Japan

2023 - 1 - 21

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Image courtesy of "BBC News"

Japan was the future but it's stuck in the past (BBC News)

America and Europe once feared the Japanese economic juggernaut much the same way they fear China's growing economic might today. But the Japan the world ...

There are the Ainu of Hokkaido, Okinawans in the south, half a million ethnic Koreans, and close to a million Chinese. Grandpa Kishi was a member of the wartime junta and was arrested by the Americans as a suspected war criminal. On one of my last days in Tokyo, I went with a group of friends to a year-end street market. Slain former prime minister Shinzo Abe, for instance, was the son of a foreign minister, and grandson of another prime minister, Nobusuke Kishi. A third of Japanese people are over 60, making Japan home to the oldest population in the world, after tiny Monaco. But the Meiji restoration, as it's known, was no storming of the Bastille. In Europe and America, right-wing movements point to it as a shining example of racial purity and social harmony. I was there because the village was listed as endangered, one of 900 in Japan. By the mid-1980s, the joke was that the grounds of the imperial palace in Tokyo were worth the same as all of California. The air in the room went still. It's a clue to how Japan has ended up with the world's largest mountain of public debt. Last year, I discovered the story behind the stunning manhole covers in a little town in the Japanese Alps.

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Image courtesy of "The Japan Times"

Japan's chip czar backs U.S. push to contain Chinese 'hegemony' (The Japan Times)

LDP heavyweight Akira Amari said his country must join the U.S. in imposing restrictions on exports of the latest chip materials and machinery to China.

LDP heavyweight Akira Amari, the main architect of the government’s effort to elevate Japan’s semiconductor industry, said his country must join the U.S. Chips Act that provides for more than $50 billion in support. in imposing restrictions on exports of the latest chip materials and machinery to China.

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Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Why Bank Of Japan Needs A Female Leader (Forbes)

Yuri Okina tops shortlists of potential female candidates to replace Haruhiko Kuroda as Bank of Japan governor. Akio Kon/Bloomberg. Over the next few weeks, ...

During the late Abe’s 2012-2020 premiership—and his earlier 2006-2007 one—he named a couple of women here and there, but always giving top posts to men. This is emblematic of the tokenism that’s dominated the LDP. [139th out of 146 countries](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/AzzaCERKo3tM1zoNsP71Xd?domain=weforum.org). Take Tokiko Shimizu, who in May 2020 became the first female executive director at a place founded in 1882. What better way to turn the tide than to name the first female BOJ leader? By 2022, Japan had tumbled to [116th place](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/AzzaCERKo3tM1zoNsP71Xd?domain=weforum.org) behind Burkina Faso, Tajikistan and Guatemala. Nor can investors be happy with how few [Nikkei 225 companies](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/VzPoCG6wq3fGWPZQuk7Nxf?domain=asia.nikkei.com) have ever had a female CEO or chairperson. The BOJ demurred. CEOs, and the patriarchy in general, stuck to business as usual. Sadly, the policy itself turned out to be a shiny object. The decade during which Kuroda controlled Japan’s monetary policy has been a lost decade for the female half of Japan’s 126 million people. Not empowering women is the economic equivalent of tying a limb behind your back.

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Image courtesy of "Reuters"

France told Japan it backs Nissan-Renault plan, Japanese minister ... (Reuters)

Japan's industry minister said on Friday he received a supportive letter from French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire about the alliance between Renault and ...

Nishimura declined to say more about the letters. [Deals](/markets/deals/) 1, a source familiar with the matter And I have sent back a letter in response," Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters in Davos on Friday. "In it... "I received a letter ...

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Image courtesy of "The Diplomat"

Doubling the Defense Budget Won't be Easy for Japan (The Diplomat)

Kishida's judgment on how to fund the defense budget increase will be a critical factor in his survival as prime minister.

[announced](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14803878) that he might dissolve the lower house and call a snap election before raising taxes to fund the defense budget increase. Kishida’s judgment on how to fund the defense budget increase will be a critical factor in his survival as prime minister. [survey](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14796337), the approval rating for the Kishida Cabinet sharply plummeted to 31 percent following discussion on a possible tax hike for defense spending. There have also been concerns that an income tax hike to support the defense budget would negatively impact the living standard of [low-income earners](https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/213905). However, that would only increase debt of future generations, and hence the Ministry of Finance, in particular, would be hesitant to accept the issuance of more bonds. This is because the cabinet approval rating for the Kishida administration could significantly rise after the summit. So far, Kishida has not made a strong case to the public, and much confusion prevails. Takaichi did not submit her resignation to oppose the prime minister’s plan, but her serious objection could be regarded as a disagreement within the Kishida Cabinet. Under the proposal, the corporate tax rate will not be changed, but a surcharge of 4 to 4.5 percent will be added to the existing tax, which is estimated to bring an additional 700 billion yen in revenue. The question, though, is how will the Kishida government fund this significant increase in defense spending? Most small- and medium-sized companies are likely to be exempted from the proposed corporate tax hike; the surcharge will be applied to less than 6 percent of companies and other large enterprises. [approved](https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-approves-record-114tn-yen-budget-with-big-defense-outlay) a record draft budget of 114 trillion yen ($865 billion) and announced plans to increase its defense budget to about 43 trillion yen ($312 billion) over the next five years.

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