Record jobless rate hits Aso gov't ahead of Sunday's election

no more lifetime employment culture I guess

"record 5.7%"

The real figure is around 10%. But no worries, prosperity is just around the corner, with Minshuto coming to power.

Another nail in the lid of the LDP coffin.

The drug stores are full of J-girls in hot pants buying tint for their hair. As long as there's an ojiisan with money in his pocket to leech on (be it father or customer), they need not fear unemployment. On the other hand, I see emaciated young guys buying their dinners in kombini -- 99 yen each for a packet of bean sprouts and a brick of tofu. This does not bode well for the party in power.

Only 5%? We are nearly at 10% here lol.

5.7% is even higher than here in Switzerland (around 4%), but not really high. There is even in Europe higher rates, especially in Spain over 10%. Compare to the World and people suffering from starving, the 5,7% is only peanuts. But it will break the LDP's neck...

‘‘Although the ruling bloc claimed that ‘the economy has rebounded,’ the nation’s weak economic structure dependent on external demand has not changed,’’ -- Not sure the DPJ has the answer to this, but they have at least identified the problem. 55 years of paving roads on borrowed money, while ignoring the real structural issues like a declining birthrate and no oppoptunities for women, has come home to roost. Even Toyota today had to announce the first closing of a plant in their history.

If the ignorant electorate decides to vote for Hatoyama and his clique they will very quickly regret their choice as the man's party has no clue as to how to solve the nation's problems. 55 years of paving roads? This nation changed from a feudal state to a modern developed country because of that. I've been here for more than 40 years and have witnessed some of the process. A declining birthrate is not a real issue. Trying to solve economic issues by increasing the birthrate is a shortsighted vision.

"Trying to solve economic issues by increasing the birthrate is a shortsighted vision."

Thank you someone said it!

if this crisis continues and people still couldnt get jobs and money runs out , Aso and his group`s solutuion will be Divorce for couple becuase their getting poorer!!!!

The real question is how Noripi's arrest will impact the election. My view is that her arrest is a ruse by the LDP to divert attention away from the election, sow apathy about politics, and thereby ensure a victory for the LDP on Sunday.

presto345 -- please come out of your stupor, no doubt brought on by your 40 years here. The LDP model of relying on exports and heavy borrowing to pave roads hit the fan at least fifteen years ago, when China, India, Vietnam, etc., etc., started to grow and steal and render Japan's reliance on exports obsolete. (Compare Japan's % of GDP from exports to the U.S.'s.) The declining birthrate IS a real issue, since there are not enough wage earners to shoulder the huge public debt -- twice the GDP -- or pay the pensions, or, build a solid domestic-demand-led economy. Really, you need to master Econ 101 before you go to the LDP's defense. Not the LDP version of economics.

Sarge,

last week you said that the LDP was going to win. Why does reality always dawn on you last?

The LDP needs to be flushed clean out of Japan politics. Aso is the perfect idiot to make sure that happens on in a few days.