Will Koizumi revitalise Japan's economy?

murphaph

Following Koizumi's landslide victory in the elctions he recently called, which were effectively a very public vote of confidence in his proposed privatisation of Japan Post (much more than a post office-effectively the largest bank in the world!). This is the keystone to his reforms of the economy and in particular the banking sector as a whole. The people of Japan, following ten years in the doldrums are obviously hoping he can awaken the dragon again. I hope so, I've been to japan a few times for work and it's a great place with really great people (the friendliest people I've ever met). Also, does Germany etc. need a shot in the arm like Koizumi? Would the germans go for it? (I personally think not, but they may have to if they don't do something about their ailing economy). Thoughts?

Link

Cronus333

sure why not

netwhizkid

He is bad news, He backed the illegal war in Iraq and Japanese Citizens have payed with their lives because of him. He is in doubt about to destroy Japan Post and cost thousands of Japanese their job's, For What Privatisation and Capitalism, Is the Man Mad?? The Various unions in Japan have so far resisted this strongly and hope they succeed in Keeping Japan Post Nationalised. Even Bush and America (The very bastion of capitalism itself) has come out against postal privatisation. A State-owned and controlled postal service is essential to the economy of any country.

jubbly

I think the Japanese have major problems with their structure of their companies.. jobs for life and all that. I know he had massive problems priviatising the post office. Best of luck to him anyways, getting the second largest economy going cant be bad for the world in general.

defiantshrimp

netwhizkid wrote:

A State-owned and controlled postal service is essential to the economy of any country.

For starters that is an utter mistruth! Germany has one of the best postal systems in the world and it happens to be a privately owned and controlled, compare that to the s*it we have to put up with here from our precious An Post.

But back to the OP i reckon that the future looks bright for Japan, the government is pushing through needed reforms and they are well set up for the future. Germany does need a shake up too and I can only hope it works out... I remain optimistic!

jubbly

Japan's GDP up 3.3% as economy recovers




Japan's economy grew more than initially estimated in the April-June quarter, giving another boost to Tokyo stocks and the yen a day after reformist prime minister Junichiro Koizumi swept to a crushing election victory.

On an annualised basis, GDP expanded 3.3 per cent, much stronger than an initial estimate of a 1.1 per cent rise and economists' median forecast of a 1.5 per cent gain, putting Japan on a par with US economic growth during the same period.

The healthy growth figures and Mr Koizumi's stunning election victory on Sunday helped Tokyo's Nikkei share average finish above 12,850 for the first time since 2001 yesterday.

The yen rose on the data to about 109.15 per dollar in early trading before pulling back to about 109.90 yen.

"Second-quarter GDP was revised upwards, representing the well-balanced nature of the recovery in Japan's economy," Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui told reporters in Switzerland, where he was attending a regular G10 meeting of central bank governors.

Mr Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) took 296 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, the first election in which it has won a majority in the chamber in 15 years.

"The economy is on a recovery trend, which was partly behind a historical election victory for Koizumi," said Naoki Iizuka, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. "This victory will make it easier for him to push forward needed reforms." Japan's economy is emerging from last year's slump as firm domestic demand helps offset a recent slowdown in exports.

Revised data showed GDP rose 0.8 per cent in April-June in real price-adjusted terms, beating both the initial reading for a 0.3 per cent increase and economists' consensus forecast of a 0.4 per cent rise. - (Reuters)

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2005/0913/1955314008BZJAPAN.html

© The Irish Times © Reuters

Looks like things are picking up again in Japan anyways

pickarooney

defiantshrimp wrote:

For starters that is an utter mistruth! Germany has one of the best postal systems in the world and it happens to be a privately owned and controlled, compare that to the s*it we have to put up with here from our precious An Post.

Can't say I agree with you there. I find Deutsche Post to be slow and overpriced, and An Post has never let me down.

jubbly

Post-election Japan


http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2005/0913/4109718190OPLEAJAPAN.html

Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's electoral gamble has paid off spectacularly well. In Sunday's general election, his Liberal Democrat Party secured 296 seats in the 480-seat Diet, 55 more than he needed.

He will now have a majority of 327 along with his coalition partner New Komeito. He has an unchallenged mandate to privatise the country's post office savings system, one of the world's biggest financial institutions, after calling the snap elections to do just that following the refusal of 37 members of the party to support him.

Mr Koizumi's presidential style and theatricality paid high dividends, most notably by targeting these deputies with a group of telegenic young women and men in the constituencies. Voters saw in his single-mindedness a genuine commitment to change policy and shake up his lethargic party.

His success in commanding the election agenda, so that the post office issue completely dominated, put the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan on the defensive throughout the campaign. Efforts by its leader Katsuya Okada to raise pensions, health and relations with China as alternative issues completely failed to catch the imagination of voters or the media, leaving him with no option but to resign after losing 64 seats.

The Liberal Democrats' political profile has changed substantially with these results. There is a marked shift towards urban and away from rural support, and an increase in the number of women members of parliament from a very low base. The new face of Japanese conservatism catches up with a generation of social change and matches a popular mood of greater confidence reflected in yesterday's news about economic growth.

Mr Koizumi said yesterday he will proceed with post office privatisation. It is a huge operation which channels €2,530 billion in savings and life assurance premiums through the state, including pork barrel spending that has traditionally benefited the LDP's electoral base in poor and disadvantaged areas. The plan is to sell it off over perhaps 10 years. This has already lifted markets and expectations about a restructuring of Japan's financial system.

Despite his electoral triumph Mr Koizumi says he will not contest next September's LDP presidency and does not propose to change the rules. Japanese commentators wonder whether it will be possible to find a suitable successor capable of exploiting this majority - or whether it could become a pyrrhic victory of drift and renewed party divisions. Japan faces many domestic and foreign policy issues, including those raised by Mr Okada during the campaign. They will not go away after his defeat and Mr Koizumi's endorsement.



© The Irish Times

I lost €500 worth of goods when i shipped items via an Post to Germany. I hate An Post, its so unreliable. Germanys post office seem so more efficient.

The fact this country doesnt even have postcodes is a laughing disgrace.

murphaph

jubbly wrote:

The fact this country doesnt even have postcodes is a laughing disgrace.

An Post have no interest in post codes because they don't need them to deliver as they invested in sorting equipment using OCR rather than postcode operation and of course they have the local knowledge when the letter/parcel reaches the local sorting office. DHL, FedEx, UPS etc. all want them introduced asap to help them differentiate between non-unique addresses as they lack this local knowledge. Didn't Noel Dempsey recently announce postcodes were on the way anyway?

TetsuoHashimoto

he won't do squat, and there are many reasons for this
but I don't have time to tell now

( I'll maybe get back to this thread later )

mountainyman

jubbly wrote:

I lost €500 worth of goods when i shipped items via an Post to Germany. I hate An Post, its so unreliable. Germanys post office seem so more efficient.
.

How do you know your goods were lost by An Post and not Deutsche Post

jubbly wrote:

The fact this country doesnt even have postcodes is a laughing disgrace.

An Post don't need postcodes, though this does sometimes cause problems, I sometimes get post for someone else with 'try raheny' written on the envelope. That's because the address is incomplete though, not APs fault.