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Post by The Great Aztec Joe on Aug 30, 2010 5:38:30 GMT -8
LONDON (AP) -- Japanese central bank eased monetary policy again!
LONDON (AP) -- Japanese stocks led the way in world markets Monday after the country's central bank eased monetary policy again in its latest attempt to shore up the economy.
Last Friday's hint from the Federal Reserve chief that the U.S. central bank was ready to do more to help the U.S. economy had already helped stocks around the world start the week on a positive tone.
Nevertheless, the Nikkei 225 stock average proved to be the standout, closing up 158.20 points, or 1.8 percent, to 9,149.26 after the Bank of Japan decided at an emergency board meeting to further ease monetary policy by expanding a low-interest loan program for financial institutions to 30 trillion yen ($355 billion) from 20 trillion yen.
There may be some disappointment that the move has seemingly done nothing to halt the export-sapping appreciation in the yen -- by mid-morning London time, the dollar was down 0.7 percent at 84.75 yen.
Last week's decline in the dollar to a 15-year low of 83.61 yen proved to be the catalyst to the Bank of Japan's emergency meeting. The worry is that the rising yen will make it more difficult for Japan's high-value exporters to compete in international markets. That would further threaten the country's paltry economic recovery -- recent figures showed that Japan's economy grew by only 0.1 percent in the second quarter from the previous three-month period.
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Post by The Great Aztec Joe on Aug 30, 2010 5:39:33 GMT -8
Why is it that they are always doing things to help their economy and it all seems for naught.
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Post by aztecwin on Aug 30, 2010 13:02:14 GMT -8
Why is it that they are always doing things to help their economy and it all seems for naught. Big problem with no easy answer or no single answer. Part of it is the low birth rate that I talked about before. Illegal immigration from China and other places is putting a strain on the economy much as it does here. Do a search on "Illegal immigration Japan" and you will get a sense of the issue. It has been going on since at least 1995. There are even illegals from the Philippines working as "hostesses" in bars and cabarets. It is a complex problem that should be attacked on many fronts. |
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Post by The Great Aztec Joe on Aug 30, 2010 14:06:14 GMT -8
The illegal immigration problem in Japan is minor.
Illegals are in the prostitution (host) business and like Mexicans in the US, they will also do hard manual labor that the Japanese feel is beneath them. It is hard for illegals (that the Japanese do not want) to hide in their population.
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Post by aztecwin on Aug 30, 2010 16:06:13 GMT -8
The illegal immigration problem in Japan is minor. Illegals are in the prostitution (host) business and like Mexicans in the US, they will also do hard manual labor that the Japanese feel is beneath them. It is hard for illegals (that the Japanese do not want) to hide in their population. It may not be on a level that compares to our problem, but it is real and it is a strain on resources. Manual labor is a large part of what they do as you say but there is some skilled labor. Some come on legit visas and just don't go home. There are also a lot of Koreans in Japan and they have been there a lot longer. Don't know for sure how they get in, but they are there. Huge community in Osaka. |
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Post by The Great Aztec Joe on Aug 30, 2010 19:44:43 GMT -8
The illegal immigration problem in Japan is minor. Illegals are in the prostitution (host) business and like Mexicans in the US, they will also do hard manual labor that the Japanese feel is beneath them. It is hard for illegals (that the Japanese do not want) to hide in their population. It may not be on a level that compares to our problem, but it is real and it is a strain on resources. Manual labor is a large part of what they do as you say but there is some skilled labor. Some come on legit visas and just don't go home. There are also a lot of Koreans in Japan and they have been there a lot longer. Don't know for sure how they get in, but they are there. Huge community in Osaka. The Japanese made Korea a part of Japan prior to World War Two. A great many Koreans were allowed to immigrate to Japan legally, but they were limited in what jobs they could work (The Japanese treated them like so many whites treated Blacks after slavery was outlawed, as if they were not worthy of thinking jobs.) Koreans were also made a part of the Japanese Army, but limited in what jobs they were allowed to work at. A lot of POW guards were Korean. The grandsons and great grandsons are now the third and fourth and even fifth generations to live in Japan. |
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Post by aztecwin on Aug 31, 2010 11:39:07 GMT -8
It may not be on a level that compares to our problem, but it is real and it is a strain on resources. Manual labor is a large part of what they do as you say but there is some skilled labor. Some come on legit visas and just don't go home. There are also a lot of Koreans in Japan and they have been there a lot longer. Don't know for sure how they get in, but they are there. Huge community in Osaka. The Japanese made Korea a part of Japan prior to World War Two. A great many Koreans were allowed to immigrate to Japan legally, but they were limited in what jobs they could work (The Japanese treated them like so many whites treated Blacks after slavery was outlawed, as if they were not worthy of thinking jobs.) Koreans were also made a part of the Japanese Army, but limited in what jobs they were allowed to work at. A lot of POW guards were Korean. The grandsons and great grandsons are now the third and fourth and even fifth generations to live in Japan. I was aware of most of that, but there are also a lot of new Koreans in Japan. |
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Post by The Great Aztec Joe on Aug 31, 2010 15:30:48 GMT -8
The Japanese made Korea a part of Japan prior to World War Two. A great many Koreans were allowed to immigrate to Japan legally, but they were limited in what jobs they could work (The Japanese treated them like so many whites treated Blacks after slavery was outlawed, as if they were not worthy of thinking jobs.) Koreans were also made a part of the Japanese Army, but limited in what jobs they were allowed to work at. A lot of POW guards were Korean. The grandsons and great grandsons are now the third and fourth and even fifth generations to live in Japan. I was aware of most of that, but there are also a lot of new Koreans in Japan. A lot of the Bar Girls in Yokuska in 1972 were Korean. It seems a lot of Japanese men like Asian girls from countries other than Japan. Since most Japanese still look down upon the Koreans, I would still think that there would not be that great of an influx of them. I can not find an article with numbers, but most articles say, "Not a problem." because the Koreans will do work that the Japanese will not. If there is a niche for a guest laborer, I guess that is it. |
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Post by aztecwin on Aug 31, 2010 17:33:37 GMT -8
I was aware of most of that, but there are also a lot of new Koreans in Japan. A lot of the Bar Girls in Yokuska in 1972 were Korean. It seems a lot of Japanese men like Asian girls from countries other than Japan. Since most Japanese still look down upon the Koreans, I would still think that there would not be that great of an influx of them. I can not find an article with numbers, but most articles say, "Not a problem." because the Koreans will do work that the Japanese will not. If there is a niche for a guest laborer, I guess that is it. I don't know about that time, but I think that there were a few Koreans working as "Bar Girls" in the 50's and early 60's but most were still Japanese. I don't know what it is like now, but when I was still traveling over there for work until 95 or so, places where I would go were mostly beer bars with no girls or only older gals behind the bar. There were still sailor bars that some of the guys would go to but most of the "hostesses" were Filipinas or even Thais. |
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