Japan logs first half-year trade surplus since Fukushima disaster

Japan is not resource poor. Lot's of sun, lots of wind up north and on coasts, biomass, geo-thermal, great spots for tidal energy. Again - Japan is not resource poor - just short-sighted and run by money men.

Time for that great Japanese ingenuity and creativity to take a lead, once again.

and all these financial experts stating the reason for Japans forex "safe currency" tag was because of its trade surpluses!? seems these so called experts have got it wrong again!

wtfjapanJul. 25, 2016 - 11:21AM JST

and all these financial experts stating the reason for Japans forex "safe currency" tag was because of its trade surpluses!? seems these so called experts have got it wrong again!

Really wtf, you really have to do a little reading and distinguish between a trade surplus and a current account surplus. The big one is the current account surplus which includes trade, services and investment.

Japan since 1980, apart for one half year has always ran a current account surplus, no matter what the less important trade balance was. This current account surplus, the third biggest in the world, keeps the Yen on life support. Without it, the Yen would crash because the Japanese would have to borrow on the international market, to service its debt and those loans would be only be given at near double figures of interest.

The current account surplus is kept going by Japanese investments abroad. However as the dankai generation spend their savings, those investments will shrink and so will the current account surplus.

Eventually Japan will run a current account deficit because trade and services will not make up the loss of the returns on investments... then the life support the Japanese Yen has been on will finish and all hell will break out on the forex. Until then the Yen will remain strong if left to its own devices (no currency manipulation etc)

Get it now, it ain't that difficult to comprehend, is it?

Japan is not resource poor.

Hear, hear. Enough of looking back at what worked in the past. What pressing needs - that Japan can answer - do we face as a species?

With our different climatic zones, we could develop world-leading, sustainable passive housing instead of the inefficient, single-generation money pits of today.

Heat pumps, effective insulation, passive ventilation, rooftop generation and near-future storage solutions could easily make most suburban Japanese housing energy-autonomous, in a sufficient incubator market to build scale and export technology globally.

@ gary seriously you must be my financial stalker, I don't pretend to be an expert in forex or investment. One thing I do know its rigged for the mega rich, with the crumbs being picked up by the plebs. If Id took the advise of half the experts here on JT id gone bankrupt years ago. I have a friend who is very wealthy doing just this and I can tell you its a 24/7 days a week job. If half the experts here on JT had his expertise determination wealth they wouldn't be wasting their time/money replying to comments on JT they'd be trying to make money that matches their aura of financial intellect/expertise.

This is good news for Japan ! mike

ifd66,

Japan is not resource poor. Lot's of sun, lots of wind up north and on coasts, biomass, geo-thermal, great spots for tidal energy.

Sun, wind - need lots of storage. Biomass - AKA "burn, baby burn" - not the solution to climate change, unless managed very, very well. Geothermal - about the output of one modern nuclear reactor easily accessible. Tidal - have not seen studies on this. Have any references?

Again - Japan is not resource poor - just short-sighted and run by money men.

Well, money is needed to do things. If you have to plate Japan with solar panels, wind turbines, and the other options you list - you need to seriously upgrade the power grid and add masses of storage. That is not cheap.

I don't pretend to be an expert in forex or investment. One thing I do know its rigged for the mega rich, with the crumbs being picked up by the plebs.

Also much of it is not related to intelligence as much as it is (having) access to information before others. In many cases this is insider information, but not always.

Also much of it is not related to intelligence as much as it is (having) access to information before others. In many cases this is insider information, but not always. yep and a big company just got caught for manipulating the FOREX, like I said its rigged for the mega rich what falls through the cracks the plebs fight over.