Word: japanism
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...Japan, foreigners learn soon enough that a one-yen coin floats on water (or beer), a perfect analogy for the last few years of the dollar's strength against Japanese currency. Now, however, the yen is sinking to the bottom of the glass as the dollar has becomes featherweight. On Thursday it slipped to 99.7 yen, the lowest it has been since November 1995. Following suit on Friday, Tokyo stocks plummeted to their lowest levels since August 2005. Just a few months ago, the rate was 113 to the dollar...
...central bank does not act quickly enough - and deteriorating financial conditions create a self-perpetuating feedback loop with a collapsing economy - the bank may end up just "chasing the neutral rate down" without reaching the level needed to jump-start demand. Japan's experience in the 1990s provides a cautionary tale: even 0% rates failed to resuscitate the economy...
...driver's seat of a new Nissan GT-R at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall, CEO Carlos Ghosn flashed a wry grin and a custom-made Louis Vuitton suit. Ghosn's sharp look--a departure from his usual boardroom standard issue--suggested a calculated step up for Japan's No. 3 automaker. The GT-R--part luxury vehicle, part sports car--is Nissan's bid to compete head on with Ferrari and Porsche. For a company that has built its brand on the 3.6 million reliable midrange vehicles it produces every year, that is no small ambition. Think Ultraman...
...cross-company, cross-national teamwork that created the car is inspiring those who are selling it. Nissan's marketing team held global meetings at which, for example, a proposal from Europe to work with only a select number of GT-R dealers was picked up for Japan and, possibly, the U.S. (The GT-R was unveiled in Japan last October, and will launch in the U.S. in June and in Europe by March...
While the GT-R is further proof of Nissan's global dna--it is, after all, a Japanese company run by a Frenchman--Nissan has never deviated from keeping the GT-R's image rooted in Japan. (Ghosn's steering committee even toyed with the idea of linking the GT-R with Godzilla.) Mizuno often says that the car was born in Japan and raised in Germany. The GT-R, he says, is an expression of the Japanese senpai-kohai system, in which the more experienced teach their juniors. The GT-R team simply took that Japanese concept and exported...