Negative interest rates in Japan made people hoard money

“Negative rates are turning out to be a dirt sandwich, especially for Japan...They thought that that was going to get people out spending. And what happened is they got people to go and buy safes and put money into their safes and hoard money.” 

Voya Financial Inc.’s Karyn Cavanaugh.







Source:
Japan’s ‘dirt sandwich’ of negative rates difficult to swallow: analyst
BLOOMBERG, AFP-JIJI
Japan Times Newspaper
JUL 14, 2016
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/14/business/financial-markets/japans-dirt-sandwich-negative-rates-difficult-swallow-analyst/#.V4hXzvl96Uk

japan, japanese, customer, consumer, finance, zero, hoarding, cash, home safe, interest rate, news, trends, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanesecustomers, #news

Japanese banks have tier one capital of about 12 percent

"Japanese banks have tier one capital ratio levels of about 12 percent, but this includes their cross-shareholdings in Japanese companies. If the unrealized value of these holdings is excluded, the average tier one capital for Japanese banks drops to about 8 or 9 per cent"


Source: Signs of uplift in bond yields is good news for banking stocks by Karen Maley, Australian Financial Review, Thursday 14th July 2016, p28.


japan, japanese, customer, consumer, bank, capital, tier one, percentages, news, statistics, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #customer, #japanesecustomer, #trends
, #statistics

Japanese average monthly wages dropped in May 2016

"The average monthly wage among workers in Japan in May fell 0.2 percent from a year before to ¥267,933, down for the first time in 11 months, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday......The drop happened because the proportion of part-time workers in the total workforce rose 0.18 percentage point to 30.17 percent. Wages for part-timers are about one-fourth of those for full-time regular employees."

Source: Wages in Japan down for first time in 11 months
JiJi
The Japan Times
JUL 8, 2016
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/08/business/wages-japan-first-time-11-months/#.V4HROet9671

japan, japanese, customer, consumer, wages, average, monthly, statistics, may, 2016, news, economy, business, trends, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #news, #wages, #trends

Japanese 20 year bonds go negative for the first time

"Japanese 20 year bond yields dipped into negative territory for the first time yesterday, joining their 10-year brethren as fixed markets are telling you growth is a long way off" 

Source: A warning sign in bonds, By John Durie, The Australian, Thursday 7th July 2016, page 32.

japan, japanese, customer, consumer, bonds, interest, rates, news, trends, economy, statistics, finance, www.japanesecustomer.com, #japanesecustomer

#japanese, #japan, #news 

87 percent of Japanese Government Bonds are now below zero

"Earlier this month, Japanese government bonds with maturities up to almost 20 years went negative. That means almost 87 percent of Japanese government bonds (JGB) are now below zero.....JGB are one of the best performing investments globally. They have returned 8.06 per cent so far this year.....The BOJ now holds almost 30 per cent of its government bonds"

Source: Negative yields jolt Japanese by Anjani Trivedi, 
The Wall Street Journal, The Australian Newspaper,
 Wednesday 6th July, 2016, page 25


japan, japanese, customer, consumer, economy, finance, bonds, yield, news, trend, negative, interest, 2016, july, bank of japan, JGB, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #customer

"Last year, only Japan made more steel than China exported"

"Last year, only Japan made more steel than China exported"

Source: Arcelor Mittal sees global steel markets stabilising
By John Miller and Alex MacDonald
The Wall Street Journal
The Australian Newspaper, Monday 9th May, 2016, page 24.


japan, japanese, consumer, customer, statistics, steel, trends, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #consumer, #customer

Japanese economy overview by Mark Burgess

"If you're looking at Japan, you have the Ministry of Finance issuing the debt, you have the Bank of Japan buying it, you can convert the debt into zero-coupon perpetual [bonds] and then gradually write the debt down," he told the conference.




"We're in a low-growth environment, and that's why we keep pulling the levers. "



Mark Burgess, chairman of Jamieson Coote Bond's advisory board



Source: The Age Newspaper, Wednesday 1st june, 2015
Demographics a challenge to global growth, May 31, 2016
Mark Mulligan
http://www.theage.com.au/business/markets/demographics-a-challenge-to-global-growth-20160531-gp8aoh.html#ixzz4AIJ7gWzQ




japan, japanese, customer, consumer, @jcustomers, www.japanesecustomer.com, economy, deflation, strategies, trends, low growth, #japan #deflation #customer #consumer #japanese

Japan operates the global 7-Eleven business with over 58000 stores

"Seven and I Holdings...at first, the company operated 7- Eleven stores only in Japan. In 1991, the Japanese company then known as Ito-Yokado acquired the US operator of 7-Eleven stores. The global 7-Eleven business is now fully owned by Seven and I Holdings, with its more than 58,000 convenience stores worldwide"



Source: 7-Eleven boss falls on sword as Loeb wins board battle, 
By Megumi Fujikawa and Kosaku Narioka,
The Wall Street Journal
The Weekend Australian
April 9-10, 2016, page 33.




japan, japanese, customer, consumer, convenience, store, 7-elevn, franchise, business, statistics, trends, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #customer, #consumer, #news, #lng

"Japanese-funded Inpex Ichthys project in Darwin likely cost around $40 billion"

"The Japanese-funded Inpex Ichthys project in Darwin will likely cost around $40 billion"

Source: Learning the lessons of LNG

Editorial and Opinion

Australian Financial Review

Tuesday 12th April 2016, page 38

japan, japanese, customer, consumer, lng, project, investment, foreign, australia, liquid natural gas, resources, trade, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #customer, #consumer, #news, #lng

Japanese investment in Australia 2015 financial year

Japanese Investment in Australia based on Financial Year 2015

Sectors

Financial/ Insurance $17 million
Manufacturing          $135 million
Mineral Exploration $766 million
Real Estate                $774 million
Services                     $6,965 million


Total                          $8657 million 


Source : Foreign Investment Review Board Australia

Source: Chinese to spend big in property, farms
By Lisa Murray and Su Lin Tan
Australian Financial Review Newspaper
Monday 11th April 2016, page 5.


japan, japanese, customer, consumer, investment, foreign, australia, financial year, 2015, sectors, #japan, #japanese, #customer, #consumer, #news, statistics, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers

Japanese Customer News December 12th 2015

Japanese Customer News December 12th 2015

Japanese Customer News December 12th 2015

● “Japan is likely to win a multi-billion-dollar contract to build India’s first hogh speed railway, a 500 km high-speed railway link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad…valued at about AUS $20.4 billion”

Source: Japan nears India bullet train train deal by Mitsuru Obe and Rajesh Roy, The Wall Street Journal, The Australian Newspaper, Thursday 10th December, 2015, page 24.









● “The president of Nippon Life Insurance says his company will allow policy holders to list same-sex partners as beneficiaries”


Source” The Small Print, December 10th 2015, by Steve Trautlein, Metropolisjapan.com










● “Where does Australia invest?

Rank Country AUS $Billions % of total

4. Japan 69.6 3.6

Source: Based on ABS catalogue 5352.0 September 2015”



Source: Turnbull throws down gauntlet, by Glenda Korporal, The Australian, Friday December 11th, 2015, page 37.










● “Worlds top five by revenue

For Games Mobile Games

China $US 22.2 billion China $US 6.5 billion

US $US 22 billion Japan $US 6.2 billion

Japan $US 12.3 billion US $US 6 billion

S Korea $US 4 billion S Korea $US 1.9 billion”


Source: Tencent looks abroad for games domination, by Juro Osawa, WSJ, The Australian Newspaper, Tuesday 8th December, 2015, page 25.
















● “the most inspiring virtual reality VR came from Sony. Its VR headset for PlayStation 4 lets you explore a 3D, virtual environment, you can walk around it and, using move controllers, you can even pick up objects”



Source: Years top personal tech innovations on the money, by Chris Griffith, The Australian Newspaper, Tuesday December 8th, 2015, page 28.

 japan. japanese, consumer, customer, news, picture, quote, podcast, business, insights, trends, technology, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, december, 12th, 2015, #japan, #japanese, #customer

Japanese Customer 2015 The Year in Review by

Japanese Customer the year in review 2015

Japanese Customer the Year in Review 2015 

Japanese Customer the year in review 2015




japan, japanese, consumer, customers, news, picture, quote, review, year, summary, analysis, year in review, www.japanesecustomer.com, #japan, #japanese, #customer, @jcustomers, #whitepaper

Japanese Customer 2015 the year in review Monday December 7th

Japanese Customer 2015 the year in review 

Monday December 7th 2015

Japanese Customer 2015 the year in review 

Monday December 7th 2015

japan, japanese, consumer, customer, review, overview, summary, analysis, year, 2015, year in review, consumer behaviour, trends, news, insights, stories, business, finance, lifestyle, marketing, www.japanesecustomer.com. @jcustomers, #japan, #japanese, #customer

Japanese Customer News October 23rd 2015

Japanese Customer News October 23rd 2015

Japanese Customer News October 23rd 2015

● “Investment from Japan into Australia is growing at 11 per cent a year”

Source: Japan tops Asia travel queue, by Rick Wallace, The Australian, Tuesday 20th October, 2015, page 2.

● “Japan’s most profitable high-speed rail operator, JR Tokai, is building a maglev system between Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka without government subsidies. The system relies on superconducting magnets to lift, stabilise and propel trains at 500km/h within a guide-way”

Source: We will get better cities if we have more of them, by Brian Toohey, Australian Financial Review, Tuesday 20th October, 2015, page 55.

● “Japan …Three companies disclosed internal malfeasance in the space of 24 hours last week…Toyo Tire and Rubber...Asahi Kasei and Matsumoto Kiyoshi …optimists see it as a positive sign that companies are publicly admitting to problems; pessimists say companies are engaging in more bad behaviour without consequence”
Source: Japanese corporate scandals erupt like Whack-a-mole’, by Chris Cooper, Bloomberg, Australian Financial Review, Wednesday 21st October, 2015, page 12.

● “LNG made from coal seam gas (CSG)…low energy value (gas)…the low calorific value LNG….many Japanese importers could only accept gas with a higher energy value…market perceptions of CSG based LNG has changed markedly….and the Japanese are adapting to the new norm”

Source: ‘Girly Gas’ opens new LNG export markets, by Angela Macdonald- Smith, Australian Financial Review, Friday 23rd October, 2015, page 24.

● “More than 50% of Japanese hotels and ryokans nationwide bar entry…by guests with tattoos according to a survey by the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA)”

Source: 56 per cent of hotels in Japan bar visitors with tattoos from bathing facilities, October 22nd, 2015, Japan Today
https://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/56-of-hotels-in-japan-bar-visitors-with-tattoos-from-bathing-facilities




japan, japanese, consumer, customer, news, picture, quote, business, marketing, insights, technology, trends, behaviour, www.japanesecustomer.com, @jcustomers, #japan. #japanese, #customer, #consumer, #news, #podcast, #video

News: Japanese customer demand for 40 year mortgages increasing as a way to enter housing market

Picture: Apartments in Tokyo, Japan 

¨Demand for 40-year mortgages maybe set to rise as buyers try to get a foothold in the housing market.....demand for the longer period mortgages is rising in Canada, the UK and Japan

Source: Forty-year terms for first timers

By Larry Schlesinger

Australian Financial Review

Saturday 22nd February 2014, page 10

Video: Japanese Customer News 6th June 2015

Video: Japanese Customer News 6th June 2015 

Video: Japanese Customer News May 23rd 2015

Video: Japanese Customer News May 23rd 2015

News: Japan's Softbank in 2014 saw its revenue tripling to AUD$2.11 billion

                                 Picture: Japanese phone key pad






 

"Japan's Softbank, last year saw its revenue tripling to 1.5 billion euros ($2.11 billion) and profit doubling to 515 million euros."





Source: Less is more: the risky strategy behind the world's biggest mobile game
 May 21, 2015 Jussi Rosendahl
The Age Newspaper
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/games/less-is-more-the-risky-strategy-behind-the-worlds-biggest-mobile-game-20150520-gh69fp.html

Fitch rating down grades Japan's credit rating from A+ to A

Picture: 10,000 yen note 

"Fitch Ratings downgraded Japan's credit rating by one notch after the government failed to take steps in this fiscal year's budget to offset a delay in a sales tax increase...Fitch cut its rating on Japan by one notch to A, which is five notches below the top AAA rating. "

Source: Fitch downgrades Japan, joins Moody's in warning on fiscal policy

April 28, 2015

Stanley White

The Age newspaper

http://www.theage.com.au/business/markets/fitch-downgrades-japan-joins-moodys-in-warning-on-fiscal-policy-20150428-1muu4p.html

Japan's Daiwa house maybe looking at investing in Australian homebuilder Devine

Title: Housing in Tokyo 

"Japan's biggest homebuilder by market value. Daiwa House Group, is understood to be looking at the purchase of listed residential developer Devine, majority owned by Leighton Holdings....Daiwa...has set up an Australian company headed by Masaomi Yamadira"

Source: Japan's Daiwa shows interest in Leightons Devine

By Matthew Cranston

Australian Financial Review

Thursday 3rd July 2014, page 39