globalEDGE Blog - By Tag: japan

As birth rates around the world continue to shrink, world governments are spending billions of dollars to combat this. Yet, there has been little progress in slowing down the continued shrinking birthrates through Europe, Asia, and the United States. This has caused worry in governments around the world about the increased burdens on their economies and the lack of workers needed.

Jeans are one of the most significant statement pieces of clothing created, and most people wear them at least once at some point in their lives. The word ‘denim’ originally comes from a type of twill fabric called ‘Serges de Nimes’ from France that weavers first used to create their type of jeans. This comes with their first use of natural indigo on the pants to produce the vibrant blue color we know today.

Japanese 7-Eleven products have been brought to the U.S. As 7-Eleven CEO Ryuichi Isaka stated, the decision was to “change (their) business model from one that relies on gasoline and cigarettes to one in which customers choose us based on (their) products.” 

Over the past few years, we have seen the impact of Japan’s pop culture worldwide. Whether it is music, food, or fashion, the trends that Japan brings are unavoidable. However, one of the things that has taken the world by storm is Japanese animation. It is one of the primary sources of content for Gen Z, with statistics showing that 44% of Americans aged 18-24 watch famous anime titles. Furthermore, it is expected for the anime industry to generate 69.8 billion dollars by 2032. With various companies supporting many of the streaming platforms for the consumers outside of Japan to watch anime, regions such as in Europe are showing anxious interest to be part of the market. As we are seeing the anime merchandising market size to be 2.07 billion dollars by 2030 with the support of conventions such as Japan Expo and SunnyCon Anime Expo. 

Last September, the World Bank announced it would begin implementing new steps to lend an additional 100 billion over the next ten years. This, along with other new initiatives, would allow the World Bank to lend 150 billion more to developing countries.

We have heard of artificial intelligence from all over the world, and it has been used in various industries. But there are mixed reviews when it comes to the area of music. Many artists have come forward to discuss their opinions on the use of AI in creating music and how it could affect the state of the industry. This can also be an opportunity for companies to further innovate their technologies for efficient and innovative creation, such as their songwriting tools and synthesizers. Whether you are for or against the movement, the important thing is the balance and the measures taken regarding copyright and the way AI is used. 

Happy Valentine's day! Today is one of the most significant consumer holidays after Christmas. With its presence felt in over 30 countries, this celebration isn’t just about love; it’s a lucrative opportunity for industries across the globe.

Rice, a food staple in many countries, holds cultural and dietary significance in Japan. However, concerns are growing over the future of rice farmers in Japan as the demand for this essential food experiences a decline. The rice industry faces additional challenges with the recent ban on rice exports from India, one of the world’s leading rice exporters. The once-stable and crucial rice sector faces uncertainties threatening its long-standing role in Japanese agriculture and the global economy.

Sleeping is known to be one of the most essential aspects in our lives; yet, many people overlook it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than one in three adults in the U.S. are sleep-deprived, leading to many concerning factors that can affect individuals' health.

As social media keeps dominating our world, there is no denying that it has also collided with many different industries across digital marketing. One of the specific digital platforms that has made a dynamic change over the past few years has been TikTok. They have gathered a massive following with a staggering 1 billion monthly users as of 2023 and will only continue to grow. There is no doubt that with the number of users on this platform, they will have the leverage to keep increasing their profits by gathering new up and coming creators and touching more specifically on the music industry.

The arrival of smartphones in the early 2000s marked a watershed moment in the world of photography. Film and digital cameras, once the unrivaled champions, suddenly faced formidable competition. In a surprising turn of events, digital cameras are making a stylish comeback, becoming an essential accessory in social media, especially adored by the younger generation for their “it-girl” charm.

Bubble tea, also known as “boba” or “boba tea,” has been making waves around the world, transcending borders and significantly impacting global businesses and trade. With its unique blend of traditional tea flavors, brown sugar-sweetness, an occasional caffeine kick, and chewy tapioca pearls- its claim to fame-, bubble tea’s journey from small teahouse delicacy to international stardom is a testament to innovation, cultural exchange, and the beverage’s irresistible charm.

Two years after the collapse of China’s real-estate bubble, worries that it may collapse again are starting to rise. China’s largest private property developer, Country Garden, is struggling to pay back their enormous loans. Dealing with strict government regulations has made it even more difficult for companies to deal with their growing debt.

The global economy has been significantly impacted by artificial intelligence, and Japan, with its long history of technological innovation, is well-positioned to significantly impact the AI landscape. Japan is building its own AI innovations like ChatGPT that are anticipated to change a range of sectors, from manufacturing to healthcare, significantly influence the country's economic future.

As the world pivots away from fossil fuels and towards a sustainable future, one intriguing option is geothermal energy. By using fracking techniques developed by the oil and gas companies, companies are able to harvest heat from the Earth to power generators connected to the power grid. Geothermal energy is a nearly unlimited power source; according to scientists at Fervo Energy, there is enough geothermal energy in the United States alone to power the country several times over.

Since the early 1990s, the global economy has experienced significant growth over the last three decades. After an incredible run, the global economy may be headed for a major deceleration. The World Bank has issued a warning that the global economy’s long-term growth potential may be anemic over the next decade, mostly diminished due to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, ongoing pandemic restrictions, social unrest, and redistribution of global wealth. This situation could potentially result in a “lost decade,” resembling the stagnant and subdued economic conditions experienced in Japan in the 1990s or Latin America in the 1980s.

The technology industry has seen a lot of ups and downs throughout the last three years, especially after the end of the pandemic. However, through the boom of technology created and engaged with during the pandemic, the tech industry is looking at a continuing rise of activity; but, is that truly what will happen?

The world Baseball Classic starts at the beginning of March. It is a three-week baseball tournament, including teams from all over the world. The World Baseball Classic is similar to the world cup for Soccer, with teams playing in different groups. The top two teams from each group move on to the tournament. The tournament will occur in the United States (Arizona and Miami), Taiwan, and Japan, which is decided based on the country’s location.The World Baseball Classic happens every four years, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Classic had to be postponed to 2023, but now, the economic boosts given to host countries is likely to occur once more.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing field revolutionizing businesses’ operations. From automating repetitive tasks to predicting customer behavior, AI transforms how companies do business.

2022 was a year of major milestones and innovations in the cryptocurrency industry, including the meteoric rise of Web3 and the metaverse, the continued development of decentralized finance, and the introduction of non-fungible tokens. The upward trend seemed like it would continue, with the global crypto community aligning to support Ukraine amid its tensions and ultimate conflict with Russia. Thousands of people and leading brands joined hands to donate crypto funds to Ukraine, which will go down in history as one of the most prominent mass-market uses of blockchain technology to date. But this social unity has not helped hide the dramatic downward shift many crypto coins and exchanges are currently taking.

 The world's population continues to grow at an alarming rate, and many countries are facing declining birth rates. This has far-reaching consequences for economies as the aging population shrinks the workforce, leading to a shortage of low-wage labor. Additionally, the demographic pyramid is becoming inverted as the elderly population grows relative to the working-age population, creating sustainability issues for social contracts that rely on the young to support the elderly. These challenges are particularly pronounced in developed countries, while developing countries face the opposite problem of a growing youth population with insufficient job opportunities. With the future of the global population at stake, it's crucial to address these issues and find sustainable solutions that benefit all.

We all learned about the industrial revolutions in our world history class - due to the increase in wealth from violent colonialism, Europe invested in technology and created the cotton mill and steam power in the late 1700s to early 1800s. And now, more and more technological revolutions have led us to this new, debated Fourth Industrial Revolution, a revolution that is radically changing every business sector.

As the climate disaster is steadily increasing in conversation across nations, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States attempts to place regulations on sustainability reports within large corporations. They are pushing for these reports to act like financial reports; they can be audited in this case. If these regulations pass, the sustainability reports would mimic financial reports and be audited to keep companies from stretching their energy-efficiency disclosures. Without this, it has become a pattern that companies' reports are unreliable and very inconsistent with the revelations they have put out.

As every country rides out the spiking of the Omicron variant, hopeful to see some type of stabilization from it, many have chosen to close their borders to people and businesses for a few weeks to avoid overwhelming hospitals. We’re seeing tighter restrictions and harder borders than we’re used to outside of the COVID-19 Pandemic world. As more variants continue to rise, it would be a good idea to look into how border closings affect businesses, customers, and how you may prepare your business for another possible closure.

The COVID-19 vaccine has been a point of discussion for nearly two years at this point. However, there is a new version that is the current talk-of-the-town: COVID-19 Booster Shots. Today’s blog will discuss what these booster shots are, how they are being implemented, and what it means for some countries to have them when others don’t even have enough doses of the original vaccine.

The COVID-19 virus has been ravaging countries as many have recently failed to reach the World Health Organization’s goals for vaccination percentages, whether for lack of access, lack of easy spread of information, or the spread of misinformation surrounding vaccinations. There have been spikes regarding the Delta variant in the United States, Mexico, Russia, Australia, and some parts of Europe and Africa. However, throughout all of this chaos, there is new hope surrounding a new antiviral pill that could be a strong contender for treating COVID-19 without the use of injections.

Around the globe, people enjoy the escapism, art, and joy brought about by the media and entertainment industry. In the United States alone, entertainment is worth $717 billion, a third of the entire world market. This monumental number continues to grow, with predictions that the industry will grow by over $100 billion more dollars by 2023. Which areas within this vast industry pull in the largest amounts of dollars?

Back in October, we ran through the financials of hosting the Olympics. Five months and millions of dollars later, hosting the Olympics may remain a dream for Tokyo thanks to the coronavirus. Since the first coronavirus update on the globalEDGE website, officials have discovered thousands of new cases of the virus, along with a new strain, bringing the total number of cases to more than 113,000. About 71% of cases have been found in mainland China, specifically in the Hubei Province, but new and major outbreaks have been found in Italy, South Korea, and Iran. While officials say the overall threat to the United States is moderate, they are worried about the potential that this virus possesses. They say the virus could mutate and become weaker or stronger; it is unpredictable.

On October 14, 2019, the United Kingdom’s Parliament was reinstated after a 5-week suspension. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is persistent in wanting the UK to secede from the European Union. During the Parliament disbandment, the Prime Minister was able to secure a deal, The Withdrawl Agreement Bill, with the European Union. Prime Minister Johnson wanted to put it through Parliament quickly and finally go through with Brexit. Parliament voted and approved the Bill, securing Brexit to go through in a week. But, Prime Minister Johnson told the House of Commons to vote on the Bill in a matter of hours. The House of Commons refused. Due to this refusal, the Bill now looks as though it won’t pass, so Prime Minister Johnson is calling for a general vote to re-elect Parliament. Prime Minister Johnson’s plan is to win a majority in Parliament and pass Brexit without a deal. With this Brexit scare seeming even more realistic every day, many companies around the world are making plans on what they will do when the UK finally secedes from the EU.

The Olympic Games have become a cherished tradition for millions of people all over the world. There is something special about a country uniting over one common goal: winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games. As incredible as the Olympic Games may seem to the viewers at home, the host countries often have an unpleasant experience with Olympic preparations. A country will work for over a decade to prepare for the games, and at the end of the Olympics, most host countries are stuck in debt. As Japan prepares its capital city, Tokyo, to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, they may be realizing they are going to lose more money than they will gain by hosting the Olympics. 

Historically known as one of the most closed off economies in the world, Japan has always had an interesting relationship with foreign investors. Japan first began to warm up to foreign investment in the 1990s as the island nation was in the midst of a decade long period of stagnation. Foreign investors jumped, perhaps too aggressively, at the opportunity to park their capital into what was then the world’s second-largest economy. Foreign ownership of Japanese company stock skyrocketed from 4% in 1988 to 28% in 2006.

We are approximately a decade since the United States last recession and the U.S. Federal Reserve is coming close to finalizing a plan on how to reduce its balance sheet. At its peak, the portfolio was valued at over $4.25 trillion. The Federal Reserve purchased these securities, of which are mostly mortgage-backed securities in three rounds of stimulus that began in 2008 and finished in October 2016. The selloff of securities began in 2017 and plans to sell the majority of their holdings before the conclusion of 2019.

International investing is more appropriate than ever for Asian countries like South Korea, Japan, and India. These emerging markets are predicted to generate big gains for investors due to aspects such as their growing middle-classes, stimulative economic policies, and even the depreciation of the U.S. dollar. 

Westinghouse Electric Company, a nuclear power developer based in the United States, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. The company is struggling to account for its failed nuclear production projects while its main corporate partner, the Japanese parent Toshiba Corp, is suffering huge losses.

On December 15, the Japanese Diet passed a law to legalize casinos in the country, opening way for projects combining gambling with hotels, shopping, and conference spaces. The first proposal for this law was submitted in 2013, and again last year. While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling party support the bill, claiming that casinos will stimulate the Japanese economy and increase tourism, opposition parties are critical. This bill had failed repeatedly in previous parliaments to come up for a vote due to concerns regarding gambling addiction and money laundering.

East Asia is home to three of the biggest economic powerhouses in the world: China, Japan, and South Korea. Thus, the well-being of the global economy often depends on the region's pecuniary health. Central banks already hold the utmost power in this regard; yet, in recent times, each nation's bank has led endeavors to consolidate further economic control. The effects of these measures, along with last week's global market shakeups, have paved a path of economic uncertainty. Here is a look at recent developments in East Asian central banks.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a corporation based in Quebec, is currently in talks to sell Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a company that manufactures gastrointestinal drugs. Valeant originally acquired Salix in March 2015 for $14.5 billion. The purchase was part of a growth strategy of buying pharmaceutical businesses with reputable products and cutting their research costs to maximize profits. However, Valeant lost much stock value over the past year due to unethical business activities, including price hikes, unreliable accounting, and secret collusion. Recently, the company undertook major efforts to change its leadership, settle its legal suits, pay off its debts, and re-establish growth. Selling Salix could be instrumental to these plans; just this week, news of the potential sale increased Valeant's stock by 34%. While prospective clients have been mostly kept anonymous, Japan's Takeda Phamaceutical Co. Ltd. has expressed public interest.

The latest economic numbers for the second quarter of 2016 were published Monday, and they do not paint a bright picture of the Japanese economy. Data shows the economy in Japan barely grew, expanding only 0.2%, lower than the already diminished target rate of 0.7%. The stalling growth was somewhat expected, considering April earthquakes and the impact of Brexit, but was still worrisome considering the large drop from 2% growth in the first quarter.

The Bank of Japan announced a new stimulus plan last Friday. This new plan involves the annual purchasing of the equivalent of $58 billion USD worth of ETFs. This is an increase of approximately $26 billion from last year. The bank notably yields negative interest rates. However, those will not be affected in this new round of easing.

As early as last year, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the country could expect a rate hike in consumer tax rates. Last year, it was slated to take effect beginning 2017, but the agenda has since then been moved up quite a bit. Economists are predicting the economic plan may take place as early as late 2016 or very early 2017, as opposed to the previously believed mid to late 2017 timeline. Japan is required first and foremost to think about its own economy and whether or not its consumers could handle another rate hike, but other global factors have become more pressing since Abe’s initial announcement in 2015.

Japan’s tough economic sledding continues. The Land of the Rising Sun faces currency appreciation without the underlying fundamentals to support it. A myriad of issues have led to weak economic conditions in Japan, and the recent appreciation of the yen isn’t helping at all. In fact, it is a counteractive force to Japanese monetary policy, and is causing headaches for Japanese firms.

The Bank of Japan reduced interest rates to below zero on Friday, after years of keeping them in the positive range. The negative interest rates will be placed initially on reserves valued at 10-30 trillion yen and will apply only to new reserves that financial institutions deposit at the central bank. The goal is that the reduction would cause the real interest rates to decrease, thus stimulating consumption and investment. This policy will decrease rates for lending and isn’t supposed to negatively affect banks. The Bank of Japan will be dividing the account balances into 3 tiers, and the interest rates placed depending on the type of reserves that are placed in the Bank of Japan.

Just this week, Nissan Motor Co. announced its quarterly earnings, which revealed that its profits had experienced a 37 percent surge during the first half of the fiscal year. Because of this revenue spike, Nissan's net income through March is now projected to reach $4.44 billion, an unprecedented level in the company's history. Nissan is now experiencing its fastest sales growth in over ten years, citing rising demand in the United States and Western Europe as a significant part of its success. This is an important record for the popular manufacturing company, but it may not last too much longer. 

Japan’s recent recovery, frail as it is, is doing far better than the failing endeavor it’s been pegged as in mainstream media. Understandably, claims on the many faults of Prime Minister Abe’s Quantitative Easing policy have been warranted. This year alone, Japan has faced a shrinking economy in its second quarter and came uncomfortably close to the same designation in the third quarter. Most notably, inflation has been on a steady decline since April and has since stabilized but remains alarmingly close to zero. Dismal as the outcomes have been thus far, the island nation is inching closer to its goals.

Global discussion and concern about climate change has amplified in the past few years, as more research has been conducted and more world leaders have voiced their opinions on the issue. The most recent world leader to do so was Pope Francis, leader of almost 70 million Catholics worldwide, who declared global warming to be a threat to life on the planet and called for a reduction of the usage of fossil fuels. As this movement garners further support, more and more nations are turning to clean and renewable alternative energy sources to supplement, and eventually replace, their fossil fuel driven energy sources. Of these renewable alternatives, solar power is one of the most popular worldwide.

There is a large trade agreement under negotiation involving major economies around the Pacific. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will include the major economies of Japan and the United States, while also including the following ten countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. These twelve countries account for forty percent of global gross domestic product. It has been noted that China has been left out of this partnership because it has been criticized for not following trade rules. In the future, China will be able to join the partnership pending compliance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s standards.

Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is set to visit the U.S. this week and aims to pitch Japan’s bullet-train system to state representatives in California. Currently, Japanese companies are competing to join three fast-train projects that are under consideration in the United States. The three individual projects would link Los Angeles to San Francisco, New York to Washington, and Dallas to Houston. Abe is hoping to attract an export market for Japan’s advanced bullet-train system in order to help jumpstart the nation’s economy. As of now, he sees the United States as a viable export market for the revolutionary train system.

The aphorism “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” is now being internalized by the financial world. In a league of their own, activist investors are taking great measures to rebrand themselves as “engagement” funds. Typically, this designation is reserved for an individual or group that purchases a significant stake of a publicly traded company and tries to implement major changes within said company’s business model.

An increase in the national sales tax sent Japan into a recession in the middle half of 2014, but increased exports have Japan poised for growth in the New Year. Japanese exports grew 13% in December from a year prior, while imports only increased 2% over the same period. This growth in exports reduced Japan’s trade deficit, which was at its highest level since data became available in 1979.

After falling into a shocking recession last year, Japan’s manufacturing industry shows signs of hope as growth was sustained in December. The Markit/JMMA purchasing manager’s index was measured at 52, and demonstrated the seventh consecutive month for manufacturing growth in Japan. As a matter of fact, this growth rate is the most rapid rate since May of last year, suggesting that Japan’s economy may not be in as terrible condition as previously thought.

After nearly two decades of deflation, Japan unexpectedly has fallen into a recession in the third quarter of this year. In a preliminary economic report released by the Cabinet Office on November 17, GDP was reported as falling at an annualized pace of 1.6% in the third quarter of 2014. In combination with the previous quarter’s 7.3% decline, this GDP decline has caused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to dissolve the parliament and call for snap elections two years before the next scheduled elections.

Global financial markets have suffered from selfish decisions made by central banks in various countries. There have been talks of currency wars coming from emerging markets trying to manipulate their currencies in order to get the best pricing for growth. Now, there has been currency competition within developed countries. The Fed recently decided to halt its quantitative easing operation which purchases bonds to lower long-term interest rates. When the government owns most of these bonds, the supply to the public is decreased which lowers yields and raises the prices of these bonds.

Earlier this year, Japan implemented a sales tax increase from 5 to 8 percent. Bloomberg experts had predicted a median 7 percent decline, however, the economy declined by only 6.8%. And although an economic decline is never ideal, the contraction that has occurred in this quarter is much less impactful than in 1997, the last time the sales tax was hiked.

Negotiations on the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) heated up over the past week during President Obama’s visit to Asia, although no major breakthroughs in the talks were announced. The negotiations slowed down during the President’s visit to Japan, as talks between the United States and Japan focused on the auto industry; the two countries have long had a rivalry in the auto sector.  Japanese car companies entered and ended the Big Three’s dominance of the US market during the 1970s. This tension has continued today, influencing the trade discussions and preventing the countries from reaching a deal during last week’s negotiations.

Japanese consumers rushed to local retailers on March 31 to purchase large numbers of goods. Even online retailers, such as “Aksul”, had their systems overloaded by the high volumes of transactions of basic goods such as toilet paper and instant rice. Why were the Japanese people in such a hurry to purchase these products? This is due to the sales tax hike from 5 to 8 percent, which was implemented the day after, April 1.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a trade agreement between twelve countries, including China, Japan, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Peru. This agreement, if ratified, would eliminate almost all trade barriers between these twelve countries, uniting them in the largest free-trade zone in world history. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be getting approved anytime soon; talks that occurred just last week in Singapore ended with the countries reaching no finalized agreement that would put the TPP into effect. As the partnership has been undergoing negotiation talks for years, it is wondered how much longer it will take for the countries to cooperate on certain final issues and establish the partnership.

In January, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) volume in terms of number of deals made in the Asian-Pacific region rose 60% from a year earlier.  Volume in dollar terms more than tripled to about $25 billion.  This drastic surge has been fueled primarily by Chinese and Japanese companies.  In contrast, M&A activity in Southeast Asia has been falling as of late, as the region only accounted for 13% of Asia’s M&A activity this January – down from 18% a year ago.

Recent financial figures have shown that several countries around the globe have experienced some of their lowest inflation rates in years. Normally this would be the goal of the nations' central banks, but in the economic states of these regions, this low inflation could be the source of several problems. Now the issue facing many of the world's richest nations is to avoid extremely low inflation and to try and raise prices. The proposed processes to achieve these goals have the potential to lead to some intense competition.

Since 1999, the music industry has experienced years of decline and for those who care about the industry, the past decade has been nothing short of a nightmare. With piracy increasing and record sales diminishing, many were worried that the music industry would never recover. However, recent reports from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) shed rays of hope for the music industry. According to these reports, for the first time in 14 years, the global music industry experienced slight growth in trade revenues—increasing by 0.2 percent in 2012. Perhaps better news is that revenues are on pace to grow yet again this year in 2013. Could this signal that the global music industry has finally turned the corner and is poised to experience a new day & age of growth and profits?

Japan has had a very successful year so far. It had one of its biggest periods of economic growth in the first half of the year, much bigger than what was originally projected for the country. In addition to this, it was announced on Saturday that Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympic Games. It all presents a positive outlook for Japan as it climbs steadily but surely out of its previous economic slump. According to several central financial officers, this also presents good news for the world economy. Despite this good fortune, there are still many problems that the country must overcome, and it is not certain that the Olympics will be the economic boon to Japan that it appears to be.

For the first time since last October, the Japanese economy has reported figures that do not include deflationary prices. Japan's core consumer price index, which includes energy but not volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.2 percent in May from April's recording of a 0.6 percent annual decline in prices. The Bank of Japan's fight against deflation, which has persisted for 15 years and caused the Japanese economy to fall behind China as the world's third largest economy, has set their sights on reaching a 2% inflation rate within the next two years. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also made fighting deflation one of his top priorities since taking office 6 months ago, which he claims has been the source of waning profits, wages, and consumption.

One of the most significant trends of the past several years has been austerity measures taken by governments all over the world in order to try to keep their budgets in control. Much of the support for these actions came from a 2010 paper by Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart of Harvard entitled Growth in a Time of Debt. 

Japan is the world’s third largest economy and the United States is the largest economy in the world ranked by GDP. But, these two huge economies do not have a free trade agreement, which strikes the question – why not? Obviously, there are a lot of reasons why these two great nations have not struck a deal yet, but one could be on the horizon.

On April 4th, the Bank of Japan shocked the world by unveiling a stimulus package that plans to inject $1.4 trillion into the Japan economy over the next two years. This large stimulus package is designed to help Japan out of a deflationary cycle and end two years of stagnation.

As political season in China begins between the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, there have been concerns with the consumption of luxury goods. China has gone to extremes measures to prevent the issue of inequality by banning politicians to speak publicly about spending on luxury goods. With increases in social media, people have been able to show how wealthy they are by posting to websites such as Tumbler, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Recently, there was an online argument between a Chinese socialite and a member of a sports car club over who has more money. As Asian countries begin to crack down on the over the top display of wealth, could luxury goods retailers be affected?

“Export or Die”, a phrase that Americans and other countries seem to neglect, has become an emergent dilemma in Japan. An annual trade balance report released last Thursday triggered a sense of crisis in Japan by displaying a huge trade deficit. This is the second straight year that exports have been in the red for Japan. As an export-reliant country, Japan is going to be hit hard by this news without doubt.

Despite already being a large investor in Southeast Asia, Japan is looking to increase its economic ties with countries in this region.  To address economic as well as security issues, Japan’s recently elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is currently visiting countries in this region.  China, as of late, has increased its presence in Southeast Asia both commercially and militarily and Japan is intent on remaining competitive in this region.

With an increasingly interconnected world and growing international marketplace, many companies are searching for opportunities at a global level. Businesses are looking to expand overseas for many reasons—stagnant economies at home, desired growth in their customer base, or even the pursuit for higher profit margins. Whatever the case may be, these businesses are becoming very important for the global economy. Surprisingly enough, not all of these businesses are large multinational firms. In fact, there is a recent trend where small businesses are beginning to follow larger companies in expanding their business operations into foreign markets.

The New Year began with the United States barely avoiding sequestration that many economists agree would have been a giant setback for the U.S. economy that would pile on to the global economic troubles. Not the way to start things off. With the major economies of the world still struggling to return to the growth needed to bring down unemployment there may be good news after all.

The last few blogs here on globalEDGE have not been too optimistic and may make one think that the world may indeed end in December (as the Mayans allegedly predict). This blog will not be much more optimistic. However, instead of just talking about recessions, this will explore some of repercussions or causes that are being observed right now. Specifically, this will explore the potential permanent change in the financial services industry.

Many analysts anticipated the growing possibility of the 3rd largest economy falling into recession in the short future and the time has now come. The analysts expect that Japan will stay in recession in the final quarter of the year due to sluggish trade to China, a strong yen, and the effects of the tsunami that ravished the country over a year ago.

Official data on Monday morning showed Japans economy contracted during the second quarter this year by .03% and then by another .09% between July and September. The increasing contraction trend of the economy is putting more pressure on the government and Bank of Japan to take more steps to boost the economy.

As many of you news readers may know, China and Japan have been involved in a territorial dispute over a small chain of islands in the East China Sea. They can’t agree on a name—Japan calls them the Senkaku Islands and China calls them the Dioyu Islands, but both countries view those islands as part of their territory. They are technically controlled by Japan now due to war treaties, but China has had claims on them in the past so both countries have a case to make for ownership. However, as the islands do not really have much of significance on them, they are viewed as an important symbol of dominance in the often tumultuous relationship between China and Japan. While war or other extreme actions have not been taken yet, the dispute has impacted businesses in the area which could easily impact the world’s economy.

Over a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the future of nuclear energy in Japan is in jeopardy.  On March 11, 2011 an earthquake off the Eastern coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people, devastated many towns along the Eastern coast, and severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.  The damage to the reactors led to a significant release of radioactive chemicals, and a mass evacuation of the surrounding area was conducted.  Now, Japan is intent on cutting back and possibly even eliminating nuclear power productions, and the economic repercussions of such a transition are coming to fruition.

To compete in the global economy, a country’s workforce must be knowledgeable, well-trained, and understand the complexities as well as the benefits created by globalization. It’s true that accomplishing these objectives is easier said than done but in our hands lies a great tool to assist us with these goals—and this great tool is simply education. Just as globalization has changed business around the world, it is also changing education. A common trend in higher education policy is the internationalization of education to help students live, work, and be successful in today’s interconnected global economy.

The deals and sales offered during this year’s holiday season captured us all, but companies have been shopping as well. In fact, Japan’s multinational corporations seem to have gone on global shopping spree. This past year, Japanese companies spent a record $80 billion on approximately 620 foreign companies. These international investments could be seen as not only a sign of economic strength, but also as an indication of domestic weakness.

Japan's strong yen has increased companies' desire to grow internationally to the point where the nation is now ranked the third biggest cross border acquirer - a significant jump from being placed 10th last year. Japanese companies have taken advantage of the fact that many of their international competitors have been weakened by the European financial crisis and moved into the market with successful M&A transactions. Data shows that the value of mergers and acquisitions abroad by Japanese firms has more than doubled since last year.

The largest earthquake ever to hit Japan had detrimental effects on its economy. It also crippled Japan's top automakers, causing millions in lost revenue and almost a complete shutdown of the automakers' plants. What caused this supply chain disaster was the Just-In-Time production model that many automotive manufacturers have turned to in the recent years to decrease carrying costs and inventory. For the most part, this model is very safe but during times of supply shortages, having little on hand causes a big problem. As such, one vehicle contains roughly 50 to 100 microchips that control everything from brakes to navigation systems. To continue the car on the assembly line, not one part can be missing. During the earthquake, the main vendor of microchips had damage at its production facility creating a large shortage of a very hard to manufacture product. This shortage of microchips caused the automotive companies to cut production down to 20 to 50 percent of full operating capacity. Consequently, Japanese automakers are losing market share to American car manufacturers because of this shortage.

With the recent concerns in Japan over nuclear power hazards, many around the world are questioning the use of nuclear energy. Some ask if the benefits outweigh the costs while others just question the precautions necessary when using nuclear energy. Of the questions asked, Germany has an answer. Don't use nuclear energy at all.

With articles starting to surface saying that the recent Japanese earthquake could cost the Japanese people over $300 billion in economic damage, I thought it would be pretty interesting to try to put that number into focus. In other words, while $300 billion is a lot of money no matter how you put it, is it really that much damage if a typical hurricane does about $350 billion in damage? Thankfully, the people at The Economist have created this graph that shows the world’s costliest natural disasters so we can put the Japanese earthquake into perspective. What the graph shows is very intriguing.

Recently, we've discussed a lot about oil prices and the factors that drive those prices up.   Increased commodity prices are not just isolated to oil or to the Middle East region.  According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Japan is getting ready for jumps in food prices as well.

Thanks to significant global price increases in wheat and corn, Japan is likely to take a significant hit.  The issue is further complicated by high tariffs imposed by Japan on agricultural imports.  The dynamics of global commodities have taken on new facets with the increased interdependence of regional economies.

After 42 years as the world’s second biggest economy, Japan officially fell behind neighboring China in 2010.  Many projections indicate that China will go on to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy by the year 2025.

It is hardly surprising that the world’s most populated country would pass its tenth largest.  Japan maintains a significant lead on China when population is accounted for in per-capita measures of wealth.  Regardless, this does draw attention to recent economic struggles in Japan.  Several indicators of the nation’s economic well-being have recently fallen and Standard & Poor’s went as far as to downgrade the Japanese credit rating from AA to AA-. 

One of the most significant events in the flower industry is the annual International Flower Expo in Tokyo (IFEX).

Who is going to be there?

Widespread use of the Internet has led to a decline in the prevalence of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, and this disparity will continue to shift as more people worldwide are provided with Internet access. Buying online is simply more convenient, and most of the time more affordable than traveling to a physical location and purchasing a good or service. Even more convenient, however, is the ability to conduct business and make purchases while on-the-go. With an increasing number of smartphones sprouting up all over the world, making purchases has never been easier. Mobile commerce is a trend we can expect to see entire business strategies built around. 

Japan has received good news.  There are now more optimists among Japanese manufacturers for the first time since 2008.  Japan has the world’s second largest economy, and things are starting to look up as the country has struggled in past years to overcome its financial slump.  One of Japan’s key banks released a report which showed that business manufacturers are improving for the fifth straight quarter, as exports such as gadgets, cars, and other goods are on the rise.  The number of businesses reporting that conditions are good is higher than those reporting unfavorable situations, allowing Japan to look forward to future growth. 

As of today (July 1st), Japan has significantly relaxed the visa restrictions for tourists allowing the single fastest-growing group of overseas travelers, the Chinese, to be able to travel to Japan. These new regulations will enable another 16 million households to be able to apply for a trip to Japan. This is 10 times the amount of tourist visas that were available before the new regulations. Up to now, Japan had strict regulations regarding visitors from their neighbor to the west; only allowing wealthy Chinese with high annual incomes to travel to Japan. The massive influx of Chinese travelers will hopefully result in a jump in income for many local shopping centers in Japan.

Tokyo, Japan is famous for the outrageous fashion designs that are found not only in expensive boutiques, but all over the streets as well. The Harajuku street styles are known for being extremely unique and inspire fashion designers all over the world. For years these distinctive looks have sparked global trends, but many Japanese designers still have not taken advantage of their designs’ popularity.

It is well known that the auto industry has taken a hit across the globe. With sales and production down and several plant closures, it seems that things are looking grim. However, several Japanese automakers are thriving, not internationally, but in China.

Tokyo was unsuccessful in becoming the host for the 2016 Summer Olympics but it is a city known for its success in many other areas, business in particular.

The damage the stronger yen is causing to Japan's export reliant economy has been large. The new government in Japan took an anti-interventionist policy, which has caused speculators to strengthen the yen even more. It made sense when the Japanese economy was healthy, but now with deflation and a decline in exports, an intervention is just what they need. While the cheaper imports are good for the consumer, Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii sees this steep increase as signs of trouble. His concern may weaken the yen, making it easier for companies to export. While trade protectionism between the U.S. and China is a concern, the yen will keep increasing unless an invervention occurs. This short video explains the situation a little better.

As mobile technology improves, many of the cell phones people are using are becoming outdated at an increasingly-faster rate. This is especially the case in Japan, where the latest cell phone can be usurped by another within a few weeks. In fact, the Japanese are so far advanced in cell phone technology that they've had a difficult time taking their cell phones global. So, what does one do with a bunch of outdated phones that nobody wants? Recycle them for their precious metals!

Want to know more about how the top Japanese companies do business?

The Fall 2009 class at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan has written and narrated a series of podcasts which explain many aspects of Japanese firm management, in addition to presenting the students' perspectives on the issues.

In the current economic downturn, it isn’t surprising to see workers avoiding vacations. Many need the money, and may even be unsure of whether or not they will have a job the next day. But, if they spend all their time working and saving their money, and not spending it, this creates a problem. In Japan, the issue has actually taken a noticeable toll on the economy. Japanese workaholics, or sarariman, often work late nights and stash away their money. Japan, then, needs to find a way to get Japanese households spending their $8 trillion in savings.

The United Kingdom recently unveiled a new plan to revamp its inter-city rail system, awarding Hitachi a contract to develop new, more efficient and lightweight trains, called the "Super-Express". The 7.5 billion-pound upgrade comes in the midst of the worst global recession in decades, but transport secretary Geoff Hoon is confident that investing now will pay off, both in the short term job creation and the long term infrastructure boost.

The average Frenchman works about 18 hours per week, the average Italian – close to 17. Even Europe’s biggest workaholics – the British – don’t work as much as Americans (21 hrs a week for the average British compared to 25 for the average American). Europeans have been astonished by the amount of time Americans are willing to spend in the office -  how can Americans not want to take off a whole month in the summer to go on a vacation? Well, workers in Japan are even more extreme when it comes to work. If you are thinking about getting a job in Japan – think again! Japanese workers are known to work about 12 hours a day! Yes, you can leave at 5.30pm when the day is over but you might get many bewildered and disapproving looks.

Most teenagers dream about owning their own car. For some, it is a realistic expectation that in the near future, they’ll own a car. For others, it’s a long-term goal. Regardless, few can deny the convenience, comfort, and freedom of owning their own car. Japanese youth, however, seem to have other dreams. Japanese automakers say the youth in Japan are more interested in technological goods such as cell phones, computers, and many other Japanese technological marvels. For more on Japanese business, visit its page on globalEDGE!

Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, has a shrinking population of working adults and is expected to lose 70% of its workforce by 2050. This forecast is based on Japan having the world’s highest proportion of people over 65 and lowest proportion of children under 15. A recent article in the Washington Post explains that Japan’s social and corporate cultures are the catalysts of this trend.