Sep 22
After four quarters of steadily decrease in economic activity, the second quarter of this year offers good signs for the overall economy of Japan. Does this mean that Japan has conquered the global economic crisis? Not yet, but they have embarked on the right way to do so.
As most national banks the Bank of Japan has been pumping huge amounts of money into the national economy to stabilize and improve the situation. Now they have decided is the right time to stop all these actions because they could hinder the natural recovery of Japan. So now the banks main objective is to strengthen the national currency. The yen has already improved its value against the US dollar. While this could hurt the export sector as one of Japans main markets is the USA, in the long term it is believed that it will benefit the whole country. Seems quite a risky step as export levels are already down and Japan is very dependent on the economic situation of USA. Although the technological and quality levels of Japan’s goods are up to date they should be vary of one fact. What if USA switches its full attention to China? Granted the quality levels cannot be compared to Japan, but the costs and quantity can be very attractive for US importers. None the less these are finally some good news for Japan. If the global situation keeps improving then Japan surely will overcome the global crisis and reach total recovery.
Of course this will not happen overnight, but these are the first good signs. I really do hope that Japan succeeds in their recovery plans as I believe that Japan is a vital part of overall global recovery. The faster this happen the better for us all.
Jul 03
It is probably safe to say that global recession affects us all, but I would have never thought that one of Asia’s powerhouses could be in trouble. Yet Japan is in big trouble, its economy is in downward spiral due to declining export levels.
Japan is one of market leaders in electronics, cars and IT technologies so one might think that the added high value would be enough to stabilize the economy. But actually we forgot one thing – during a global economic crisis the spending habits op people change. Simply said if people do not receive as much money as before and unemployment is a constant scare then they will not spend money on fancy things such as; high end electronics and cars. The only enterprises that may feel somewhat safe in an economic crisis are the food producers because people will always eat no matter how big the crisis is. So because of this simple fact Japan’s economy is in such a bad position. Continue reading »
May 29
By Neil Payne
Modern Japanese business practice has been very influenced by Europe and North America. However to a large extent but still retains some traditionally Japanese practices. Below we introduce you to some of the more pertinent concepts and what they mean.
“(O)jigi”, or bowing in English, is probably the feature of Japanese etiquette that is best-known through media and TV. Bowing is considered extremely important in Japan, so much so that, although children normally begin learning how to bow from a very young age, companies commonly provide training to their employees in how to execute bows correctly Basic bows are performed with the back straight and the hands at the sides (boys and men) or clasped in the lap (girls and women), and with the eyes down. Bows originate at the waist. Generally, the longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and the respect expressed. Bows can be generally divided into three main types: informal, formal, and very formal. Informal bows are made at about a fifteen degree angle and more formal bows at about thirty degrees. Very formal bows are deeper. Continue reading »
