Datawatch

Restaurants in many major cities worldwide are unable to open as people stay indoors.
Datawatch

World slips into pandemic-induced hibernation as China awakens

Restaurants and traffic go quiet globally while Shanghai's cargo shipments spike

30 March 2020
As airports, hotels and tourist havens like Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco empty out, the world is beginning to worry about widespread job losses. (Source photos from AP)
Datawatch

Coronavirus jeopardizes hotel, transport and retail sectors

Dire straits for 100m Japanese, Americans and Europeans in these industries

23 March 2020
Empty check-in counters at Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand are evidence of the sharp decline in Southeast Asian tourism amid the new coronavirus pandemic.
Datawatch

Southeast Asia faces budget deficits if tourist numbers drop 50%

Coronavirus pandemic exposes fragility of tourism-dependent economies

18 March 2020
Big companies are having staff work from home, stagger commutes and cut back on after-work revelry, moves which have lessened crowds but hammered restaurants and other businesses.
Datawatch

Japanese shun city centers as coronavirus fears set in

Night population falls 50% in Ginza while office areas see 20% drop during day

10 March 2020
Seniority has already been playing less of a role in determining pay in Japan.
Datawatch

Japan's middle-age salarymen face pay cuts as seniority loses sway

Median salary for 55-year-old men plunges 14% since 2000

2 March 2020
Convenience stores like 7-Eleven rely heavily on part-time student workers, but are having a hard time finding them. (Photo courtesy of Seven & i Holdings)
Datawatch

Inconvenient truth: Japan stores abandon 24-hour operations

Over 400 shops cut hours in past four months amid labor shortage

23 February 2020
Indian industry's struggles are a symptom of a credit crunch induced by rising levels of bad  debt.
Datawatch

India's house of cards: big pile of risky debt lurks below

Share of loans to cash-poor companies more than doubles in five years

16 February 2020
Many normal business operations are suspended in China until Feb. 9, but the coronavirus-caused disruption could continue beyond that.
Datawatch

Coronavirus exposes downside of global dependence on China

China's share of world trade has doubled since SARS outbreak of 2003

9 February 2020
As digitization and globalization advance at breakneck speed, Japanese companies are not keeping up with investments in innovation.
Datawatch

Entire Japan Inc to be outspent by 5 US tech giants in R&D

Once global leaders in innovation, Japanese companies now hesitant to take risks

2 February 2020
Managers in Japan are becoming more willing to listen to activist calls for boosting profitability. (Nikkei montage)
Datawatch

Activist investors regain their appetite for Japanese stocks

Holdings double since 2015 as calls for change find receptive ears

26 January 2020
The debt-addicted U.S. federal government has a co-dependent -- global investors in a near zero-interest-rate reality.
Datawatch

Yield-hungry Asian investors bankroll US spending binge

Appetite for Treasurys remains firm as yields slip to bottom elsewhere

19 January 2020
With a glut in supply as well as a diversification of energy sources, including the U.S. shale gas boom, the world is becoming less reliance on Middle East oil.
Datawatch

Oil market shrugs off Iran crisis, giving Trump free hand

Increase in global production leaves prices less vulnerable to events

12 January 2020
Retail prices of washing machines in Tokyo averaged 188,324 yen ($1,742) in 2019, up about 90% from 101,207 recorded in 2009.
Datawatch

White appliance prices jump in Japan over past 10 years

Washing machines soar 90% as makers focus on highly functional 'smart' machines

8 January 2020
A passerby walks past in front of a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo.
Datawatch

30 years since Japan's stock market peaked, climb back continues

Many investors remain wary but risk missing out on long-term gains

29 December 2019
Surrounded by picturesque mountains, Matsumoto Airport in Nagano Prefecture is close to tourist spots. (Photo by Masato Takeuchi)
Datawatch

Japan's off-the-beaten-path airports hungry to grow

Foreign passenger traffic at nonmajor airfields climbs 450%

22 December 2019
Japan Inc. could learn a thing or two from the West about focusing on core competencies and divesting unprofitable businesses.
Datawatch

The $100bn ceiling Japanese companies cannot shatter

Growth stalls as CEOs hesitate to cut off unprofitable units

15 December 2019
Possession of a master's degree or doctorate is the basic requirement for employment as an engineer in cutting-edge fields at Google and other big information technology groups in the US.
Datawatch

Japan bucks global trend toward highly-educated societies

China and South Korea experience surge in people receiving doctoral degrees

9 December 2019
A James Bond 1965 Aston Martin DB5 coupe is displayed at Sotheby's auction house in New York in July. 
Datawatch

Risk-averse investors flee from WeWork, pizzas and 007 cars

Low-rated bonds lose their shine amid concerns for global economy

1 December 2019
The Lawson convenience store chain has one store at the northern tip of Hokkaido with a customer base of about 3,000 people, down 15% from a decade ago.
Datawatch

Shrinking population threatens Japan's convenience stores

Glut of minimarts puts operators on notice as customer bases dwindle

29 November 2019
Inbound travelers spent $43.3 billion on lodging, meals and other expense in fiscal 2018, a threefold increase from five years earlier.
Datawatch

Asian yen for Japanese tourism proves a mixed blessing

Weak currency makes visitors open wallets, but turns off overseas workers

22 November 2019
Since the yen started depreciating about three years ago, capital expenditures overseas have trended lower. 
Datawatch

Addiction to weak yen saps Japan's growth potential

Stock market high comes at long-term cost of lower buying power

17 November 2019
With corporate cash piles increasing and household savings continuing to rise, the government sector in Japan, the US and Europe absorbed a combined surplus of $34 trillion from the corporate and household sectors in the 30 years through 2018.
Datawatch

Rich-country governments borrow furiously but business shuns debt

Collapse of traditional flow of funds sparks questions over economic trajectory

10 November 2019
Central banks are on pace to buy more gold this year than last year, when they bought the most since the U.S. ended dollar convertibility in 1971.
Datawatch

Gold gains luster as US-China trade war dims global outlook

Central banks and ETFs snap up the metal amid negative interest rates

3 November 2019
Huawei is striving to reduce its dependence on foreign technologies, with measures including developing its own chipset for fifth-generation wireless telecommunications.
Datawatch

Patent king Huawei lags Intel and Qualcomm in quality, study finds

Chinese group on buying and hiring spree to close any innovation gap

27 October 2019
While pensioners are quicker to spend, they are not spending more than their working counterparts.
Datawatch

Pension payday is a boost Japanese retailers can count on

Shops look to cash in on silver wave of shoppers every two months

20 October 2019