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A building on the left was almost blacked out where a big construction company located. Two buildings on the right which have world class electronic manufacturers as their tenants were illuminated. |
At the Tokyo stock market, the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1 per cent to 17,860.75 on Thursday after the modest hike of U.S. interest rates by FRB.
Foreign investors bought high priced stocks, mostly communication companies such as NTT and high technology products manufacturers such as Sony while Japanese individuals tried to get low priced but promising ones.
As far as you watch the stock market, you might think the Japanese economy has started to recover from its deep depression. But is it the right observation?
A few days ago, a manager of a big hotel in Tokyo told me that his monthly income decreased by about 15% these days and that his summer bonus was cut by 30%. The day before yesterday, at the class meeting of Todai, a few of friends reported such illegal actions as a local bus companies fired all employee once, then re-hired all of them with wages lower than before by 25%. A news paper reported today that a judge at Nagano Regional Court suspended a wage cut forced by a small supplier of electronics parts.
OECD forecasted that the unemployment rate in Japan will increase from 4.9% at present to 5.5% in the next year. I do think the recovery of Japanese economy has not started yet.
The picture shown below was a view of high buildings at East entrance taken last evening from West entrance of JR Shinagawa station.
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A building on the left was almost blacked out where a big construction company located. Two buildings on the right which have world class electronic manufacturers as their tenants were illuminated. |
The employee of these manufacturers work hard even after dark (probably till 7 o'clock). However the limited number of elite corporations (it is quite fortune for Japan to have such enterprises) cannot bring the average increase of individual consumption.
| JR Shinagawa station is now under construction in order to have a new Shin-Kansen terminal. The right picture shows a elevated corridor combining the east- and the west- entrances. Many commuters are on their way home. |
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