Word: yen
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Scare-heads about the blood Japan has spilled in Manchuria have obscured her quiet, deadly cloth war with Britain, waged with the sharp price-cutting weapon of her depreciated yen. Japan took the yen off gold two years ago (TIME, Dec. 21, 1931), has thus been able to cut her cotton textile prices unbelievably low and to steal British markets throughout the East. Last week the yen was down to 36.7% of its par gold value, while Britain's pound, though also depreciated, stood at 65% of its gold parity...
Japanese affectionately call 78-year-old Finance Minister Korekiyo Takahashi "Daruma" after the pot-bellied Buddhist sage, symbol of good luck. Just now he is carrying on with the most colossal and appallingly unbalanced budget in Japanese history. Since Japan quit the gold standard (TIME, Dec. 21, 1931) her yen has fallen to 36% of its par gold value but there has been no monetary inflation, no starting of the Japanese Treasury's printing presses. Last week Mr. Takahashi, who in his youth indentured himself to an Oakland, Calif, farmer to work for three years for a total wage...
...sympathetic with Mr. Roosevelt," said Mr. Takahashi. "He is facing the more difficult situation. . . . Japan's administration is centralized, while authority in the United States is diffused between the Federal Government, the States and other agencies. Moreover the United States dollar is an international currency, while the Japanese yen is less important internationally and less subject to speculation...
Latest statistics show that yen in circulation have slightly decreased since the Empire went off gold nearly two years ago. There has been of course an orgy of Japanese credit inflation, sponsored by "Daruma" Takahashi as the only means of paying Japan's war bills. Last week he sharply criticized only one point of President Roosevelt's recovery policy, the shortening of working hours under the NRA. To 78-year-old and frankly old-fashioned Korekiyo Takahashi this is nonsense. "What any nation needs now," he snapped, "is more work, not less work...
...nation, while the business men are experienced warriors in the sphere of economics. This is no time for indulging in partisan politics. . . . Big changes are in store for the nation within the next three months." And last week Araki sounded off again. He demanded a 1,000,000,000 yen ($267,000,000 at current exchange) domestic loan to squeeze a still bigger Army and Navy out of gasping Japanese taxpayers. At the same time he pointed to the U. S. Atlantic Fleet's continued presence in the Pacific and the letting of new naval contracts to build...