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Strategies & Market Trends : JAPAN-Nikkei-Time to go back up? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: borb who wrote (2113)	10/29/1999 9:47:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3902

ft.com Tokyo advises stockpiling to survive the millennium Japanese government wants populace to be ready for Y2K problems. Gillian Tett and Alexandra Harney in Tokyo report The Japanese government is calling on its population to stockpile several days' worth of food and water to cope with potential disasters caused by the "millennium bug". In newspaper advertisements appearing today, the government also suggests that households should store medicine, kerosene, gasoline and cash, and avoid making unnecessary telephone calls or using the internet over the new year period. After announcing the policy in parliament yesterday, Keizo Obuchi, the prime minister, stressed that he did not believe there would be any major problems caused by the so-called Y2K transition, since most companies and public sector bodies claim to be well prepared. He added, however: "I would like all citizens to be prepared for all eventualities." Many Japanese citizens seemed unconcerned about their leader's apparent fear that the millennium might not pass smoothly, partly because some households already have stockpiles of essential goods to cope with the danger of earthquakes. Mieko Shimizu, a Tokyo housewife, said: "We won't be making any special preparations - but didn't they say something about having two or three days' of water? We might be able to do that." Kimihisa Kaneko, a retired trading company executive, added: "We haven't done anything yet, but we are planning to stock water, coal and, because there is nothing we can do if they cut off the electricity, we will probably keep some batteries in the house." Japan's caution contrasts with that of its neighbour China. In January this year, China ordered the heads of its regional airlines to take a flight on New Year's day to prove they had fixed all Y2K computer problems. Nevertheless, the move comes amid uncertainty about Japan's readiness to cope with the bug. Recent surveys have suggested that although many large private companies have prepared for Y2K, smaller groups still lag behind, together with some areas of the public sector such as hospitals and power companies. Taichi Sakaiya, economic planning minister, yesterday admitted that Y2K concerns appeared to be forcing a slight rise in short-term interest rates. The Bank of Japan announced earlier this month that it would make additional injections of liquidity over the year-end to cope with the bug. But the so-called Japan premium, or the extra cost that Japanese banks must pay to raise finance in international markets compared with their US and European counterparts, has recently been rising. It currently stands at about 19 basis points, up from 10 basis points two weeks ago. Separately, the Japan Securities Dealers' Association, the industry body, warned that investors should avoid trading bonds whose settlement period falls between December 28 and January 4. It suggested such bonds be settled after January 5 instead. Japanese travel agencies have recently announced that they will not be arranging trips that involve air travel over December 31 and January 1, largely due to lack of demand.