Japan Economy News

A Nikkei report published today told us that Japan’s convenience stores experienced their second lowest annual growth in financial 2009 since 1978 as sales booms derived from the introduction of the TASPO card wore off. According to the paper: Overall sales at domestic convenience stores edged up 1.1% in fiscal 2009 to mark their second-weakest rise [...]

Earlier today, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Treasury David Cohen visited Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group to outline US financial sanctions against Iran. These sanctions were signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 1 July. The fact that Japan’s megabanks have yet to comply with US sanctions [...]

On Monday, the Nikkei published an article asserting that Western firms “are returning to the Japanese real estate market, taking proactive steps in the hope of big gains once the market improves.” This, of course, means that they are paying too much for real estate investments that will turn sour. The Nikkei article has a picture [...]

A Kyodo article published today tells us: A private advisory panel for Japan Tourism Agency chief Hiroshi Mizohata held its first conference on Friday with six experts on various subjects, including sports and business, discussing ways to promote tourism in the country…panel member Saburo Kawabuchi, honorary president of the Japan Football Association, said he hopes to [...]

TBS news tells us that according to the Ministry of Justice, the number of registered foreigners in Japan has dropped for the first time in 48 years. Here is their report: Unsurprisingly, Chinese nationals are the largest group of registered foreigners in Japan, followed by Koreans, Brazilians, Filipinos and Peruvians.

According to Friday’s Nikkei, Subway Japan opened up a small outlet inside a karaoke parlor in Ehime on Friday. Apparently the firm intends to sell sandwiches to takeaway customers as well as deliver them to rooms in the karaoke facility.

On Friday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that Japan’s consumer price index had fallen 1.2% in April, while core consumer prices (excluding fresh food) tumbled 1.5%. As Japan includes energy prices as part of its core CPI, it’s always helpful to look at what the CPI looks like with energy stripped out. Here [...]

On Thursday, the Cabinet Office announced that Japan’s GDP had risen an annualized 4.9% in the January-March quarter. This result was lower than the 5.5% gain forecasted by a Bloomberg survey and the 5.9% forecasted by a Dow Jones survey. Real GDP has now risen in each of the past four quarters. Nominal GDP grew [...]

For the first time in 17 years, the United States is no longer the most competitive economy in the world, according to IMD’s annual competitiveness survey. The US dropped to third place, as Singapore and Hong Kong surged ahead in the rankings.

According to data released today by the Japan Department Store Association, sales at department stores nationwide fell 3.7% to 484.6 billion yen in April, marking the 26th consecutive month of decline. The survey covered sales at 92 department store operators with 267 shops. Here is the breakdown of sales by individual categories: