Word: yen
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...consumer price index falling by 2.5%, wages falling by about 2.0%, winter bonuses falling by about 14%, and the Nikkei (stock market index) going down," he says. "All the growth we're seeing is because of arithmetic." Complicating matters is the strength of the Japanese yen, which has gained 6% on the dollar in the last three months. Prices generally decline in a strong currency environment; a rising yen cuts into Japanese firms' corporate profits and margins and makes companies less competitive abroad...
...bidding is about to begin. He starts to chant out the tuna's serial numbers, written on squares of paper stuck to their bellies. One bidder raises his hand with an offer that the auctioneer weaves into his mantra: "4-5, 4-5, 4-5." That's 4,500 yen - about $50 - one of many offers made for every kilo of the frozen fish on the block that morning. At Tsukiji, the world's most famous fish market, tuna are sold at prices equivalent to Ivy League educations. In one of hundreds of stalls, wholesaler Keisuke Morishima dismantles a fresh...
...first bite of Japanese hon maguro, or bluefin, inspired him to become a chef. For Honda, it's the only tuna there is. "Once you experience our natural maguro, you cannot go to a conveyor-belt sushi place anymore," he says. In 2001, when the yen was still rolling, Honda helped auction a Pacific bluefin at Tsukiji for about $220,000. It was one of the most expensive fish ever sold in Japan. "Maguro," Honda explains, "has a power to move people." (Watch TIME's video "Bluefin Tuna Catch...
...That strength turned out to be temporary. A ballooning U.S. budget deficit and escalating government debt has made the dollar currency non grata in many quarters once again. An index that measures the greenback's value against a basket of major currencies, including the euro and yen, has fallen about 15% from a three-year high reached in March and is now hovering near a 14-month low. Economists and analysts expect the dollar to lose a lot more ground. Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Japan's banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui, believes the Japanese currency could strengthen to 50 yen...
...second quarter, dollars accounted for only 37% of new reserves accumulated by central banks worldwide. That's the lowest proportion on record for any quarter during which reserves increased significantly. At a time when many central banks are boosting their reserves, they are choosing to buy euro and yen instead. "Central banks are doing more than talking about reducing the concentration of [the U.S. dollar] in their reserve portfolios. They are actually acting on their statements," Englander wrote in an October report. (See how to plan for retirement...