A Quick Summary of What’s Worth Reading this Saturday

September 1, 2007
By Ken Worsley

Japan’s fiscal 2008 budget is expected to rise to about 85.71 trillion yen from 82.91 trillion yen this year. With a huge increase in debt servicing costs, which account for 22.2 trillion yen of the budget, Japan seems intent on selling more government bonds and keeping an insane debt to GDP ratio.

The city of Kyoto is planning to undertake a drive to boost the number of tourists who visit the city in the winter. In the interest of full disclosure, I am indirectly guilty of aiding them in this mission (but I would recommend that you go in September).

Japan Air Lines is set to introduce gourmet meals on its Tokyo-Osaka route for first class, with premium brands of champagne. I still like the Shinkansen.

Japan’s industrial output fell by 0.4% in July, and that damn earthquake in Niigata was to blame.

Sushi chefs in Europe are in a tiff over new laws requiring fish to be deep frozen before it’s served. Ho-hum. They must know how wonderfully bad the stuff we get in Tokyo is. Oh yeah, fish is put in ice on the boat anyway, gentlemen.

Japan’s unemployment rate is at 3.6%, a nine and a half year low. On Monday, tell your boss to give you a raise or good luck finding someone else who can do your job.

On Friday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that household spending in Japan was down down 0.1% in real terms from a year before to an average 291,632 yen. This follows five consecutive months of rise.

Filed Under Economic Reports, Economics, Employment, Japan

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