OT no. 1: ...on rice paddies and Japanese preferences:
Californian growers have been growing *Japanese* rice varieties (such as koshihikari and sasanishiki) for a few years now, hoping to sell rice to Japan one day. But the Japanese government (Liberal Party in power for most of the last 50 years) has been relying disproportionately (via neatly structured electorates that favor low-population countryside) on the farmers to keep them in power. Hence the guaranteed high price of rice (and, to a lessening degree, beef).
OT no. 2: Golf courses, until a few years ago, were BIG money spinners. Leaving high club membership fees during bubble-days aside , for a casual player here in Australia, a day at the golf course costs somewhere around $10. In Japan, it is more like $100+.
OT no. 3: Have you noted the recent price of Furukawa Electric (code 5801; holds 20% of JDSU)? They were wallowing around 1,450 yen for several months, with little volatility. Now almost overnight, they are close to 1,800 yen. I think foreign and Japanese fund managers, moving money away from the US, are discovering a good one.
Back to Softbank: closed in Tokyo today at 19,950. |
