Friday May 25, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Quake and tsunami a blow to fragile Japan economy

Commentary Mar. 13, 2011 - 05:07AM JST ( 10 )

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10 Comments

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tokyovistorMar. 13, 2011 - 05:24AM JST

Natural disasters are not avoided by all means, but people, companies, governments and investors can work together to build new faces of local communities. Loss in terms of human casualty and economics are unaccountable when suffered people have to work harder for their coming years. Tourism and local economics can be resumed soon when things are put in order. Foreign tourists may feel something uncertain now, but they will soon come back to Japan. But Japan is known for volcanoes and earthquakes for its long history. Everyone still like travelling to Japan. Don't feel pessimistic because natural disasters can happen anywhere.
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asianTouristMar. 13, 2011 - 07:26AM JST

Natural disasters “do eventually boost output,” said David Hensley, an economist at JPMorgan Chase. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake and the 1995 Northridge quake outside Los Angeles, for example, ultimately helped the local California economies, he said.

Japan will rebuild local and export businesses. Financial assistance, capital investment, construction companies and other technical assistances will create a new face for the whole region like we have seen in Louisiana and other places.
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koiwaicoffeeMar. 13, 2011 - 08:00AM JST

It's a shame to have an economic system that penalties natural disasters. It was disgusting to see news about the stock market and the yen whatever while thousands were in the middle of a tsunami.
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asianTouristMar. 13, 2011 - 08:29AM JST

It was disgusting to see news about the stock market and the yen whatever while thousands were in the middle of a tsunami.

Are you Japanese or foreigner in Japan or abroad?

The government is till operated to maintain its fully functions, including the efficiency and priority of bringing needs to people in quake-hit areas. Japan, Gambarei. Gods bless you.

People need temporary assistance now, but they still need to resume their normal life soon in coming weeks and months. Constructions and other business activities are priorities for local people to live, work, study and do other activities.
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InterceptorMar. 13, 2011 - 10:09AM JST

only about 10% of Japanese households buy earthquake insurance.

So all that damage isn't covered, and those people are just SOL? That's horrible.
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hachmike66Mar. 13, 2011 - 04:30PM JST

That is because earthquake insurance is prohibitively expensive and hard to collect on. If your house burns down because of the earthquake, you aren't covered. If part of the house is still standing, they will only pay a part of the claim. It is a real joke. When we built our house I asked my wife about the insurance and it was something like $10 000 per year. No way I would pay that, with the chance I couldn't recover the losses.
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commanteerMar. 13, 2011 - 07:44PM JST

I don't know about hard to collect on, but our earthquake insurance does not cost that much. That said, to collect the full amount the house does have to be destroyed rather than just damaged. How they define destroyed may be an issue. Hopefully, all the other insurances (landslide and fire) will pick up the slack. Even more hopefully, we won't get a massive quake in Kyushu.
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borschtMar. 13, 2011 - 08:51PM JST

Minamisanriku (10,000 people lost, over half the town’s population) and Rikuzentakata, (5,900 of its population of 24,000 are accounted for) will likely not recover nor benefit from tourism. These small towns have been wiped off the face of the earth.
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himehentaiMar. 13, 2011 - 11:04PM JST

commanteer - I have no experience with this kind of insurance, but Is earthquake insurance still applicable if the damage was caused by tsunami? Its sad that so many people are missing, I pray they are just stuck somewhere together, although I know my thinking is wishful.

Im hoping no-one gets another massive quake, but predictions show that the next one is going to be a 7+, and 70% chance of it happening in the next few days. The guy on the TV was saying that it is probably going to occur around the Osaka/Kansai/Aichi area though, I hope not up in Tokyo again for their sakes.
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asianTouristMar. 15, 2011 - 12:46AM JST

“Something similar hitting Tokyo Bay would have been unimaginable,” said Michael Smitka, an economist who specializes in Japan at Washington and Lee University.

All industries and businesses are inter-relative one another. It creates a market and society.

“I encourage people still to travel. Japan will need support from tourism,” Donnelly said.

We have known natural disasters happening everywhere. So overseas people still come to Japan on vacation, studies, business trip.

Tourism to the beach communities of Southeast Asia dried up after the 2004 tsunami, devastating the livelihood of the survivors.

S.E Asia has continued its economic growth in the last six years. Japanese investors and companies may consider building more factories and establishing offices in these markets where products and services are directly and indirectly sold to generate revenues. S.E Asia is a good back-up market for Japanese supply and distribution in coming years. Automobile and semiconductor companies can consider such diverse investment plans. With more stable networks of supplies and production, Japanese firms can reduce a similar impacts from natural disasters.

Japanese investors have capital, technologies and experienced staff to partnership with S.E. Asian partners. They can share profits and market growths.