Comments on: “How’s the Economy?”, Japanese Style http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447 Not a photo blog. A personal blog with photos. Wed, 23 May 2012 20:38:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Thorf http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38121 Thorf Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:55:07 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38121 JAL is a good company to bring up in this discussion. A few weeks ago we all heard that JAL had gone bust. In a western country we would expect everything to come grinding to a halt, with workers left uncertain of their futures, creditors crowding round to prey off the corpse of the fallen company. Flights would be canceled, customers would lose their tickets and their money, and so on, and so on - in fact this very scenario has taken place within the last couple of months with a UK travel company. But this is Japan. The economy here is not really an economy as we know them in the west. JAL fails, and nothing changes: the workers still go to work, and presumably still get paid; flights continue as normal, and customers are told not to worry, that even their air miles are safe; and I'm not sure what happens with creditors, but it seems likely that things just keep plodding on. In other words, business as usual. I suppose this is like the banks, in that JAL was viewed by the government as being too big to be allowed to fail. But it's still amazing that things can happen this way. Japan really does have a quite bizarre economy. <span class='jfriedl'>I'm not sure how apt the JAL example is.... is there a US airline that <i>hasn't</i> entered bankruptcy protection in the last decade? —Jeffrey</span> JAL is a good company to bring up in this discussion. A few weeks ago we all heard that JAL had gone bust. In a western country we would expect everything to come grinding to a halt, with workers left uncertain of their futures, creditors crowding round to prey off the corpse of the fallen company. Flights would be canceled, customers would lose their tickets and their money, and so on, and so on – in fact this very scenario has taken place within the last couple of months with a UK travel company.

But this is Japan. The economy here is not really an economy as we know them in the west. JAL fails, and nothing changes: the workers still go to work, and presumably still get paid; flights continue as normal, and customers are told not to worry, that even their air miles are safe; and I’m not sure what happens with creditors, but it seems likely that things just keep plodding on.

In other words, business as usual.

I suppose this is like the banks, in that JAL was viewed by the government as being too big to be allowed to fail. But it’s still amazing that things can happen this way. Japan really does have a quite bizarre economy.

I’m not sure how apt the JAL example is…. is there a US airline that hasn’t entered bankruptcy protection in the last decade? —Jeffrey

]]> By: Bill http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38120 Bill Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:01:10 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38120 The crazy thing is it shows how far the US still could fall... The crazy thing is it shows how far the US still could fall…

]]> By: Harvey Chin http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38117 Harvey Chin Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:50:40 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2010-02-05/1447#comment-38117 There are so many things to love about Japan: it's traditions, beauty of the countryside, and it's people. One thing that is clear to me is their steadfast mindset to stay the course. I live in Irvine, CA and see lots of Japanese presence here. While driving to my exit off the 5 freeway, I passed a Toshiba building, just as I started to exit the ramp. I then realized that every other building at this location has changed names over the last 20 years except for this one. I wondered if it was the Japanese mindset to hold on or is the business really that good that they have been able to survive at the same location after all these years. Unfortunately, the mindset has not served their economy well over the last 20 years. I think their inability to embrace change has caused the government to be ineffective. A recent example is JAL. I wonder if the US will be locked in a similar faith as we continue to spend money we no longer can afford? There are so many things to love about Japan: it’s traditions, beauty of the countryside, and it’s people. One thing that is clear to me is their steadfast mindset to stay the course. I live in Irvine, CA and see lots of Japanese presence here. While driving to my exit off the 5 freeway, I passed a Toshiba building, just as I started to exit the ramp. I then realized that every other building at this location has changed names over the last 20 years except for this one. I wondered if it was the Japanese mindset to hold on or is the business really that good that they have been able to survive at the same location after all these years. Unfortunately, the mindset has not served their economy well over the last 20 years. I think their inability to embrace change has caused the government to be ineffective. A recent example is JAL. I wonder if the US will be locked in a similar faith as we continue to spend money we no longer can afford?

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