elkarlo comments

This is awful. Pensions and security nets are no longer sustainable. Japanese people should be taught to invest their money and make it work. Not just put it in a box and sit on it. This policy would only add to the massive deficit spending that Japan already is stuck in.

My daughter is 5 now, I could never do that to her. Yes there are things she does that annoy me and her mother and brother as well. But to be that abusive, is skipping so many steps in the middle. I don't see how you could do that, esp day in and and day out.

BTW as a parent, I do look out for others, see if kids are too skinny, or too shy(like abnormally shy). The govt can't be everywhere, it's society's job to make sure we are all safe. Be alert

I agree, Japan is over banked as well as having super low interest rates. Regional banks need to be let to consolidate. They also need to expand overseas if they want to survive.

No one else picked on one major point. The fact that these employees and thousands of others are doing these employee orientations for free. I know a lady, whose kid is in Tokyo, or was for a few days, for training. WIll he, or the people in this article get paid for this? I doubt it. How is it that Japanese companies can continue? If they can't make money without tons of unpaid OT, or without faking data, what's the point of operating? This is a major red flag for me, as an investor. I doubt many Japanese companies can maintain competativness on the world level.

A lot of high and might types around here. I guess prohabiti and taxing poor people are good things right? Nicotine is an amazing appetite suppressant,and in a safer delivery system like iQOS, you can probably live healthier than if you didn't smoke and were overweight.

Look up NASH, non alcohol sclerosis of the liver. We are replacing one vice with another. Tobacco with food.

I own only one Japanese stock, as I live here, and basically I need to park my money somewhere. I own stock in my US brokerage.

Anyhow, I own Kirin, a consumer good company. With the mass of scandals , I would hesitate to buy any company that was technical. As covering up is endemic here.

I used to wonder why most Japanese don't own stock. I know now, given the huge amounts of bad management here. It's like if half the S&P 500 were like Wells Fargo.

Nodding off? The guy passed out in the bathroom for 2 hours? Unless the guy parties at night, and or is sleepong around too much, there is a problem. Maybe the company shouldn't be working their employees to actula death?

Also, why was that guy in the bathroom on the floor for two hours? Sounds like either, no one uses the bathroom, or they stepped over his body like souless jerks. This complaint shows how awful some companies are. This is like asking parents what complaits they have about their kids. With one person answering, after I bet them up, they always sob uncontrollably for hours, they are so annoying.

I agree with others that say most Japanese beer is pretty bland. Esp Super Dry, which is actually basically Coor's Light. They had a tie up years ago.

But the Japanese brewers, are not just beer companies. Suntory, is big in soft Drinks, and hard liquor. Kirin, is also pretty big in soft rinks, and medicine. Asahi, also big in soft drinks, and owns Calpis, which is a billion dollar brand iirc. Asahi also is big into baby food, with it's Wakodo brand. Finally, the smallest of the big 4, Sapporo. They are small, but have a presence in soft drinks, as well as real estate. They are also getting into juice in the US, and own Sleemans in Canada.

ANyhow, it's interesting that they are fighting in Japan, but they all have diversified, and are no long dependent on domestic beer only.

My school rented a Pepper for a month. It is amazing at how bad this tech still is. It couldn't follow a normal conversation, past a few replies. After that, it was all crazy old man random replies.

SenseNotSoCommon, in the financial sector, most experts are selling you something. Almost all advice, is trying to get you to buy something, or sell something on their behest. If you listened to the experts, you would have cashed out in 2012 as a recession was coming, according to them, and have been waiting for a stock market bottom. I also believe that the Bank of Scotland advised everyone to cash out their securities, which if you follow the market is bad advice.

Anyhow, there is a never ending list of terrible calls by economic and financial experts. Listening to them, doesn't mean you are smart, it means that you don't do your own research.

Agreed Dana, Japanese companies should go shopping. Esp since the yen is so strong now as well. I feel that a lot of the Brexit was hype, and the economic damage will be minimal/done out of spite by the EU. This is good news in general, and I hope the Stay camp chills out a bit more, as they greatly exaggerated what would happen.

Japan needs a weak yen in order to compete internationally. When the yen is expensive, many companies lose money when they export their goods. I have read that the sweet spot is in the 110s to the dollar. Many here get angry at that, I am not sure why. Perhaps people who are in Japan and paying off student loans are affected?

What an odd combo. I hope Wendy's can leverage FK and be able to use it to get into Japan. We all know that decent burgers aren't really that common here.

No. Moonraker, Asahi should expand abroad. The Japanese beer market, though unsophisticated is in deep decline. Any company here that wants a future needs foreign expansion.

I don't follow the others, but Mitsubishi UFJ has decent exposure to the US and SE Asia. With the yen being expensive, it is time to start buying up banks overseas.

Well education via sitting there in class is probably one of the worst ways to disseminate info and how to learn. In that regard I agree with her

Word, Badsey. From what I have seen on TV here. Casanova has been more worried about innovation than with the supply chain. ie she likes making new products, but doesn't follow through when it comes to making sure the logistics of her business are sound. McD's appeal has been consistent, if not low quality. They over the years, always maintained a certain level and always made sure all their restaurants lived up to those expectations. She had other priorities, and now the company and franchisees are paying for it.

Wonder if this will surpass e-cigs, as that trend seems to be flat lining.

Yep, I live, work and have kids in Japan. People get really petty here about all kinds of stuff. Want to use your vacation leave? Good luck, as I am sure some people at your office will hold that against you. Seriously a bunch of losers here in the offices.

I live in Japan, am married and have kids. Def need more daycare slots. I don't want to have to take my kids to two different daycare centers, because no place had 2 open slots. Also, this place needs dishwashers(more environmental than hand washing) and dryers. Without those two things, housework takes up an unreasonable amount of time

Never buy at an IPO. Always wait 1-2 years for the froth to settle.

They have to. Any domestically focused Japanese company has to to survive. Either via acquisitions or though holding equities in other companies.

With globalization, it is the account surplus that matters. As many companies make most of their products in their target markets. These profits come home, which plus and minus other factors such as trade, and tourism, make up the account surplus. That is what should be the center of focus, not the trade balance.

Who cares if Seiyu is cheap, or if they carry good beer. Walmart has been a massive parasite of society. Under paying workers, so that they have to rely on govt support to survive. I personally never do business with Walmart.

Man, subprime is playing with fire. It is ok for part of your port, but to have it over 1/3 is not safe. If I were in a small bank here, I'd do reg loans, some personal loans, and plow profits into well run foreign banks like WFC or NYC. That are well run and have great efficiency rations. Esp with the yen being so high. That is a better way to survive than sub prime loans.

Man, I will never forget. I was in Chiba when it happened. The quake wasn't so bad there. Though I did see the Ichihara oil refinery blow up. Was pretty nuts. My wife's family is from Sendai, so we went up that summer to volunteer. The damage was amazing, even 6 months later. This will always stay with me like 9/11

Well, the Chinese still have a domestic econ that is pretty massive, even if it is slowing. Japan's is shrinking, if I ran a Japanese company, I would spend a considerable amount of of free cash flow on M&A outside of Japan. I don't care if I was a small bank or grocery chain. I would buy, or buy equity stakes in other companies. This is survival for many Japanese companies, while for China it is a luxury

Yubaru, what do you mean 'party line'? You realize that sometimes currency prices are outside of the govt's control? China is a massive economy, and reacting the the moves in the Yuan would make it so that JApan would have to peg the Yen to the Yuan to stay competitive. Japan can't do that, so we are at the mercy of China's central bank and others as well.

Here you are. This is for Dec, but it is similar http://focus2move.com/china-auto-sales/

Jordan, good question. It is very hard for breweries to start a brand in a developed country. Usually a distributed is needed, and in a developed area, they may have steep fees, or refuse unless the brand can get popular quickly. Also the actual brewery, is expensive. When first established, it would not be running at full cap, so it would be losing money until it did.

That's why Sapporo bought Sliemens in Canada, yet is expanding as Sapporo in SE Asia. Kirin bought a brewery in Brazil, it's now Kirin Brazil. They also have 48% of San Miquel of the Philippines. Plus Lion of OZ/NZ. They also bought a majority stake in the big brewer in Myanmar. Kirin is doing well overseas wise. They also have Four Roses Whiskey Suntory bought Jim Beam. So they are done big acquisitions for a while

While Asahi bought a juice maker in the US recently. They also bought Calpisu, which prolly puts their foreign sales over 10% imho