Kishida disaster: 85 percent of Covid cases to Yen declines by 25 percent
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office on October 4, 2021. Since then, Covid-19 (coronavirus) infections in Japan and the Yen to Dollar rate sum up his administration – it is the “do nothing approach.” Therefore, over 85 percent of coronavirus infections have occurred since Kishida took office – while the Yen decline to the dollar is roughly 25 percent.
When Kishida took office less than ten months ago, Japan had recorded just over 1.7 million coronavirus infections. This figure is now just below 10.8 million – and rising by the day. Thus roughly 85 percent of all coronavirus cases are under Kishida.
However, despite this, his “do nothing approach” continues because while he seeks to increase the military defense budget by 100 percent – despite the Japanese debt ratio mountain being the highest in the world: his options are limited because of the delicate nature of the economy. Therefore, it begs the question of why Kishida destroyed relations with the Russian Federation – unlike the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was recently assassinated in Japan but who maintained good relations with the Russian Federation: after all, the Japanese economy isn’t currently designed to increase further strains related to his desire to double military spending.
Shigeyuki Goto, the Health Minister, is worried about the coronavirus situation. He said, the surge in new coronavirus infections “could increase the number of patients with severe symptoms and affect the health care system as it may cause group infections in facilities with high-risk people, such as hospitals and nursing homes.”
However, the “do nothing approach” – outside of the military angle and Kishida’s love of condemning China and the Russian Federation at international events – continues unabated concerning little to stem coronavirus infections to tackling the yen crisis.
Hirokazu Matsuno, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, ruled out any immediate restrictions on the movement of people. Past coronavirus measures (in truth) in Japan were weak compared with draconian nations, including Canada and the United Kingdom. These two nations – and many others – introduced heavy fines for breaking coronavirus regulations. However, the state of emergency and quasi-state of emergencies did help to reduce infections in Japan despite the less intrusive approach.
The latest coronavirus wave is witnessing dramatic highs throughout the majority of Japan. Hence, 35 out of 47 prefectures in Japan have recorded their highest daily cases ever during the current seventh wave. Coronavirus daily cases reached over 180,000 for the first time – yet another dramatic increase.
YEN
With the rapid decline of the Yen under the Kishida administration concerning the Dollar, the same “do nothing approach” similar to coronavirus daily infections is continuing unabated. The Yen to Dollar rate was 110 on October 4, 2021, when Kishida took office. However, now the Yen is hovering between 135 to 139 to the Dollar – a huge decline not witnessed until 24 years ago.
Modern Tokyo Times recently said, “Japan is blighted by the highest ratio of debt in the world. This concerns the endless mismanagement of the economy by the ruling LDP. Not content with this, the government is involved in the unhealthy buying of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) via the Bank of Japan (BOJ) – while the BOJ and the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) hold roughly one-eighth of the market capitalization of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (the First Section).”
Reuters reports, “Japan’s government is concerned about the yen’s recent sharp falls and will monitor the currency market with even more sense of urgency while working closely with the Bank of Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Thursday.”
Yes, similar to daily coronavirus infections rising dramatically – to the declining yen – the government is to “monitor” both situations. Thus more buying of Japanese bonds because no plan B exists until a plan B will be enforced by the drastic nature of events.
The BOJ owns roughly 50 percent of all JGBs long-term debt. This equates to just below 529 trillion yen – just below 4 trillion dollars. Hence, with the BOJ facing the interest rate straightjacket – related to the huge amount of debt Japan holds – then expect more BOJ buying of bonds along with further stresses on the Yen concerning the strengthening Dollar.
Kishida’s administration is a disaster – when the coronavirus finally relents and more deaths have occurred – the natural subside of the coronavirus will be little to do with his “do nothing approach.” Yet the number of deaths will. His only policy is injections, injections, and more injections.
Shockingly – unlike many other nations – including America, China, India, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and several others – not one single vaccine made in Japan is still being used to fight coronavirus.
Bread and butter issues – and the low birthrate that is essential for the future of Japan – are largely not addressed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that dominates politics in Japan. Alarmingly, the Kishida administration is overtly focused on nationalism, doubling the military expenditure, and abiding by America’s divisive Northeast Asia policy (China, North Korea, and the Russian Federation on one side versus Japan and South Korea along with America’s military bases on the other side – and Taiwan being a useful country to divide and agitate). Therefore, despite the Yen decline to the Dollar, daily high coronavirus infections, the pension crisis, low birthrate, the mega mountain of debt, a limited number of females in senior business positions, and a host of other problems: it is the “do nothing approach” that continues under Kishida.
His only interest is G7 meetings and his anti-Russian Federation rhetoric to boost the armed forces of Japan. Is this good enough considering the plethora of problems facing the country?
PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK