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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Japanese economy

Japanese economy stories: 24 news summaries

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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MARKETS

 Dow Up 137; 
 Fed News Sparks Rally 

Bernanke predicts US GDP growth in 2010

Nov 16, 09 3:12 PM CST
(Newser) - Stocks rallied today on news of strong third-quarter economic growth in Japan and reassurance from Ben Bernanke that the Fed will keep interest rates low, the Wall Street Journal reports.
  • The Dow rose 136.49 points to close at 10,406,96.
  • The Nasdaq gained 29.97, settling
... More »

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Ben Bernanke • Japan • Federal Reserve • Dow Jones • Nasdaq • S&P 500 • Japanese economy • interest rates

 Japan Loses Its 
 Taste for Luxury 

From food to handbags, high-cost items are suffering

Sep 21, 09 7:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hundred-dollar melons and pricey designer handbags used to sell so well in Japan that companies considered luxury goods a mass-market sector. But while the Japanese kept on shopping through previous recessions, this one has produced a sea change. The luxury industry has been hard hit, and the change may be... More »

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Louis Vuitton • shopping • Japan • recession • Tokyo • luxury • Japanese economy

Fall-Back Job
for Japanese Women: Flirting

Recession sends women into night clubs to sexily serve drinks

Jul 28, 09 10:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - Jobs are scarce in Japan, so women are turning to a once-shunned profession: “hostessing.” They’re paid handsomely to serve drinks to, and, more importantly, lavish attention on, the patrons of gentlemen’s clubs, the New York Times reports. A good flirt can easily earn $100,000... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • women • recession • Japanese economy • flirting • sex industry • hostesses • financial crisis

US Trading Partners See Huge GDP Falls

Mexico contracts
21.5% as American demand dries up

May 21, 09 6:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Yesterday Mexico became the latest country to disclose a sharp economic contraction as a result of the slowdown in US consumption of imported goods. Mexican GDP fell at an annualized rate of 21.5% in the first quarter, following Germany, down 14.4%, and Japan, 15.2%—its worst performance... More »

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Germany • Japan • Mexico • globalization • recession • global economy • US economy • GDP • NAFTA • Japanese economy • financial crisis

Japan May Buy Stocks
to Rescue Tanking Market

Government prepares to act as indexes hit 26-year low

Feb 24, 09 9:36 AM CST
(Newser) - The Japanese government said today that it might intervene to prop up the stock market, as the country's two main indexes approached their lowest levels in 26 years. The continued decline of the Nikkei and Topix—down 18% this year alone—has endangered Japan's banks, which hold a substantial amount... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • Nikkei • Japanese economy • financial crisis • Topix • Kaoru Yosano

Japan Finance Minister Denies Being Drunk, Quits Anyway

Official mocked over slurred conference

Feb 17, 09 3:04 AM CST
(Newser) - Japan's finance chief has announced his resignation amid public ridicule over a news conference where he slurred his words and appeared drunk, Reuters reports. Shoichi Nakagawa, who seemed to fall asleep during the Rome conference of G-7 ministers, denies he was intoxicated and insists the few sips of wine he... More »

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Japan • Taro Aso • Japanese economy • drunk

Japan Economy Shrinks by Most in 35 Years

4th-quarter contraction of 3.3% was 3 times worse than US 

Feb 16, 09 6:38 AM CST
(Newser) - Japan's economy contracted by a shocking 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008, three times worse than the US and the worst performance in 35 years. The Financial Times reports that a sharp drop in exports contributed to the slump—the third straight quarter of negative growth. The figures... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • economic growth • recession • Bank of Japan • Japanese economy

 Japan Throws $16.7B Lifeline 

The bailout aims to help smaller business outside of banking or corporate sectors

Jan 27, 09 7:03 AM CST
(Newser) - Following in the footsteps of America and Europe, Japan is offering $16.7 billion to companies threatened by the financial crisis, moving outside the banking sector to take equity stakes in smaller companies that otherwise can't find financing, the Financial Times reports. The 1.5 trillion yen package aims to... More »

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Japan • Bank of Japan • credit crisis • small business • Japanese economy • Japanese auto industry • bailout • financial crisis

OPINION

 Forget the Deficit: 
 Spend, Spend, Spend! 

We need massive fiscal expansion, not budget restraint: Krugman

Dec 1, 08 9:07 AM CST
(Newser) - As the incoming administration prepares a massive fiscal stimulus to jolt America's floundering economy back to life, some are worrying about what billions in spending will do to the budget deficit. On the contrary, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times: Deficit spending now will help, not harm, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
recession • deficit • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Paul Krugman • budget deficit • Japanese economy • financial crisis • fiscal expansion

 Japan Sinks Into Recession 

Economic downturn could last a year

Nov 17, 08 2:39 AM CST
(Newser) - The financial crisis rippling through the global economy has claimed another casualty as Japan has slipped into its first recession in seven years, Reuters reports. Third quarter statistics reveal a 0.1% contraction in Japan's Gross Domestic Product. Japanese economists warn the nation could languish in recession for an... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • recession • GDP • Nikkei • Bank of Japan • eurozone • Japanese economy • G20 • Kaoru Yosano

Japan Struggles with Slacker Salarymen

Anti-ambitious young Japanese opt out of the career fast track

Nov 1, 08 9:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - A new generation of Japanese salarymen is dropping out of the competition for raises, promotions, and managerial opportunities, the Wall Street Journal reports. Older Japanese are shocked at the attitudes of these ambition-shunning young workers who openly decline to climb the corporate ladder and switch jobs in pursuit of less-demanding... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • corporate culture • promotion • office workers • Japanese economy • corporate jobs

Deflation Danger Looms as World Economy Slows

Falling prices
could trigger long
downward spiral

Nov 1, 08 5:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Fears of runaway inflation have been replaced by fears of its opposite as the world's economy starts seizing up, the New York Times reports. Economists see a potentially devastating deflation ahead as cash-strapped consumers create a glut of underpriced, unpurchased goods and services—in turn triggering mass layoffs at struggling... More »

MORE ABOUT:
world economy • deflation • consumer prices • Japanese economy • Great Depression • commodity prices • financial crisis

OPINION

Pass the Bailout, Or Else We'll
Become Japan

Its decade of decline shows the risks of inaction: Kristof

Oct 2, 08 8:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - Watching the House vote down the bailout package this week, Nicholas Kristof recalled a bad memory: Japanese politicians doing the same thing during the financial crisis of the 1990s. The New York Times columnist, who was then based in Tokyo, watched as a desire to punish "corrupt, profligate, and... More »

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Japan • recession • Nikkei • Japanese economy • House Republicans • bailout • financial crisis • Nicholas Kristof

Analysis

Managing Bailout Only Gets Trickier From Here

Government needs to move carefully, particularly on failing banks: experts

Sep 29, 08 10:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury’s bailout plan won’t end the economic crisis, Steven Lohr writes in the New York Times. It’s merely a first, costly step, and overseeing its workings will be a major undertaking for the next administration, as will assisting homeowners and crafting policies for a less credit-happy... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japanese economy • Election 2008 • bailout • economy • financial crisis

 Japanese PM Resigns

Fukuda hopes move will clear parliamentary gridlock

Sep 1, 08 11:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - Yasuo Fukuda has resigned as Japan’s prime minister, the AP reports. Fukuda said he was stepping down to ensure that a special session of parliament to address the economy runs smoothly. Fukuda, whose approval rating is at 29% after less than a year in office, has presided over a... More »

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Japan • resignation • prime minister • food prices • Yasuo Fukuda • parliament • Japanese economy • fuel costs

Japan Rebuilds Economic Walls

With firms ripe for takeover, gov't moves
to make foreign investment tougher

Apr 30, 08 1:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Once, Japan was one of the world’s most closed economies, with near-impregnable barriers guarding against foreign investors. It's moving back in that direction, the Wall Street Journal reports. Companies are buying stakes in each other to complicate international takeover bids, and resurrecting the “poison pill” strategy America pioneered... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • foreign investment • Nikkei 225 Stock Average • Japanese economy

Opposition Finally Backs New Chief for
Bank of Japan

Shirakawa to fill critical spot as stalemate ends

Apr 9, 08 2:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Democratic Party of Japan has accepted a new central banker just in time for the crucial meeting of G7 finance leaders in Washington on Friday, reports the International Business Times. The top spot has been vacant since March 19, leaving the bank vulnerable during an unsteady economic time. Masaaki... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • Tokyo • Democratic Party of Japan • Bank of Japan • credit crisis • Yasuo Fukuda • Japanese economy • Masaaki Shirakawa

 Japan's Inflation Surges 

Unemployment also rises in world's second-largest economy

Mar 28, 08 8:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - A double whammy of rising inflation and unemployment has experts worried that Japan’s economy—the world’s second largest—is fast losing steam, reports the Wall Street Journal. Inflation in February rose 1%, its fastest spike in a decade, and household spending stalled in the face of rising... More »

MORE ABOUT:
inflation • Japan • exports • Tokyo • unemployment • Japanese economy

Japan Faces Credit Crisis With No Central Bank Governor

Political standoff leaves BoJ top job vacant

Mar 21, 08 9:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - When markets are in chaos and currencies are fluctuating wildly, central bankers jump in to try to provide stability, as Ben Bernanke has done at the Fed. But in Tokyo a political standoff has left the Bank of Japan without a leader at the worst possible moment, reports the AFP.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • Tokyo • Bank of Japan • credit crisis • Yasuo Fukuda • Japanese economy • Toshihiko Fukui

Looking for a Real Recession? Try Japan

Once-booming economy stumbles, yet people are 'indifferent'

Feb 2, 08 3:18 PM CST
(Newser) - While economists squabble over a possible US recession, Japan has quietly slipped into one. The country’s postwar riches have all but vanished, the Washington Post reports, as its GDP tumbles from fourth to twentieth among the world’s countries and its share of the world’s economy dips... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Japan • Toyota • Shinzo Abe • recession • foreign investment • unemployment • GDP • manufacturing • Yasuo Fukuda • Junichiro Koizumi • Japanese economy • Japanese auto industry

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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