heading to Japan…
I’m all packed and ready to go. On Sunday I’ll leave for Japan. During my two week stay I’ll spend about one week in Tokyo and travel to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, Kamakura and Yokohama in my second week.
Ever since I was young I’ve had a strong interest in Japanese culture. Next to Japan’s delicious food, marvelous traditions, the country’s unique lifestyle and cutting-edge technologies; I’m curious to find out more about how the world’s second largest economy deals with the global economic crisis. Besides I try to figure out how Japan is preparing for the era of electric mobility.
Asia’s number one economy is hit hard by the current economic turbulences and shrinking world trade because Japan is a leading export nation. Since exports have fallen decisively, unemplyoment is rising and Japan’s global players like Toyota, Sony and Toshiba are generating record losses. Moreover, public debt has risen to about 180% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
The high level of public debt is a leftover of Japan’s “Lost Decade”. Massive deficit spending kept the economy from collapsing in the 1990s. Most of the money had been used to stabilize banks, to boost consumer spending and to invest in infrastructure projects. The result is that all regions of Japan have a world-class infrastructure - roads, trains, airports, bridges, land reclaimed from the sea, ports….
The IMF said in April that the Japanese economy might shrink by 6.2% this year - which were the sharpest contraction among industrialized nations. Other experts expect a 3.3% contraction.
Prime Minister Taro Aso’s popularity has nosedived and he’s expected to lose the next election in September.
For more information on my trip to Japan, check this site regularly. I’ll try to post as often as possible in the course of the next two weeks.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:25 AM
Hi, this is great! Ive been lookingfor posts on this topic. Later,,