the global trade system and global supply chains.

The World Trade Organization like many international organizations is not perfect but it's the only real organization, at the moment, that promotes if not free trade but at least fair trade.

Japan of course has been at the forefront of global trade as its economy is healing invested in trade around the world. d

But to be fair Japan could do more to open some of its markets to more competition as it does limit some of the market and competition in those markets.

Japan, if possible, should not give in to the US admin and its high tariffs, but should try to negotiate and the US admin seems to always reduce the tariffs like it seems to be on many of the countries.

Again, the WTO is not perfect and the global trade system is not perfect, but it works for most countries even though some would say China doesn't play by the rules and some might say the US has too much market power or political power related to the WTO.

Listening to some US company CEO's saying they are trying to move their operations out of China but it could take another 12 months to move from China to Vietnam for example.

The US admin doesn't know or understand or maybe even care about international trade and absolute advantage or comparative advantage as some products can easily be made in other countries compared to the US for the good of US consumers.

The US economy is an import driven economy not an export driven economy like Japan is, as many of the world's products and especially products from China are made specifically for the US economy for US consumers.

If the tariffs become a reality, many of these products are going to cost much more, which means US consumers are going to have to pay more and some companies can't afford to absorb the tariffs and will need to pass on the increased costs to the US consumer.

It's unfortunate that the WTO doesn't have the legislative power to block any country, in the WTO from using high tariffs or anything else that might disrupt the global trading system.

Unfortunately again, the WTO doesn't really have much power kind of like the United Nations really doesn't have that much power to stop many conflicts.

All both organizations can do is promote sanctions which in reality don't have much power against another country.

Again, the multilateral system is not perfect but it's the only global trade system at the present time that seems to work. 

Do want to go back to the 1910's or 1920's with isolationist world where countries didn't trade and were left to their own devices. And then look what happened a few decades later in Europe which almost destroyed the world.

Have a nice day!