news
2012/02/24 00:01 – Panasonic Introduces Residential Solar Power Package
OSAKA Nikkei–Panasonic Corp. 6752 on Thursday unveiled a solar power management and storage system for homes with the capacity to meet essential electricity needs for roughly two days. The package includes a 4.65kwh lithium ion storage battery and a power station that regulates the solar cells and battery. The battery is priced at 1.21 million [...]
Japan Posts Record Trade Deficit in January, 4th Consecutive Deficit Month
In today’s post, Mish gives (yet another) warning about Japan’s unsustainable economic road, and makes a good suggestion (my emphasis) At some point, I suggest now, Japan needs to stop blaming the earthquake and tsunami for its collapse in exports. Furthermore, Japan is going to have difficulty financing its debt unless its turns the situation [...]
Using Gold “In Extremis.” Are We There Yet? by Julian D. W. Phillips
Which country is starting to buy food with oil and gold? “Grain deals are being paid for in gold bullion and barter deals are being offered,” one European grains trader said. Some of the major trading houses are involved. Another virtue of using gold is that barter or gold payments are the quickest option to [...]
Don’t look here. Look over there!
The Emperor is doing fine after his operation. Ooh! Look at this spectacular solar flare! And who can resist this great pic of Mount Fuji, Japan’s sacred mountain? And the Festival’s started in Rio! And anyway, there’s nothing to worry about, and the endless gradual increase in consumption tax will fix everything, and I think [...]
Debt at 500% of GDP?!?!?
Mish posts snippets of “an extraordinary interview by Kate Welling of Dr. Lacy Hunt, the chief economist of Hoisington Investment Management.” The original PDF is posted on John Mauldin’s site here. Not included in Mish’s snippets is this graph of total (public and private) Japanese debt. If you’re holding a hot beverage, you might want [...]
Nuclear Reactor Shutdowns Hitting Local Govt Budgets
At the end of last year, a friend sent me an email saying, “Apparently, all those nuclear power stations are not so vital after all”, after most of them went offline and the sky didn’t fall. Think I should forward this article to my friend? TOKYO (Nikkei)–With no prospect for the resumption of idle reactors, [...]
2012/02/15 05:06 – Toshiba, Others Bringing Small Generators To Market
Three cheers for the entrepreneurs (and for supply and demand in a free market)! But how do they do it without government support? (Jus’ kidding Sinfonia Technology Co. (6507) plans to release this spring a small energy generation system that combines solar, wind and water power, in addition to having lead batteries capable of storing [...]
TV Marketer’s Setback Reflects Changing Consumption Patterns
For a list of blog posts on the future of TV in Japan by a marketing and media professional Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers, click here. TOKYO (Nikkei)–The fact that home shopping firm Japanet Takata Co. likely just suffered its first revenue decline in seven years is no big deal in and of itself. What makes [...]
Watch out! The government has its eyes on your bank account!
The government will look into the possibility of using money deposited in dormant bank accounts for funding reconstruction projects. … An estimated 80 billion yen is generated every year through such accounts. The government hopes to allocate such funds to nonprofit organizations and for quake-reconstruction projects. However, some banks apparently oppose the idea on the [...]
Japan Trade Deficit Due To Special Factors, Including Quake
Tepco said earlier it will raise electricity rates for corporate customers by around 17% on average beginning in April, its first hike in more than three decades, to address soaring fuel costs following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The rate increase will be used to help the embattled utility cover the cost of buying more [...]
