So the BOJ opted to raise interest rates by .25%. Ken Worsley has the wrap-up here.It seems that the effect on the carry trade will be negligible; the EU will no doubt still complain about the weak yen; and the BOJ's independence is still in doubt.
Tag: Japan
Courageous or foolish?
The big story in political Japan today is that the drop in the rate of support for the Abe Cabinet has continued unabated, with the Asahi poll finding that the rate of support has dipped below the rate of people actively oppose to the cabinet.What I found most interesting, however, was the Yomiuri poll (in …
Interest rates, again
The Bank of Japan is due to consider once more tomorrow whether it is the right time to raise Japan's interest rates again.The last time, you may recall, the Bank's policy meeting was surrounded by a storm of debate surrounding comments by senior LDP and government officials questioning the wisdom of raising rates again (discussed …
Feeling the chill
The chill to which I'm referring, of course, is the chill that has set in between Tokyo and Washington.Without looking particularly hard, I found two very clear signs of a growing appreciation among Japanese opinion makers that the US-Japan alliance is experiencing a bit of turbulence.On the front page of today's Yomiuri, in an article …
Nagata-cho, day one
My service in Kanagawa Prefecture is at an end. I am now making the long commute -- along with most of the Tokyo metropolitan area, it seems -- to central Tokyo, to Nagata-cho, Japan's Capitol Hill.No time was wasted today, as I was very rapidly thrown into the Nagata-cho life this morning. Almost immediately upon …
No surprise here
The Japan Times is reporting here that Vice President Cheney will not be meeting Defense Minister Kyuma when he visits Japan later this month.This was all too expected, being entirely consistent with how the Bush administration has dealt with critics throughout its tenure.Not really much more to say here, other than that this is another …
Much ado about nothing in Essen
So the meeting of G7 finance minister and central bank presidents has concluded, and, despite grumbles from the Democratic US Congress and the EU's ECOFIN about the weakness of the Japanese yen, the final statement in Essen included nothing that directly referred to Japanese monetary policy.Instead, the only country named directly in the paragraph on …
Second time farce…
An embattled George Bush in the White House, a Democratic Congress riled up about Japanese practices to give itself an unfair advantage in international economic competition...is it 2007 or 1992?But seriously, as this FT article reports, Congress is pushing hard for Secretary Paulson to join with European governments to pressure Japan to raise interest rates …
Revolution from below
This article at Mainichi online, on ceremonies to commemorate Northern Territories Day, caught my eye for a couple reasons.The first is that I can't help but wonder if a push to resolve longstanding territorial disputes with Russia is driven by rising fears of abandonment in the government of Japan. Outside the alliance with the US, …
All fungoes, all the time
Believe it or not, the year-round extravaganza that is Japanese baseball is gearing up for another season.It seems like only yesterday -- mere weeks after my arrival here -- that the Trey Hillman-managed Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters bested the Chunichi Dragons in the Japan Series.What prompted this post? One of the sports channels offered by …
Tobias S. Harris 