Japan

Eerie Abandoned Japanese Island Hashima On Google Street View

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Eerie Abandoned Japanese Island Hashima On Google Street View

Ghost island: Hashima, a speck of land, used to be a coal mine where 5,000 people lived and toiled. But in the 1970s, it was abandoned and the concrete structures left to decay, only to resurface in the last James Bond movie. Now Google captured it for Street View – and made an awesome brief video of this eerie industrial wasteland.

The Big Four Central Banks Muddy The Same Sea Of Liquidity, And Then There’s China

by Lee Adler •  • Comments Off on The Big Four Central Banks Muddy The Same Sea Of Liquidity, And Then There’s China

Contributed by Lee Adler, of The Wall Street Examiner. The Fed, ECB, BoJ, and BoE all deal with the same banks. Of the Fed’s 21 Primary Dealers, its sole counterparties, only seven are US domiciled. Three are Canadian, eight are European, including three British banks, and three are Japanese. All of them are major players in Europe and Japan.

One Part Of Japan’s Abenomics Salvation Is Already A Fail

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on One Part Of Japan’s Abenomics Salvation Is Already A Fail

Japan’s make-or-break economic policies have been named lovingly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – lovingly, because if they fail, he gets to carry an albatross called Abenomics around his neck for the rest of his life. And one of the “three arrows” of Abenomics is already headed that way: goosing the economy through a frontal attack in the Currency War.

Bank Of Japan Machinations Crash Into Reality

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Bank Of Japan Machinations Crash Into Reality

The Japanese stock market has become a case study of central-bank manipulations, and of what happens eventually as reality cannot be eliminated forever. What you hear is a giant hissing sound. What you get is capital destruction and wealth transfer.

Akie Abe, Shinzo Abe’s Antinuclear Wife

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Akie Abe, Shinzo Abe’s Antinuclear Wife

Abenomics has its detractors – in peculiar places – and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must be experiencing some interesting pillow talk. His wife has attacked one of the major components of his economic policies, the nuclear power industry.

Japanese Hodgepodge Of Old Ideas And New Contradictions, Stocks Dive In Sympathy

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Japanese Hodgepodge Of Old Ideas And New Contradictions, Stocks Dive In Sympathy

The leaders of Japan Inc. listened politely as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid out his master plan, the cornerstone of Abenomics that would fix everything and offer big handouts to Japan Inc. As his words seeped out, the Nikkei dove 5% in a couple of hours. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his hodgepodge of old ideas and new contradictions.

Iron-Fisted Bank Of Japan Is Losing Its Grip

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Iron-Fisted Bank Of Japan Is Losing Its Grip

Stability in the Japanese government bond market is “extremely desirable,” said Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in a sign of just how frazzled he was after the turmoil and craziness that his over-the-edge experimental monetary policy has unleashed. But as stability eludes him, he might resort to ever more desperate measures to just hang on.

The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies

It was announced Friday afternoon, when no one was supposed to pay attention: after years of controversy, heated rhetoric, intense lobbying, and stiff opposition from some unlikely bedfellows, the Obama Administration decided in favor of the US oil and gas industry. With major geopolitical impact.

Japan’s Vacant Houses: Visions of Detroit

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Japan’s Vacant Houses: Visions of Detroit

Unlike Detroit, which will run out of cash next month, Japan prints its own money, so bankruptcy in the Detroit sense is not in the cards. But they do have two things in common: depopulation and a ballooning stock of abandoned houses. For Japan, it’s an issue that even the most prodigious money-printing binge cannot resolve.

Abenomics Tries To Make Sure Japan Is Going Down Swinging

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Abenomics Tries To Make Sure Japan Is Going Down Swinging

Anecdotal evidence has been piling up. Lamborghini sales hit the highest level in 14 years. Ferrari sales jumped 40%. Luxury retailers forecast fat profits. They ascribed it to Abenomics. “The sudden improvement in the stock market led to a big rise in sales at our department stores for luxury brands,” one of them said. But there is a price to pay.