WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Many readers probably caught yesterday’s NYT cover story with the headline “Japan Goes from Dynamic to Disheartened.” This article (“Coping with Decline”) is the first in a series called The Great Deflation which will “examine the effects on Japanese society of two decades of economic stagnation and declining prices.” Throughout the article all those quoted mention a “lack of vigor/vitality” (I assume this was a translation of 元気がない (genki ga nai)).
Japan serves as a cautionary tale for Western nations who are experiencing their own economic crisis and don’t want to fall into the trap of Japanification, “the deflation and collapsed demand that occurs when consumers refuse to consume, corporations hold back on investments and banks sit on cash.” Japanese in their 20’s who have only known hard times to have been labeled “consumption haters,” as they eschew travel abroad and big-ticket items in favor of saving their money for an uncertain future.
In Tokyo, the tiny dwellings that many young people live in are called “microhouses,” as these matchbox-size homes are all they can afford. The front page picture was of an Osaka bride, and the article discusses how weddings and other formerly over-the-top events have had to be greatly downgraded. The city also has vending machines selling drinks for 10 yen, restaurants with 50 yen beer and apartments whose first month’s rent is 100 yen! It seems like there are many deals to be had, but even these tactics are having trouble coaxing Japanese consumers to part with their precious yen. Stanford University economics professor Robert E. Hall asserts that America will not have the same problem. “We’re not Japan. In America, the bet is still that we will somehow find ways to get people spending and investing again.”
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Any time American media write about the Japanese economy, I always read Dean Baker’s take on it in Beat the Press.
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/deflating-the-japanese-horror-story
Matt, thanks for the counterpoint. It is always good to get another view, as my first thought when I saw the start of this series was that it is exploiting doom and gloom for readership.