● “Japan grows more slowly than other countries at the best of times, largely because its work force is shrinking, so even small setbacks can easily send it into reverse. The latest recession was its fifth since the global financial crisis of 2008, though by some measures, including unemployment, the picture looks less dire”
Source: Japan Economy Contracts 0.8%, Returning to Recession, By Jonathon Soble, New York Times, November 15th, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/business/international/japan-economy-contracts-0-8-returning-to-recession.html?ref=asia
● “(Most popular boys name in 2015 was) the kanji for “harbor/port” (and three different ways to read it) takes the number one spot this year. Perhaps it’s the parents’ desire for their child to travel the world? …. (Girls names) The most popular names are Sakura (“cherry blossom”) and Riko (“lavender child” in this instance). These weren’t even on the list in 2013….Sakura appears again at number five with a kanji (the top-slot one, you’ll notice, forgoes Chinese characters altogether and is instead written in phonetic hiragana script) shows just how popular the name is.”
(Japanese parents not only pick out a name they like for their child, but, in the majority of cases, kanji characters they like as well.)
Japanese Baby Names 2015
Boys names 2015, 1. Sou, Minato, Ichika, 2. Itsuki, Tatsuki, 3. Ren, 4. Hinata, Haruta, 5. Asaghi, Haruki, Tomoharu,. Girls names 2015, 1. Sakura, 2. Riko, 3. Aoi, 3. Wakana, 5. Sakura, Sara.”
Source: Japan’s top baby names for 2015, by Scott Wilson, RocketNews24, Nov. 16, 2015.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/japans-top-baby-names-for-2015
● “The number of Chinese travellers to Japan in October helped push the total number of foreign visitors during the month to 1.83 million, the second – highest on record for a single month. That brought the total for the first 10 months of the year to 16.3 million…Chinese tourists accounted for nearly half of the Y1 trillion ($AUS 11.3 billion) that foreign visitors spent in the country from July through to September ( The Japan Tourism Agency)”
Source: Middle-class Chinese beef up Japan’s tourism push, by Jun Hongo, The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, Friday November 20th, 2015, page 25.
● “The sales goal set by Toshiba for its Internet of things – related business by 2010 estimated Y300 billion”
Source: The Small Print, November 19th 2015, by Steve Trautlein, Metropolis Japan, www.metropolisjapan.com
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