Japan Rocked Again!
Japan was hit with its worst earthquake since they started keeping records. We still don't know the full extent of the damage and the real human toll of dead and injured. With all the photos and film available, it gives new meaning to the word "devastation," don't you think?
And as I'm writing, aftershocks continue to rock the effected areas. I'm sure these aftershocks alone would scare me half to death, someone who lives in the relatively earthquake-free Northeast USA. Never mind the initial 8.9 quake that hit last Friday.
While the Indonesian Tsunami was worse in that apparently over a quarter of a million people lost their lives in a flash, that event occurred in mostly "third world" countries. The Japanese earthquake took place in an economically developed country that manufactures some of the world's most sophisticated and user friendly electronic devices that take still and moving images, which means there's and endless stream of these on the news, on Youtube, etc. if you want to see what an 8.9 magnitude earthquake is capable of doing to a highly-developed society.
One thing I noticed, though, is the response of the people. At least as far as I can tell, it's been incredibly calm, given the circumstances. I'm guessing that's a result of Japanese culture and the simple fact that Japan is pretty much populated by only Japanese. Immigration is not something the Japanese have embraced.
Because of their declining birthrate, along with their lack of immigration - a conscious policy of the government and people of Japan - their economy has suffered a couple of decades of slow or negative economic growth. It's a subject well-documented. There's even a phrase, "Japanese-style deflation" that you run across fairly frequently in economic writing and discussion
But the response to tragedy seems to be pointing to something positive about Japan's society - "slow growth" or not: there doesn't seem to be panic, or civil unrest to any meaningful degree. Japanese seem to pull together, to have some sort of "unity" in their response to this unimaginable tragedy.
I'm not saying their policies and their society are ideal, of course. It seems painfully obvious that the decision of many - I would guess most - Japanese not to have children, or at least to limit their families to very few or even no children, has been behind the slow growth all these years. Combining that with not allowing many immigrants in, and you wind up with the "Japanese-style deflation" we read about.
The strange thing about this slow growth is the fact that economists keep talking about how the Japanese government doesn't pursue more "stimulative" policies - or at least doesn't try to stimulate the economy as much as they could. But how silly is that? With a population declining, and slated to decline for decades to come, isn't it natural that economic activity would slow down? In fact, a Japanese minister - the head of their central bank - said as much recently. I guess he got tired of all the criticism and so he just went out an pointed out what should be obvious: fewer people, less prosperity.
Of course, no one wants to really discuss this 800 pound gorilla in the room: declining population in the West, Japan, Russia - at least not the extent of the impact of smaller families on economic activity. No, we'd rather prattle on about QE2 and all other forms of government "stimulation" for our weak economies. The fact that we're not having children - a rather glaring and momentous fact I'd say - is mentioned, but really not given the weight it deserves.
But we were talking about the Japanese earthquake. I hope the Japanese stay unified and stick with helping each other out. They're going to need all the help they can get, starting with them helping themselves.
Oh, one more thing. The earthquake in Japan was 1,000 times worse than the terrible Haitian earthquake. Haiti's still devastated a bit over a year later. Many Haitians are still homeless and suffering terribly from crime and disease. The reaction of Haiti's people seems to stand in stark contrast to the reaction of the Japanese - at least so far. Of course, Haiti was one of the poorest countries on earth, whereas Japan is one of the most economically rich countries.
And as I'm writing, aftershocks continue to rock the effected areas. I'm sure these aftershocks alone would scare me half to death, someone who lives in the relatively earthquake-free Northeast USA. Never mind the initial 8.9 quake that hit last Friday.
While the Indonesian Tsunami was worse in that apparently over a quarter of a million people lost their lives in a flash, that event occurred in mostly "third world" countries. The Japanese earthquake took place in an economically developed country that manufactures some of the world's most sophisticated and user friendly electronic devices that take still and moving images, which means there's and endless stream of these on the news, on Youtube, etc. if you want to see what an 8.9 magnitude earthquake is capable of doing to a highly-developed society.
One thing I noticed, though, is the response of the people. At least as far as I can tell, it's been incredibly calm, given the circumstances. I'm guessing that's a result of Japanese culture and the simple fact that Japan is pretty much populated by only Japanese. Immigration is not something the Japanese have embraced.
Because of their declining birthrate, along with their lack of immigration - a conscious policy of the government and people of Japan - their economy has suffered a couple of decades of slow or negative economic growth. It's a subject well-documented. There's even a phrase, "Japanese-style deflation" that you run across fairly frequently in economic writing and discussion
But the response to tragedy seems to be pointing to something positive about Japan's society - "slow growth" or not: there doesn't seem to be panic, or civil unrest to any meaningful degree. Japanese seem to pull together, to have some sort of "unity" in their response to this unimaginable tragedy.
I'm not saying their policies and their society are ideal, of course. It seems painfully obvious that the decision of many - I would guess most - Japanese not to have children, or at least to limit their families to very few or even no children, has been behind the slow growth all these years. Combining that with not allowing many immigrants in, and you wind up with the "Japanese-style deflation" we read about.
The strange thing about this slow growth is the fact that economists keep talking about how the Japanese government doesn't pursue more "stimulative" policies - or at least doesn't try to stimulate the economy as much as they could. But how silly is that? With a population declining, and slated to decline for decades to come, isn't it natural that economic activity would slow down? In fact, a Japanese minister - the head of their central bank - said as much recently. I guess he got tired of all the criticism and so he just went out an pointed out what should be obvious: fewer people, less prosperity.
Of course, no one wants to really discuss this 800 pound gorilla in the room: declining population in the West, Japan, Russia - at least not the extent of the impact of smaller families on economic activity. No, we'd rather prattle on about QE2 and all other forms of government "stimulation" for our weak economies. The fact that we're not having children - a rather glaring and momentous fact I'd say - is mentioned, but really not given the weight it deserves.
But we were talking about the Japanese earthquake. I hope the Japanese stay unified and stick with helping each other out. They're going to need all the help they can get, starting with them helping themselves.
Oh, one more thing. The earthquake in Japan was 1,000 times worse than the terrible Haitian earthquake. Haiti's still devastated a bit over a year later. Many Haitians are still homeless and suffering terribly from crime and disease. The reaction of Haiti's people seems to stand in stark contrast to the reaction of the Japanese - at least so far. Of course, Haiti was one of the poorest countries on earth, whereas Japan is one of the most economically rich countries.
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