Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I HEART Japan!

So I didn't win the mega-millions lottery!  Although one of the winning tickets was sold in the great state of ILLINOIS.  Maybe my parents have won but just neglected to tell me?  In which case, one of the first things I would do is purchase a pied-à-terre in Tokyo.


Just back and what an amazing city!  Barring earthquakes, arguably offers some of the the best quality of life anywhere - safe, clean, wonderful people, nice weather, food, ski.  Actually found myself lamenting (for a millisecond) maybe deflation is ok.  Perhaps the lack of investment/innovation that comes with deflation contributes to Japan's traditional/serene/artisinal culture? Sorry being a bit unrealistic here.


Indeed deflation has been very tough for Japan.  There are scores of sobering articles on the Japanese deflationary spiral which has lasted decades.  This year, however, the Japanese government has been very vocal on plans to finally fix their dire economic situation.  Accordingly Bank of Japan has committed to spending their way out if need be and even setting an inflation target of 1%.  This explains why their stock market (Nikkei 225) has performed so well this quarter and also why the Yen has been weakening.  I'm actually loving it.  Hope the Japanese government prints money like crazy and the Japanese economy gets its groove back.  In the meantime, the weaker currency will allow me to frequent a country and culture I love.

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