Tag: Japan

Posted on by Tim Worstall

Why We Need Rising Productivity – It’s The Only Way To Pay For The Old

As has been pointed out many a time, Japan is a vision of the future for most countries. What happens when the dependency ratio – the number of old compared to those young and working – rises and rises? The answer being that those still working must become more productive – or divert every more of their production to supporting those elderly. Working better being a much more attractive proposition than working for ever less reward:

Fiscal sustainability in Japan: What to tackle
Selahattin İmrohoroğlu, Sagiri Kitao, Tomoaki Yamada 07 June 2019

Japan leads the advanced economies in the speed and magnitude of demographic ageing and has the highest debt-to-output ratio.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Japan’s Rugby Is Great, Rugby Culture Might Be A Bit Of A Shock Tho’

That Japanese rugby is coming along in strides is clearly and obviously true. But with the World Cup to be held there this autumn there might still be the odd little cultural shock to be had. For the organisers have had to – quite seriously – warn bars not to run out of beer:

It’s the stuff of nightmares for rugby fans: organisers of the upcoming World Cup in Japan have raised fears that bars and restaurants in host cities could run out of beer during the tournament.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Nissan’s Retirement Deal For Carlos Ghosn Isn’t The Point At All

Who is right and who is wrong here we don’t know at present over Nissan and the pay of Carlos Ghosn. That the Japanese kept him in for questioning all that time is nothing unusual for anyone accused of anything in that country. The legal system doesn’t work quite the same way it does in other places. However, it is important to understand what the basic allegation is. It isn’t that Ghosn was getting more money than the company was willing to pay him.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Why Be Surprised At Carlos Ghosn’s Treatment? That’s The Japanese Justice System For You

Varied are complaining about how Carlos Ghosn is being treated in that Japanese jail as a result of his – sorry, allegations of – being a little too free into his paycheque with the company’s money behaviour. It’s entirely true that we’d not want to be treated this way ourselves, equally so that our own justice systems – at least the UK or US – wouldn’t either treat us this way nor would be allowed to.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Japan’s $3.1 Million – £2.5m – Tuna Sale. It’s A Charity Auction Dangnammit

Half the world’s newspaper seem to be reporting that a bluefin tuna was sold for $3.1 million in the first auction of the New Year at Tokyo’s fish market in Japan. There then usually follows varied guff about how tuna is endangered and that’s why prices are so high this year. The point about this, the reason that the ruminations are that guff, is that the first tuna auction at the Tokyo fish market, each and every year, is a charity auction.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Japan To Leave IWC, Resume Commercial Whaling – Damn Stupid Idea

Japan has announced that it is going to leave the International Whaling Commission and thus resume commercial whaling this coming July. This is a blitheringly stupid decision – as there is no commercial market for the products of whaling. No, not even in Japan where they’ll eat pretty much anything that comes up out of the sea. Leave aside all the other stuff that alone makes it that damn stupid idea.

The reason they’re doing it is the same as our maintenance of entirely uneconomic coal mines for far too long – and the reason London lesbians descended upon socially conservative pit villages in order to “help” and stand in solidarity with those who’d be horrified if they tried to chat up their daughters.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Owen Jones Stamps His Little Feet Over Japan Not Accepting Colonialism

It’s a standard trope of the left that colonialism is very bad, very bad indeed – unless an until someone damn foreigners starts doing something that lefties don’t like. As here with Owen Jones winding himself up into a fit of rhetoric over Japan’s likely resumption of commercial whaling. It’s entirely true hat there’s not much point to it, not even the Japanese, who will eat some pretty strange things, like whale meat and most of it is given away as a loss leader for the market that never does arrive.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

The Simple Carlos Ghosn Explanation – Allegedly. American Pay In Japan

Carlos Ghosn has been arrested in Japan, we expect him to get fired on Thursday from Nissan and associated companies so, what the hell just happened here? We rather need some nice and simple explanation for us dullards out here. Exact allegations, well, go plough through whatever it is that Nissan is releasing. Roughly though he’s accused of lying about how much he was paid. Lying to the stock market and thus investors that is. He’s not alleged – so far – to have been stealing money.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Japanese Rains Kill Multiples Of Death Toll From Fukushima’s Bananas Radiation

There have been significant, severe, rains in Japan. Scores have lost their lives and some 2 million are being told to move, evacuate. All a tragedy of course, most especially for those dead and those they leave behind. However, it does give us an opportunity to put something into perspective – the damage done by that nuclear power plant at Fukushima blowing up. The financial damage done was of course vast. That to humans and human life, not so much.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Japan’s Amazing New Find Of Rare Earths Is Just Like Japan’s Find Of Rare Earths 7 Years Ago

We’ve a report or two out of Japan that a vast new treasure trove of rare earths has been found offshore. This will mean that no longer will China dominate the market sector, there’s enough for all to build ever more shiny shiny new tech using them and no doubt kittens will gambol in sunshine shortly.

Well, yes, except this is remarkably similar to a report out of Japan some 7 years ago. Alex Tabbarrok tells me that the new paper shares authors with the old one in fact – I’d not noted that.…

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