Japanese Customer News June 27th 2015

Japanese Customer News June 27th 2015

Japanese Customer News June 27th 2015





● “while big manufacturers in Japan are highly efficient, companies in the services sector which make up 70 per cent of the nation’s economy, tend to lag behind”


● (Mr. Abe’s third arrow) “goal of doubling the number of foreign information technology workers in Japan by 60,000 by 2020”

Source: Japan’s productivity revolution targets IT, The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, by Mitsuru Obe, Wednesday June 24th, 2015, page 24.



● “Sharp…is pushing suppliers for deep price cuts and considering Chinese alternatives to Japanese parts for its liquid crystal display screens…Sharp..has been rocked by a plunge in the price of LCD panels for smart phones (and is) seeking cuts of 25 per cent or more from suppliers”

Source: Undercut Sharp looks for ways to survive screen dive, by Takashi Mochizuki, The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, Friday 26th June, 2015, page 27.



● “Norichukin Bank..had 64.2 trillion yen (AUS$66.8 billion) of securities at the end of March…A 14 per cent drop in the yen versus the greenback boosted interest income from overseas holdings…Norinchukin lends money to farmers, fisherman and forresters and makes investments on their behalf to provide them with returns that supplement their incomes”

Source: Japan’s farmers bank to move more of its $66.8 billion offshore, by Finbarr Flynn and Shingo Kawamoto, Bloomberg, The Australian Financial review, Tuesday 23rd June, 2015, page 36.



● “Exports to China for China’s domestic use in 2014

(% of source countries GDP Source: UBS)


Taiwan 8%

South Africa 8%

Malaysia 7%

Chile 6%

Korea 6%

Australia 6%

Japan 2%

USA <1 i="">



Source: Chinese exposure incurs risks by Lisa Murray, Australian Financial Review, Wednesday June 24th, 2015, page 12.



● “Japan is responsible for it’s own losses.The country’s delayed adaptation to the international environment and its weaknesses in international competition in terms of industrial bases, work force, businesses entrepreneurship, and globalisation – none of these things were forced on Japan by any external actor”

Yoichi Funabashi in the book “Examining Japan’s Lost Decades”

Source: Graceful decline in need of disruption by Greg Earl, Australian Financial Review, Wednesday June 24th, 2015, page 41



● “Almost three years ago the voters in Japan and South Korea took the curiously simultaneous backward looking step of electing leaders whose grandfathers and fathers had once run their countries”


Source: Seventy years on, it’s time for Asia’s dynasties to make up, by Greg Earl, Australian Financial Review, Thursday June 25th, 2015, page 14.



● “A key question is whether a Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese buyer might more openly pursue a strategy of buying low-priced spot cargoes while backing out of long-term contracted volumes”

Energy forecaster Fereidun Fesharaki

Source: Sanctity of LNG contracts under question by Angela MacDonald –Smith, Australian Financial Review, Friday 26th June, 2015, page 20.



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