[kiwichick]

japan has the advantage of a gradual decline in population

in australia our glorious leader is using australia's increasing pop.
as an excuse to justify limited cuts to GHG emissions

at the same time that each baby born in australia attracts
a "baby bonus" of $5000

[toast]

More bad news for the US, if Japan's new leader, Yukio Hatoyama follows through with his campaign promise to stop buying any more US treasuries. Yes, this site has a religious slant but is noteworthy.


http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6567.5047.0.0

[toast]

Japan's prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama has started to demonstrate his Afghanistan foreign policy autonomy, away from the US. I'll try and keep an eye on this guy.


http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107720&sectionid=351020406

[AgentR]

This is as one should expect, if you have two trading partners with reserve quality currencies, and one works to improve its stability, and the other tries to squeeze every possible luxury out of its status; it quickly becomes apparent which is the safer external currency to hold onto.

Sad that its the PRC that is creating a solid, market worthy currency.
Sadder still that its the US with its preaching on the wonders of capitalism, that is milking its own currency for freebies galore.

[SeaGypsy]

Well written, powerfull article. Seems to suggest the best time to get home for America would be ASAP.

[dissident]

The main problem is US financial behaviour. The anglophone MSM is keeping quiet about it like some totalitarian propaganda machine. Running $2 trillion dollar deficits and printing dollars without any US GDP growth to back them up is simply inexcusable. Japan and China are forced to act because the nearly $3 trillion that they have in US reserves are going to become worthless if the US keeps up with its current fiscal policies.

[lowem]

If true this could be huge. On the other hand :

Fujii Leaves Intervention Door Open

Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii on Tuesday defended government intervention in foreign-exchange markets in cases of "outrageously reckless" movements, but he suggested the current strength of the yen is consistent with normal market activity ... Mr. Fujii also came to the defense of the U.S. dollar, which he expects will remain the key reserve currency for some time to come.

Isn't it great when politicians from the same government can talk about completely different things on different days?

[toast]

The common average Japanese as well as their government wants the US troops out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/6269279/Japan-threatens-to-kick-out-US-troops.html#

[Tanada]

The common average Japanese as well as their government wants the US troops out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/6269279/Japan-threatens-to-kick-out-US-troops.html#

How much will they regret that stance? German citizens for example were eager to see US troops leave after the Berlin wall came down, but once they started leaving the good people of Germany discovered they had gained a lot of economic wealth from hosting the troops.

[dissident]

Tanada, can you provide some numbers to quantify all of this alleged benefit? How many billions of dollars per year do the US bases in Japan contribute to the Japanese economy? There is always going to be some job losses and business closures when bases shut down, the same thing occurs in the US itself. But this localized pain can't be treated as some great loss for the country as a whole.

[Tanada]

Tanada, can you provide some numbers to quantify all of this alleged benefit? How many billions of dollars per year do the US bases in Japan contribute to the Japanese economy? There is always going to be some job losses and business closures when bases shut down, the same thing occurs in the US itself. But this localized pain can't be treated as some great loss for the country as a whole.

Roughly 50,000 US service personnel are deployed to Japan all the time for a three year duty cycle. Most of them have wives and children along with them. The Japanese government defrays a lot of their expenses to the USA government but their full salaries are paid by the USA. While a large portion of their purchases are items brought in from the USA through the military PX system they also spend money for local goods and services, be it restaurant visits or local vacation weekends. I did a quick google but wasn't able to find any firm figures, I don't think anyone actually knows just how much impact they have on the local economy.

[dissident]

I still do not see any numbers. The economic benefit of US bases is highly over-rated especially in an economic powerhouse like Japan.

[gmin]

Japan currently funds this to the tune of $5 billion annually. (The official name of this program is ‘Host Nation Support’, but to the annoyance of Washington, within Japan it is referred to as the ‘sympathy budget’.)

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affa ... &id=105160

$5 billion for 50,000 troops, that's $100K per troop. Don't think a GI makes that much money.

[toast]

It's official, Japan will withdraw its Afghan naval support ships from the Indian ocean.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6875642.ece#

[toast]

Just another update. Seem high level US-Japan relations are deteriorating quickly over US bases in Japan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102100746_pf.html

[meemoe_uk]

Thanks toast, those were interesting links.
Last time a US colony leader rebeled against the IMCC, his country was invaded and he was murdered! ( Sadam and Iraq )
It's clear Hatoyama is making a inflammatory break from the US and it's western IMCC masters.
How will the US deal with this insurgent leader? It will be an interesting measure of the IMCCs influence in Tokyo to see what they can do about Yukio Hatoyama. Will Hatoyama be framed in a scandal? Will a pro-US Tokyo parliment majority overrule all his anti-US policies? Will he ben assassinated? Will the US bully him into line?
I'll be watching. Hopefully we'll get a WebsterTarpley take on this soon.

[rangerone314]

Its all part of what I predicted years ago about the Asian countries (including Japan) changing their policies towards the US in the wake of China's rise.

There is a slightly different mindset in the East, I'd say more of a respect for a hierarchy. When it is apparent there is a new top dog, everyone lines up. China is catching up to the US as the pre-eminent power in Asia.

This will be economic, cultural and security-based.

Japan, Korea, Taiwan are all going to line up behind China's leadership. Indonesia and the Philippines may take a little longer.

[Cabrone]

Japan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world's second-largest economy has been able to borrow cheaply from a captive bond market, feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return.

It is Japan we should be worrying about, not America

[deMolay]

Japan's debt to GDP is at 218%. Pretty much unsustainable. Like the US Debt load, the UK's and the Eurozone. More Green Shoots. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... erica.html

[jbrovont]

Japan's debt to GDP is at 218%. Pretty much unsustainable. Like the US Debt load, the UK's and the Eurozone. More Green Shoots. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... erica.html

Yikes.

Credit default swaps (CDS) on five-year Japanese debt have risen from 35 to 63 basis points since early September. Japan has suddenly decoupled from Germany (21), France (22), the US (22), and even Britain (47).

10 year bonds are paying 1.42% (bloomberg is still showing 1.38%) and 5 years is showing .66% yeild. Are yeilds priced at the raw maturity price, or is the cost of CDS somehow factored in? Otherwise, if the 5yr is only paying 66 bps and it costs 63bps to insure them, who in their right mind would finance any debt from Japan?