Japan today released truly shocking GDP data for the fourth quarter of 2008, the Japanese economy contracted by 3.3% which equates to an annualised rate of 13.2% which is on par with magnitude of contraction that is associated with an economic depression. All exporting countries are experiencing a crash in exports which fell by 14% in the quarter, as western consumers stop buying and start saving. Japans industrial plunged by nearly 10% in December 2008, down 20% on the year earlier.


Japans government is expected to respond to the economic crisis by announcing a further stimulus package of more than $200 billion as the government again attempts to fight against the deflationary spiral that has kept Japan in depression for approaching 20 years.

The collapse in the Japanese economy is ironic in a way as Japan in the same vane as many other asian countries was not exposed to U.S. subprime mortgage derivatives on the same degree as western banks, which during 2008 had given life to the argument of decoupling between the east and the West, however the exact opposite seems to be occurring with the asian exporting countries being hit harder than the consuming countries.

my mate was living there for a coulpe of years and only just come back. he was saying japan, unlike china, is a very conservative country and are very slow to make changes in accordance with the world industry. that is the cause of their failing economy. they have a strong work ethic and its not uncommon to see the average japanese working a 60 hour week. even though japan has a reputation for quality products, china is constantly evolving and improving their products to match japanese quality. on top of that chinas competitive pricing is already overwhelming japan. what are they to do? as far as i know they dont have natural resources. they dont have cheap labour. maybe tourism can bail them out. id hate to be in japan right now.gloomy days to come.

sure, recession we're hearing a lot of and trying to avoid but an all out depression is a frightening prospect.

and as our biggest export destination what will that mean for us?

on the flipside though it may be a good time to get import jap cars.

ROCK ON

DAL~32

I thought that china was our biggest importer ?

Ok, having worked for a three large Japanese corporations and also visiting their head offices in Tokyo and Osaka, I can honestly tell you that they hire two staff members for every one we would have doing that same position over here. Meaning - two people there doing one person's job here, yet they DO put in the ridiculously long hours (I am talking office workers here). It always did my head in, which is why I ended up throwing in the towel on working for them about 10 years ago now, as it seemed like they lack efficiency. During the day at work I would hear everyone say how 'busy' they were but then sit and read the paper for a bit, or run around making cups of tea, or even shuffling papers at their desk.

This is my personal experience though and I only worked for the Japanese for about 8 years or so, so things may be a little different now....but I highly doubt it.

I thought that china was our biggest importer ?

Very troubling news...

Japan may be in a "depression" but it will be one of the first countries to bounce back.

Asian boobs always fix a depression.

*NWS* http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8780/nonamenew.gif