“In the past, company labor unions would protest to employers when bonuses were cut, calling bonuses “life expenses,” but recently they have taken management’s side and agreed that bonuses should be tied to company performance.”

Sounds like someone got paid off to change their minds. Igor says “surprised”, but unions screwing their employees/employers over doesn’t surprise me.

It’s still tough for a married woman to have a career in Japan. Large numbers of women have opted not to marry rather than give up their career.

I knew some wonderful, family oriented Japanese women, so you can’t paint them all with the same brush. However, in a culture where men are encouraged to work ridiculous hours and their wives are expected to wait on them hand and foot when they show up, it’s a lifestyle fewer Japanese women aspire to.

I used to find it annoying. I remember visiting with Japanese girlfriends and then needing to go somewhere else. If I needed to go to work, they would say, “Oh you can stay a little longer”. If I said, “My husband is on his way home,” though, they would help me pack up my things and push me out the door. If they were at my house and Mr. Twist came home, they would all hustle out the door. He asked me if they didn’t like him but I assured him that it was just assumed that I would now spend my time fluffing his pillow and bringing him his tea.

He thought that was pretty funny. I’m not exactly the “pillow fluffing” type. : )

Indeed I think both Mr & Mrs Twist could contribute to that discussion.

RE: Canada’s banks, they were considerably more conservative than their American cousins, they’ve been able to squeeze more juice out of us, their customers, (less competition) and the quirk of being able to weasel out of their ABCP obligations resulted in an up-to C$32 billion subsidy for a couple of critical years.

As mentioned in the March 26th AEI seminar, a quirk of history (their shrinking empire) left Danish banks with mountains of capital.

That seems to be the secret of why Canadian and Danish homeowners have it relatively easy. Simply put, it’s easier to be served by fat, happy wolves than by the starving wolves that serve as lenders to America and much of the developing world.

Well, I can’t guarantee they have any opinion – I guess it depends on how recently they lived in Japan, but if memory serves me right they both have pretty good knowledge of the country.

About Japan, I would add for consideration
that a much higher percentage of households than what we are currently used to in North America have the luxury of having wives stay at home and be homemaker (even after children are all in school), or perhaps only work a few hours a week to keep themselves busy. (This is not forced upon Japanese women – in fact, many of them strive for stay-at-home life, to the shock and dismay of many ex-pat females, and there is ample opportunity for professional careers if Japanese females so desire.. but that is another discussion, which I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Twist have some opinions on!).

Although some higher foreclosure numbers are bound to come out of Japan, especially considering that this year’s June bonuses were lower than expected for many, given that the average Japanese family has a very high savings rate and that they have this huge as-yet-untapped source of labour.. I think there is more safety built into the Japanese situation than ours.

In Canada and North America, our savings have been negative in recent history, and having the need for both spouses to work (in most situations, excepting a few child-rearing years and also excepting those situations where one spouse makes much more than an average salary) is already factored into our way of life.

So, I still fear for us more.

“Japan’s Bizarre New Mortgage Crisis”, by Joe Weisenthal, BusinessInsider, June 28, 2009.

aisin said:

Jun. 28, 10:49 AM

The govt and the banks have conspired mightily to prevent any rationalization at all of housing prices. The prices in the large metropolitan areas (Tokyo, Osaka, and especially Nagoya and excepting a few select areas) have never dropped appreciably. The jobs are in the metropolitan areas so you’re forced to buy something relatively close. But even a small

condo in anything other than outright farm lands where there are no schools or amenities costs $500k+ . Japanese salaries have not been on an upward trajectory for 20 years now so most people get the 40-50 year mortgages and hope to die before they bill is due. Sad but many people I know either have a mortgage and are terrified of losing a job (and thus even more terrified of moving companies) or are resigned to renting forever.

That and Japanese mortgages are recourse loans. In a deflationary environment, no one wins. I could go on and on. Essentially, the generation of savers that made possible the export juggernaut has passed the torch to a nation of people frightened about where they will live if they ever get to retire.