Japan Wholesale Prices:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210412/p2g/00m/0bu/038000c 

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's wholesale prices rose 1.0 percent from a year earlier in March for the first increase in 13 months, reflecting higher crude oil prices and a global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

The prices of goods traded between companies last showed an on-year rise in February 2020, but remained below the central bank's 2 percent inflation target. The latest increase followed a 0.6 percent decline in February.

Ideas:

It's always important to remember there are many variables related to the increase in prices.

But the two main variables might be an increase in demand, in which suppliers might increase prices and buyers are more willing to buy and a possible increase in prices related to an increase costs of the supplier and the supplier might pass the increase on to the buyer.

The central bank's 2 percent inflation target is a good idea, but maybe it should not so important during the pandemic period.,

It might be a better idea to make sure as many businesses as possible survive the pandemic and then after the pandemic go back look at the inflation target again.

There are still too many businesses that need help before the inflation target should be a priority again.

Article:

By item, prices for oil and coal products gained 9.8 percent following a revised 6.0 percent fall in the previous month. Nonferrous metal prices jumped 28.7 percent due to strong demand in China, the central bank said.

Prices for scrap metal surged 63.9 percent, pushed up by robust demand from overseas.

"A pickup in prices has been driven by recoveries in the U.S. and Chinese economies, but demand in Japan remains weak," said a BOJ official.

Ideas:

As the Chinese and US economies continue to improve, demand for Japanese products, both merchandise and intermediate good will continue to grow.

Oil and coal products are very much elastic price products or more specifically very much volatile price products, meaning they are always changing and not so stable.

Companies need to be aware and prepare for the ups and downs of the price of oil as it changes a lot sometimes.

Demand in Japan will continue to be weak until consumers feel good about the economy and they feel good enough to spend at pre-pandemic levels.

But consumer spending has always been a target and concern of the Japan central bank.

As consumer spending might make up as much as 50 percent of Japan's GDP, its a concern if consumers are not spending at their potential and or not at a level that is good for the economy.

An economy needs a certain level of flow or economic activity in it, and consumer spending is a big part of it.

If consumers, have the ability, at a reasonable level to spend, with saving too, and they aren't spending to due worries about the future, about jobs, about families, or course now the pandemic, it has an affect on the overall economy.

And then add in the aging factor as Japan and South Korea are number 1 and 2 number in the increase in those who are ageing faster than any other country, and add in the fact that those in the 65+ age groups tend to spend less than the 20-65 age groups.

Article:

The rise in prices in March also reflected a year-earlier plunge in crude oil prices and the economic downturn around the world in the early stage of the pandemic.

"It is too early to say demand in Japan has returned to the level before the outset of the pandemic," the BOJ official added.

Electricity, gas and water bills fell 10.2 percent.

Import prices rose 5.6 percent from a year earlier while export prices climbed 5.5 percent, both in yen terms.

Ideas:

Again oil prices are very volatile meaning they can go up and down very easily during the year.

Households and consumers might like the fall in commodity prices such as electricity, gas, and water bills but the suppliers, the companies that provide the commodities might not like it.

There are always positives and negatives depending if you are supplier or a buyer.

Overall consume demand might not reach pre-pandemic levels until the end of year, as more citizens become vaccinated and begin to see things around them greatly improve.

Supply chain challenges might have something do to with the increase in import and exports prices, as supply chains get back to normal operations.

Have a nice day and be safe!

Tokyo Restaurants:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210410/p2g/00m/0bu/027000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Owners of restaurants and bars in Tokyo, as well as the prefectures of Kyoto and Okinawa, on Friday expressed worries after they were added by the government to the list of areas subject to stricter anti-virus measures.

Amid a sharp rebound in infections, the governors of Tokyo and the two prefectures were granted the authority to order establishments serving food and alcohol in targeted areas to close by 8 p.m. and impose a fine of up to 200,000 yen ($1,800) for noncompliance.

"Atmosphere usually starts to warm up around 8 p.m. but we have to close the door by then," said a 26-year-old manager of a Japanese-style "izakaya" pub near the capital's bustling JR Ikebukuro Station.

Ideas:

Many restaurants and other places make most of their profits in the late night hours. So if they have to close at 8 PM that means they might be losing 4 or 5 hours of business, which might be the peak hours for customers.

While safety is very important, and needed. Maybe the Japanese government feels there is no other solution but to force businesses to close.

But some might say, why only these kinds of places, when other places are very busy during the day, such as at lunch time. 

Or even department stores and such places during the day.

Articles:

"Damage will be big, even if it is just one hour difference," he said before the new steps that take effect on Monday and last through May 11 for Tokyo.

Closing hours of such establishments in Tokyo were just extended by one hour with the lifting of the second state of emergency at midnight on March 21.

A 32-year-old manager of another izakaya pub criticized the central and local governments' handling of the pandemic, saying it seems they are just reacting to situations without a clear vision.

"I want (the governments) to take drastic measures," he said.

Ideas:

It might not seem fair, but perhaps restaurants such as Izakaya pubs are small type places where there is not enough space for the needed social distancing. 

But that could be said for many normal restaurants I have been to in the Yokohama eki, station, area, the Landmark tower area, and the Motomachi area and so on.

Those places are always very busy during the normal lunch time periods.

Not to mention Sogo in the Yokohama station area. If you have ever been to Sogo, or any other major Japanese department, depato, then you know how crowded the department stores can get or even the station area (s) in and around the subway/train stations.

Article:

Meanwhile, Yuko Miso, who runs a bar in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district, expressed understanding toward the Japanese and Tokyo metropolitan governments' virus policies.

"Until we put infections under control, we have to cooperate with the request to shorten business hours," she said.

However, the 48-year-old also added, "We need to prepare for it beforehand. I hope they will disclose their plans as early as possible."

Ideas:

The Japanese government and businesses should work together to find the best possible solutions to reduce the number of virus cases.

For example, in South Korea, and many countries, masks have to be worn at all times in restaurants, stores, coffee shops and other places.

Also, citizens have to show a QR code, which is in their smartphone and register it into a small tablet machine and or have their temperature taken at the entrance of the supermarket to show what their temperature is to be safe.

Businesses and the government should come up with solutions are that practical and both can agree on.

Article:

Similar opinions were heard at restaurants and bars in Kyoto.

"We were pinning our hope on the Golden Week holidays (from late April)," said Yoshiko Murata, a 77-year-old female manager of an izakaya in Kyoto.

In Okinawa, April to May is a traditional season for people to pay respect to their ancestors.

"I think it will be scaled down," said Sachie Sonan, a 65-year-old resident who runs a sweet shop in Naha.

Ideas:

Scaled down celebrations and such are the norm and and should be expected until the country becomes more vaccinated.

But the problem now is even with the vaccinations there are new virus strains that are spreading globally, and so caution and safety, even when vaccinated is still what will be needed.

With the Olympics coming up and all the international guests arriving it will be even more important to remain safe and hopefully there won't be a large outbreak during the Olympics

Have a nice day and be safe!

Japan Current Account:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210408/p2g/00m/0bu/058000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's current account surplus for February marked the first year-on-year decrease in seven months, mainly due to a rebound in imports from a slump seen a year ago due to the coronavirus outbreak in China and weak exports, government data showed Thursday.

The current account balance, one of the widest gauges of international trade, logged a surplus of 2.92 trillion yen ($27 billion), down 4.7 percent from the previous year while registering the 80th straight month of black ink, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The country's goods trade surplus more than halved to 524.2 billion yen from 1.36 trillion yen in the black the previous year, mainly due to an 11.8 percent rise in imports to 5.55 trillion yen for the first increase in 22 months.

Ideas:

Trade deficits and trade surpluses are unique to specific countries, meaning Japan, for example, is a trade surplus type economy. 

Whenever the value of exports exceeds the value of imports there will be trade surplus.

As Japan is major export country, there has been 80 straight months of a trade surplus.

It also mean more money is coming into the country that is going out.

Most times, with a favorable currency exchange rate exporters bring money into the country, while the opposite happens with imports, money goes out of the country as importers, or whomever, have to pay for the imports coming into Japan, and as such money leaves the country.

Article:

Imports from Asian nations expanded 36.9 percent, with a government official telling reporters that those from China, the first major economy severely impacted by the virus outbreak, have largely recovered.

The novel coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, forcing manufacturers to halt production in the world's second-largest economy in early 2020.

Exports dropped 4.0 percent to 6.08 trillion yen, down for the first time in three months, with sluggish demand in auto exports to the United States as well as in mineral fuel shipments to Australia.

Ideas:

As economies continue to recover and as supply chains try to get back to normal, it begins to allow the flow of products more easily between countries.

Auto exports can be both a positive and a negative at the same time. While there might be a demand for Japanese cars in the US there is also the challenge of semiconductor chips used and needed in cars that is slowing the production and shipping of Japanese cars to the US.

And then there is the consumer. Not all consumers want to buy a car at the same time. So automakers are always at the whim of when car buyers want or need to buy a car.

And also there is the idea, even with vaccinations moving forward in the US, the US economy is not back to normal and may not be back to the pre-pandemic level until 2022, and there are still a large number without jobs, looking for jobs, or working low-wage jobs as the moment, and may not be willing to buy a new car at this time.

Article:

The services trade balance posted a deficit of 75.7 billion yen, reduced to less than one-third from the previous year's red ink of 269.9 billion yen.

In the service trade category, the travel surplus nosedived 46.3 percent to 21.1 billion yen as continuing international travel bans amid the pandemic have had a huge impact on the number of inbound visitors. But the pace has slowed compared to the 91.6 percent decline logged in January.

The surplus in primary income, which reflects returns on overseas investments, grew 25.0 percent from the previous year to 2.63 trillion yen, boosted by an increase in returns on direct overseas investments, the official said.

The ministry had previously said the current account surplus in January stood at 646.8 billion yen, down 2.3 percent from a year ago, marking the first decline in five months. But an annual revision tweaked the figure to 644.4 billion yen in the black, up 16.8.

Ideas:

The service industry in Japan, probably like most countries, may have been the hardest hit sector in the economy.

While the manufacturing industry and the logistics areas related to manufacturing seems to have somewhat recovered, especially the links to China, the services industry is completely different.

As the services industry can be anything such as restaurants, bars, hotels, retail, airlines, and or course the travel segment.

Both the domestic and international travel segment may not recover for years.

The domestic segment will of course begin to recover much sooner but the idea that a million international tourists are suddenly going to be let back into Japan once more countries are vaccinated, and especially China with is almost one million tourists a month is not going to happen to soon.

Some countries are beginning to experiment with travel bubble or travel exchanges between countries. 

But at this time its still all an experiment with the new variants increasing.

So the Japanese government, as much as possible, should continue to help and support those businesses hit hard by the loss of international tourists.

Have a nice day and be safe!

Japan Consumer Spending:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210406/p2g/00m/0bu/031000c

Article

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's household spending fell a real 6.6 percent in February from a year earlier, down for the third straight month under the country's second state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday.

Average spending by households with two or more people in real terms was 252,451 yen ($2,300), according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The pace of decrease accelerated from a 6.1 percent drop in January and a 0.6 percent dip in December. The February reading was affected by a leap day in 2020, which is estimated to have pushed down this year's figure by 2.3 percentage points, a ministry official told reporters.

Ideas:

As the pandemic continues on there are, unfortunately, many people, even in Japan, who have either lost jobs, unable to find new jobs, or are related to businesses have have been hard hit by the pandemic.

As such consumer spending continues to drop and just because of the emergency measures.

While some of it might be related to less spending in pre-pandemic places, but some of it is related to either worried about the future or just trying to survive now.

As the pandemic continues, those who are affected the most will continue to reduce their spending except for the most essential items.

Article.

In terms of real seasonally adjusted figures, meanwhile, spending rose 2.4 percent from January, following a 7.3 percent fall in the previous month, with a remarkable decline in the number of daily new virus infection cases across the country in February.

The government declared its second state of emergency over the pandemic in early January for the Tokyo metropolitan area amid a third wave of virus infections that began in November, asking restaurants and bars to close early and people to refrain from unnecessary outings.

The measure was expanded to 11 prefectures within a week but later lifted in stages, with the step fully removed in late March.

Ideas:

There will most likely be sporadic increases in spending here or there but overall it most likely won't get back to any kind of pre-pandemic level in the near future.

Even as more of Japan becomes vaccinated, there is still a part of the Japanese economy that is not going to even get close to the pre-pandemic level and that is services and of course tourism. 

Both of those areas, especially tourism, might not fully recover until 2022 at the earlies.

Article:

The average monthly income of salaried households with at least two people edged up a real 0.1 percent to 535,392 yen, up for the first time in three months.

Household spending is a key indicator of private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan's gross domestic product.

Ideas:

It has to be remembered that the average monthly income is just an average. It doesn't say how many are above the average or how many are below the average.

And its doesn't say how many are receiving government assistance, both businesses and families that have been affected by the virus situation with the loss of jobs or the loss or business and or the loss of customers but barely hanging on as a business.

Yes consumer spending may be more than 50 percent of Japan's GDP, but again not all consumers do or are able to spend at the same rate as the pandemic has affected consumers, some a lot, and some maybe not at all.

Have a nice day and be safe!

Global Trade and Japan:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210401/p2g/00m/0bu/024000c

Article:

GENEVA (Kyodo) -- The volume of world merchandise trade is projected to rise 8 percent in 2021 from last year following a decline of 5.3 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday.

The Geneva-based international body also forecast the growth of global trade volume to slow to 4 percent in 2022, falling below the pre-pandemic trend.

"COVID-19 continues to pose the greatest threat to the outlook for trade, as new waves of infection could easily undermine any hoped-for recovery," the WTO said in a press release.

Ideas:

After a down year in 2020, global trade as rebounded, especially in Japan and South Korea. As the two countries usually compete with the same kind of exports it can only be good news for both countries that global trade has come back so strong.

Of course cars and semiconductors are leading the way in both countries.

And the two biggest markets for both countries are China and the US.

And as we closer and into the summer months it seems the new virus variants are beginning to hit other places beside India, were the latest variant is coming from.

Article:

"Keeping international markets open will be essential for economies to recover from this crisis and a rapid, global and equitable vaccine roll-out is a prerequisite for the strong and sustained recovery we all need," WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was quoted as saying.

The impact of the pandemic on merchandise trade varied depending on region in 2020, with Asia seeing exports increase by 0.3 percent and imports decrease by only 1.3 percent, compared to the rest of the world with large declines on both fronts.

Last October, the WTO estimated a steeper 9.2 percent decline in the volume of world merchandise trade for 2020, followed by a slightly less optimistic 7.2 percent rise for 2021.

Global trade has proven to be relatively resilient compared to gross domestic product growth in many countries, with world GDP expected to increase 5.1 percent in 2021 and 3.8 percent in 2022 after a contraction of 3.8 percent last year.

Ideas:

Markets have been opening steadily and GPD has been steady, but it the variant become more severe, such as in Australia and South Africa it could slow down economic growth in some parts of the world.

As Japan and South Korea become more vaccinated and as both countries begin to open up more with less restrictions on their citizens, economic growth should improve in both countries.

But if the new virus variant expands in Japan and Tokyo just before the Olympics the Japanese Prime Minister might just have to implement emergency measures again just as Australia has done recently

Have a nice day and be safe! 

Japan Manufacturer Sentiment:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210401/p2g/00m/0bu/036000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers turned positive for the first time in six quarters in March, recovering to a pre-pandemic level amid growing expectations for an economic recovery, the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed Thursday.

The key index measuring confidence among companies such as automobile and electronics makers rose to 5 from minus 10 in December, rising for the third straight quarter.

The result beat the average market forecast of minus 2 shown in a Kyodo News survey.

Ideas:

Japanese manufacturers, who export globally, most likely are beginning to feel much better about the global economy. As consumer spending picks up globally, and as the vaccinations begin to increase, more economies will begin to get back to some kind of "new normal" but it might a long time before many economies can get back to anywhere near the pre-pandemic level.

This is very good for manufacturers but it doesn't tell the real story of the Japanese economy. It only shows a small slice of what is happening.

As there are still thousands of small and medium sized business who no where near a "new normal" as they are still just holding on hoping things can get to some kind of a pre-pandemic level.

Article:

The index for large nonmanufacturers, including the service sector, rose to minus 1 from minus 5 in the December survey.

The Tankan index represents the percentage of companies reporting favorable conditions minus the percentage reporting unfavorable ones.

Urban areas such as Tokyo were placed under a second state of emergency over the novel coronavirus for most of the period when the data for the quarterly Tankan survey was collected.

Ideas:

Especially, now with the pandemic still going on, there are companies are that positive about about business conditions and there of course are some who are not so positive about business conditions.

But even before the pandemic there were companies who were positive and there were  companies that were not so positive.

But that is how a market economy works. There are some that are going to be highly successful and positive, some that will be a little less positive, and some that are not doing so good and will even less positive.

The second state of emergency didn't help the economy if businesses are not allowed to operate its normal hours, and with of course less customers than normal.

Article:

The start of vaccinations in mid-February against the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus has boosted hopes for economic recovery as the nation emerges from the pandemic, despite the divergence in the pace of recovery of manufacturers and service providers.

For manufacturers such as automakers, the outlook remains uncertain as concerns about a semiconductor shortage were exacerbated by a recent fire at a plant of Renesas Electronics Corp., a key supplier of chips to automakers.

The Japanese chip producer has said it will take up to four months for production to fully recover, raising concerns that major Japanese automakers will be forced to cut output.

Ideas:

Despite some good news regarding vaccinations, globally and now in Japan, there are still a lot of challenges ahead.

The fire ad the chip factory doesn't help along with Taiwan not beginning to experience and increase in virus variants in Taiwan.

Taiwan sometimes has been called a manufacturing powerhouse. With the new virus variants hitting Taiwan, its not good for car manufacturers or others how rely on chips from Taiwan.

It remains to be seen just how fast service providers can come back to some kind of normal.

As service providers provide person to person services, or many of them, it remains to be seen just how they can come to their pre-pandemic levels.

Article:

The confidence index for automakers jumped 23 points to 10 in December, turning positive for the first time since September 2019, though it is expected to worsen to 6 in the coming months.

Production equipment makers, which include those for semiconductors, were optimistic, with sentiment improving to 8, up 29 points from three months ago.

It is unclear how much of the impact expected from the production halt by the March 19 fire at the Renesas plant was factored into the latest survey conducted between Feb. 25 and Wednesday.

Hotels and dining establishments were pessimistic, sending the confidence index to minus 81 as they continued to bear the brunt of the pandemic's economic impact as people refrained from going out. Restaurants and bars in parts of Japan hit by increasing coronavirus cases have been asked to shorten business hours.

Ideas:

While the manufacturing industry might be coming back slowly, it remains to be seen what is going to happen with service providers such as hotel, restaurants, and most businesses related to tourism, both domestic and international.

If Tokyo is intent, in not allowing domestic or even international spectators at the Olympic Games, then that will continue to downward slide of those businesses.

But to be fair with the Tokyo Games leadership, most likely they might see this as the only real alternative to holding the Games.

But back to the services being hit hard. It might seem unfair to them, and it probably is, but how does it help when you have thousands of people, out and about all day long, especially on the weekends, such as places I know about in Yokohama, just as Yokohama station, Sogo department store at Yokohama station, Landmark Tower, with all the customers walking through there, as people tell me daily who live there, and not to mention all of the Starbucks that seem to be full everyday.

Article:

Going forward, the index for manufacturers, however, is expected to worsen slightly to 4 and that for nonmanufacturers is projected to remain unchanged at minus 1.

Large companies, defined as those with 1 billion yen ($9 million) or more in capital, expect a 3.0 percent increase in capital spending for fiscal 2021 that started Thursday.

Companies in the survey expect the U.S. dollar to trade at 106.07 yen in fiscal 2021, lower than the assumed rate of 106.66 yen for the previous business year.

The BOJ surveyed 9,478 companies, of which 99.0 percent responded.

Ideas:

Surveys are always important and needed to try and get the feel for what companies might be feeling and what they think they might do in the future.

But you can never rely completely on what surveys say. They are just estimates or guesses for what might be going on and what might happen.

For example the 3.0 percent increase in capital spending sounds good, but lets see if they really do it in the future.

And then the yen/dollar currency exchange is always something to consider.

Exporters prefer a weaker exchange rate while exporters prefer a stronger exchange rate, yen to the dollar for example.

A weaker exchange means exporters can usually get a higher price for their products sent to the US for example. While importers, with a strong exchange rate can usually get a lower price to bring a US product into Japan.

Have a nice day and be safe!

Bank of Japan News:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210330/p2g/00m/0bu/100000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Tuesday that cutting interest rates would be a "nimble and effective" monetary easing option following a recent review aimed at making the current policy framework sustainable in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan's economic activities and prices are expected to remain under downward pressure for an extended period and the central bank will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary, Kuroda told an event hosted by Kyodo News.

The BOJ carried out an assessment of its policy tools at its March 18-19 meeting as the pandemic has moved its already elusive 2 percent inflation target further away.

Ideas:

As businesses and consumers refrain from their usual economic activity prices will either remain flat or continue a downward spiral.

That might seem good for consumers, with lower prices, but its not good for the overall economy.

An economy needs a certain level of economic activity to grow and for prices to rise, so that not only are consumer benefitting, but also businesses too.

Reducing interests, may or may not, be an incentive for businesses and consumers to borrow money and use it in the economy, thus increasing economic activity.

There will be an acceleration affect, or could be, where more economic activity is an incentive for more economic and activity. 

As consumers begin to spend, businesses make more profits, then business begin to invest and so on, which eventually lead to an increase in many different sectors.

Article:

It decided to establish a scheme to mitigate the impact of potential rate cuts on financial institutions and encourage them to extend loans.

"This scheme enables the Bank of Japan to cut short- and long-term interest rates nimbly without hesitation while considering the impact on the functioning of financial intermediation," Kuroda said.

"Cutting those rates is an important option as a nimble and effective additional easing measure."

The BOJ chief said the review has "strengthened" the easing framework, in that it will enable the central bank to pursue monetary easing "more strongly than before."

Ideas:

Yes, reducing interest rates might be an incentive for business and consumers to increase their economic activity, but in many cases its not so good for financial institutions who would be losing profits, unless the BOJ is able to provide incentives for banks or even subsidies during the pandemic period.

Banks also need to be protected with some kind of subsidy and or the more loans they process at the lower rates, they can get a percentage it back from subsidies from the BOJ.

But then of course the banks might cut the rates and actually might get more business than before, which would or could offset the loss from the reduced rates and they now have more customers than before.

Article:

Prior to the review, the BOJ faced criticism that its program to keep short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and guiding 10-year Japanese government bond yields around zero percent has made the bond market moribund and aggressive purchases of exchange-traded funds have distorted market functions.

The BOJ expanded the range in which the yield of 10-year government bonds is allowed to move to minus 0.25 percent to 0.25 percent from the previous, implicit target of minus 0.2 percent and 0.2 percent.

"Clarifying the (allowed) range of fluctuations is part of our efforts to strengthen communication with markets," Kuroda said in a question and answer session of the online event.

Ideas:

Bond market buyers need to have an incentive to buy bonds. If they rate is too low, there is no incentive to buy. But as the BOJ has done, it has now raised the rate to where it might be enough to stimulate the bond market. Or maybe not.

Fluctuating rates might actually be a good thing, because today, many economies are inter-connected to each other and government sometimes buy bonds from other countries.

At the same time the fluctuating rates are more able to respond to changes in global conditions.

Article:

Kuroda acknowledged that the tools the BOJ employs have become "complex" as it seeks to boost the effectiveness of monetary easing and address side-effects.

He said the bank believes it possible to achieve the 2 percent inflation target by continuing with monetary easing.

Japan's core consumer price index excluding volatile fresh foods dropped 0.4 percent in February from a year ago.

Ideas:

The BOJ has been trying to reach the 2 percent inflation target for many years with no success.

Perhaps during this pandemic period, the BOJ should set aside the 2 percent inflation goal and focus on helping all the business that are just barely surviving.

And then after the pandemic has past and more consumers begin to spend, more consumers have jobs again, then the BOJ can begin re-focus on the 2 percent goal.

Prices will continue to drop unless there is enough economic activity to push prices up. But that might not happen until the pandemic has passed.

Have a nice day and be safe!