Bystander’s View on Japan #1 June 6, 2012

Impressed by Peter Drucker’s masterpiece “Adventures of a bystander,” which I read recently, I try to express my comments on Japan, its economic & political scenes as a third party or a bystander.

TOPICS :         PROBERBS and SAYINGS AORUND the WORLD which fit today’s world. 

         It is all GREEK to me.

The Pain in SPAIN WOULD NOT stay mainly in the plain.

(Obviously, the original is “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.”)

The death of the Equity.Cash is King.Dammed if you Do, dammed if you Don’t. 

         As a personal investor, I would keep my investment all in cash.         This, however, will be a great FALLACY OF COMPOSITION to an institutional investor like PNB. 

STOCK MARKET:                                June 1              May 25               ChangeNikkei      8440.25            8580.39              -1.63% TOPIX     708.93               722.11               -1.82% 

              The Japanese market is strongly affected by off-risk sentiment. TOPIX was down 9 consecutive weeks.Without having new positive news, the market will keep downward trends tor the week.                                                                POLITICS:              Mr. Noda held meetings with Mr. Ozawa, an opponent in the governing DPJ, who is openly against the consumption tax hike.             No conclusion from the meetings. Noda will seek the support from LDP, which has been announcing the necessity consumption tax hike for several years.                           Political scene of Japan is very fluid again. This political risk is the largest risk factor to the stock markets.              I think the most likely scenario is Noda is going to split DPJ and makes alliance with LDP to form a new government.         ECONOMY:             Retail comsumption looks strong. Cloths for HOT Summer because of electricity shortage are selling well.

             Mr. Shirakawa, Governor of BOJ, is expected to make encouraging comments on economy. 

          NUCLEAR ACCIDENT & EARTH QUAKE              The radiation level of Tokyo is 0.049 sievert this morning. Same level as that of  last week. The life in Tokyo is normal.

           

Over.