Why The Japanese Yen Is Collapsing (And How This Affects You)

Summary

The video discusses the economic history of Japan, focusing on the current low value of the Yen against the US dollar, which has made Japan an attractive travel destination. It explores Japan's economic boom in the 1980s, the subsequent 'Lost Decades', and the impact of the Plaza Accord. The script also delves into Japan's current economic challenges, including an aging population and the recent interest rate increase by the Bank of Japan.

Takeaways

• 📉 The Japanese yen is currently at a 38-year low against the US dollar, making Japan a more attractive destination for American tourists, with a 17.4% increase in visitors in the first five months of 2024.
• 🌐 The weakened yen has led to a surge in Japan's popularity on social media, as $1 now equates to roughly 160 yen, a rate last seen in May 1986.
• 🏙️ In the 1980s, Japan was the one buying up US assets, including famous properties like Pebble Beach Golf Resort and major entertainment companies, due to its booming economy and land values.
• 💼 The high land values in Japan, such as the Ginza district, led to an economic bubble where the value of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was hypothetically more than the entire real estate of California.
• 📈 Japan's economic growth in the 1950s to the 1980s was fueled by ultra-low interest rates, making Japanese products highly competitive and desirable globally.
• 🏦 The Plaza Accord of the 1980s aimed to devalue the US dollar and involved Japan deregulating its economy, which led to a surge in investment and the creation of an economic bubble.
• 💸 The Japanese stock market's rapid growth in the 1980s was partly due to corporations making more money from capital gains on real estate and stock holdings than their actual businesses, leading to excessive borrowing and speculation.
• 📉 The collapse of the Japanese property and stock market in the early 1990s led to the 'Lost Decade,' characterized by low economic growth, high unemployment, and a stagnant stock market.
• 💔 The Bank of Japan's response to the economic crisis included slashing interest rates to nearly zero, creating zombie companies that could not repay their debts and had no money for capital investment.
• 💡 The script suggests three lessons learned from Japan's economic history: tighter monetary policy, stronger regulatory oversight, and a more diversified economy could have mitigated the effects of the economic downturn.

Q & A

Why is the Japanese yen trading at a 38-year low against the US dollar?

The script does not provide a specific reason for the yen's decline, but it implies that the weakened yen has made Japan more attractive for tourists and investment, which could be a result of economic policies and global economic trends.

What was the impact of the weakened yen on the number of American tourists visiting Japan?

The weakened yen has led to a significant increase in the number of American tourists visiting Japan, with over 900,000 people coming in the first five months of 2024 alone, marking a 17.4% increase from the previous year.

What was the situation in the 1980s when Japan was buying assets in the United States?

In the 1980s, Japan's economy was booming, and Japanese investors were buying significant assets in the United States, including the Pebble Beach Golf Resort, Firestone Tire Company, CBS Records, Columbia Pictures, MGM, the Chrysler Building in New York City, and Universal Studios.

How did land values in Japan contribute to the economic boom in the 1980s?

Land values in Japan, particularly in the Ginza district, skyrocketed during the 1980s. An office space in Ginza sold for 1.5 million yen per square meter, equivalent to over $139,000 per square foot, which contributed to the overall economic boom and the perception of Japan's wealth.

What was the role of the Plaza Accord in the economic history of Japan?

The Plaza Accord was an agreement among the G5 nations to devalue the US dollar, which led to Japan deregulating and stimulating private sector growth. This deregulation, however, contributed to the creation of an economic bubble that eventually burst, leading to Japan's economic stagnation.

How did Japan's economic policies in the late 1980s contribute to the creation of an economic bubble?

Japan adopted a loose monetary policy, expanding credit and making it cheap to borrow money. This led to excessive speculation in the stock market and real estate, creating a bubble that eventually burst in the early 1990s.

What was the impact of the economic bubble bursting on Japan's economy in the 1990s?

The bursting of the economic bubble led to a period known as 'The Lost Decade' or 'The Lost Decades,' characterized by economic stagnation, high unemployment, and a significant drop in stock and real estate prices.

Why did the Bank of Japan implement negative interest rates in 2016?

The Bank of Japan implemented negative interest rates to encourage commercial banks to lend out money rather than hold onto it, in an attempt to stimulate borrowing and spending in the economy.

What are the three lessons economists have learned from Japan's economic history that could have prevented or lessened the effects of the Lost Decades?

The three lessons are: 1) The Bank of Japan should have adopted a tighter monetary policy sooner to prevent excessive speculation; 2) Stronger regulatory oversight over financial institutions could have prevented sketchy lending practices; and 3) A more diversified economy, less dependent on exports, could have made the Japanese economy more resilient to currency fluctuations.

What is the current situation with the Japanese yen and the US dollar, and how does it affect tourism and investment?

The yen is currently trading at a 38-year low against the US dollar, making Japan an attractive destination for tourists and investors due to the favorable exchange rate. This has led to a significant increase in tourism and potentially investment opportunities.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Economic Shifts: Yen's Decline and Japan's Global Influence

The script begins by highlighting the Japanese yen's significant devaluation against the US dollar, reaching a 38-year low. This economic shift has led to a surge in American visitors to Japan, with a 17.4% increase in the first five months of 2024. The weakened yen makes Japan an attractive tourist destination, reminiscent of the 1980s when Japan was a major player in international investments, acquiring significant assets in the US. The narrative delves into Japan's economic history, particularly the land value explosion in the 80s, which led to an economic boom and a perception of Japan as a global economic powerhouse. The script also touches on the economic policies that contributed to Japan's rise and eventual bubble burst, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of Japan's economic trajectory.

05:00

📈 The Plaza Accord and Japan's Economic Bubble

This paragraph discusses the impact of the Plaza Accord, an agreement among the G5 nations to devalue the US dollar, which inadvertently led to the strengthening of the yen. This economic policy change made Japanese products less competitive internationally, prompting Japan to focus on stimulating its domestic economy. The Japanese government adopted a loose monetary policy, making it easy to borrow money and leading to a speculative bubble in the stock market and real estate. The script illustrates the frenzy of investment during this period, with average returns on IPOs reaching 32% and companies valued at astronomical multiples of their earnings. The bubble was not only driven by individual investors but also by corporations, which were more focused on capital gains from real estate and stocks than their core businesses, leading to the eventual burst of the bubble in the early 1990s.

10:02

📉 The Lost Decades: Japan's Economic Stagnation and Recovery

The script continues by detailing the aftermath of the economic bubble burst, known as the Lost Decades. The collapse of property values and the stock market led to a severe economic downturn, with Japan's central bank intervening by slashing interest rates to nearly zero. This period saw the creation of 'zombie companies' that survived on government support but lacked the ability to invest and grow. The script also discusses the challenges posed by China's economic rise and the impact on Japan's export-driven economy. The narrative then shifts to Japan's recent economic policies, including negative interest rates and quantitative easing, aimed at stimulating the economy. The paragraph concludes with a reflection on the lessons learned from Japan's economic history and the potential strategies that could have mitigated the effects of the Lost Decades.

15:03

🌟 Japan's Resurgence: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects

The final paragraph wraps up the discussion by examining the current state of the Japanese yen and its implications for the global economy. The script notes the recent increase in interest rates by the Bank of Japan, marking the end of a long period of negative rates. It also explores the relationship between the yen's value and the strength of the US dollar, emphasizing the importance of interest rates in determining currency strength. The narrator shares personal insights from a visit to Japan, highlighting the cultural richness and economic opportunities presented by the current exchange rate. The script concludes with a call to action for viewers to consider visiting Japan and a reminder of the broader economic lessons that can be drawn from Japan's economic history.

Keywords

💡Japanese Yen

The Japanese Yen is the official currency of Japan. In the video, it is highlighted that the Yen is trading at a 38-year low against the US dollar, which makes Japan an attractive destination for tourists and investors. This currency devaluation is a central theme of the video, as it impacts both the Japanese economy and global perceptions of Japan.

💡Plaza Accord

The Plaza Accord was an agreement in 1985 between the G5 nations (Japan, the US, the UK, France, and Germany) aimed at devaluing the US dollar to boost US competitiveness. In the video, it is mentioned that this accord led to Japan deregulating its economy, which contributed to the economic bubble of the late 1980s. This is a crucial historical event that shaped Japan's economic trajectory.

💡Economic Bubble

An economic bubble refers to a situation where asset prices, such as stocks or real estate, rise to levels that are significantly higher than their intrinsic values. The video discusses how Japan experienced a massive bubble in the late 1980s, driven by speculative investments in real estate and stocks, which eventually burst, leading to a severe economic downturn.

💡Land Values

Land values are a measure of the worth of land, often influenced by economic conditions and demand. The video script mentions the astronomical land values in Japan during the 1980s, with an example of Ginza district in Tokyo, where land was sold for $139,000 per square foot. This inflated land value was a key factor in the economic bubble and its subsequent collapse.

💡Stock Market

The stock market is a platform where shares of publicly traded companies are issued and traded. The video highlights the Japanese stock market's boom in the 1980s, where companies experienced high returns upon IPOs and stock prices soared. This was part of the broader economic bubble that eventually burst, leading to a significant economic impact.

💡Non-Performing Loans (NPLs)

Non-Performing Loans are loans that are in default or close to being in default. In the video, it is suggested that addressing NPLs could have helped Japan recover more effectively from its economic crisis. These loans were a significant issue during Japan's 'Lost Decades,' contributing to financial instability.

💡Interest Rates

Interest rates are the cost of borrowing money, set by central banks. The video discusses how the Bank of Japan kept interest rates low to stimulate the economy, even implementing negative interest rates. This policy is contrasted with the US's higher interest rates, which have strengthened the US dollar and weakened the Yen.

💡Deregulation

Deregulation refers to the reduction or elimination of government regulations in industries. In the video, deregulation is linked to the economic bubble in Japan, as it allowed for excessive speculation and risky lending practices. This is presented as a critical factor that contributed to the economic crisis.

💡Lost Decades

The 'Lost Decades' refer to the period from the 1990s to the early 2000s when Japan's economy stagnated following the burst of the economic bubble. The video script describes this period as characterized by low growth, high unemployment, and a struggling stock market, illustrating the long-term effects of the economic bubble.

💡Quantitative Easing

Quantitative Easing is a monetary policy used by central banks to inject liquidity into the economy by purchasing government securities or other securities to lower interest rates and encourage lending and investment. The video mentions that the Bank of Japan used this policy, including negative interest rates, to combat deflation and stimulate the economy.

💡Aging Population

An aging population refers to a demographic trend where the median age of a population increases, often due to longer life expectancies and lower birth rates. The video discusses how Japan's aging population has strained its economy, affecting economic growth and policy decisions, such as maintaining low interest rates to support the elderly.

Highlights

The Japanese yen is trading at a 38-year low against the US dollar.

Over 900,000 Americans visited Japan in the first five months of 2024, a 17.4% increase from the previous year.

The weakened yen has made Japan an attractive destination for tourists, with $1 now equivalent to about 160 yen.

In the 1980s, Japan was buying significant assets in the United States, including Pebble Beach Golf Resort and major entertainment companies.

Land values in Japan exploded in the 1980s, with some areas in Ginza selling for over $139,000 per square foot.

The Imperial Palace in Tokyo was hypothetically worth more than the entire real estate of California at its peak.

Japan's stock market was valued at more than four times the value of US real estate at its peak in 1995.

The Plaza Accord in the 1980s aimed to devalue the US dollar and led to Japan's deregulation, stimulating private sector growth.

Deregulation in Japan led to an economic bubble, with the yen strengthening and making Japanese products less competitive internationally.

Japan's economy focused on strengthening its domestic market by expanding credit and adopting a loose monetary policy.

The Japanese stock market saw average returns of 32% on the first day of IPOs between 1981 and 1991.

The Japanese stock market hit an average PE of 225 times in 1989, indicating a significant bubble.

The property and stock market collapse in the early 1990s led to Japan's 'Lost Decade' with high unemployment and economic stagnation.

The Bank of Japan's response to the economic crisis included slashing interest rates to nearly zero and injecting money into failing banks.

Japan's economy suffered from stagflation in the 2000s, with rising prices and stagnant incomes.

The Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates in 2016 to stimulate borrowing and spending.

Japan's aging population and declining workforce have put a strain on economic growth and contributed to low interest rates.

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates in 2024 for the first time in 17 years.

The strength of the US dollar and the weakness of the yen are tied to economic performance and central bank policies.

Three lessons learned from Japan's economic history could have prevented or lessened the effects of the 'Lost Decade': tighter monetary policy, stronger regulatory oversight, and a more diversified economy.

The current weak yen makes Japan an ideal destination for tourists, especially from the US, due to the favorable exchange rate.

Transcripts

the Japanese yen is now trading at a

38-year low against the US dollar that's

why the number of Americans coming to

Japan has skyrocketed with more than

900,000 people coming in the first 5

months of 2024 alone a 17.4% increase

from last year that's also why you might

be seeing Japan everywhere on social

media right now the weakened Yen has

made Japan an even more attractive place

to visit because $1 will now get you

roughly 160 Yen and the last time that

was the case was around May of 1986 or

almost 40 years ago everyone is trying

to get a piece of Japan right now but

what's interesting is that not that long

ago in the80s it was Japan that was

buying the United States some of the

things Japan bought included the famous

Pebble Beach Golf Resort in California

the Firestone Tire Company Japan's Sony

Corporation was able to buy CBS records

columia pictures MGM United Artists the

IC Chrysler Building in New York City

and Universal Studios Japan's economy

got so big that people started to worry

Japanese investors were buying too much

of everything Japan got really close to

overtaking the US economy and how they

were able to do all that is a super

interesting story one of the things that

made this possible is land values in

Japan started to explode a small office

space in the district of Ginza for

example sold for 1.5 million million for

1 square meter and that works out to a

little over

[Music]

$139,000 per square foot just for

comparison last year the US national

average was about

$23 a square foot but a more apples to

apples comparison would be an area in

San Francisco which right now is valued

at

$5,450 a square foot which is outrageous

but still a far cry away from

$139,000 that also meant the Imperial

Palace in Tokyo was hypothetically worth

about $852 billion which at the time was

worth more than the entire real estate

of California it was said that Japan's

land value and the office spaces in it

in the most expensive District the

District of Ginza were valued at $5.1

trillion which was about the size of

Japan's entire GDP in 1989 and remember

that's for a country that's 26 times

smaller than the United States and

that's just real estate Japan's stock

market was worth more than the entire

value of US real estate times 4 the

Japanese economy was on such a role that

in the year

1995 the Chicago Tribune wrote Japan may

still surpass the United States to

become a leading economic power by the

year 2 000 and that's not that long ago

but that didn't end up happening instead

what happened was arguably one of the

biggest bubbles to ever pop in economic

history so in today's video I want to

show you how Japan almost took over the

entire world why they didn't and how the

Yen has been collapsing over the last

few decades and what we can learn from

it and how all of this affects us so

with that said let's get into it hi my

name is Andre J hope you're doing well

come for the finance and stay for

macroeconomic history so

understand Japan and the decline of the

Yen we have to rewind and talk about how

Japan became so powerful because after

World War II Japan experienced something

people call the economic miracle and how

the world saw Japan changed a lot in the

1950s for example if someone picked

something up and they saw it was made in

Japan they would have automatically

assumed it was bad quality and you

probably knew that but maybe you forgot

unless you recently watched Back to the

Future No Wonder this C fail it says

Made in Japan what do you mean doc all

the best stuff is made in Japan

unbelievable that's because Japan made a

lot of progress by the time of Marty's

1985 and that was thanks to Tak Henry

Saku ultra low interest rates between

the 1950s to the 1980s Japan's economy

grew like crazy and Japan became an

extremely wealthy country Japan invested

into its own growth focusing on creating

high tech like VCRs the Walkman

companies like Sony Honda and all their

super reliable cars started to transform

the global economy everyone wanted to

own a product from Japan by the 1980s

made in Japan was associated with

highquality cuttingedge technology that

was actually affordable and one of the

biggest reasons for this change in

perception is because the Central Bank

of Japan was strategically keeping the

Yen weak a weak Yen made Japanese Goods

cheaper for other countries to buy and

When stronger currencies were buying

Japanese companies could convert those

foreign profits like US dollars for a

lot more Yen and that created a lot of

wealth especially for the companies

making all that stuff and that's why the

Japanese stock market went way up which

also resulted in Full Employment and

good wage increases Japan's economy was

on a roll but then the president of the

US Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan the actor

Ronald Reagan decided to devalue the

dollar in order to make the us more

competitive as well and that was the

birth of something called The Plaza

Accord because Jesus also had a Honda

for he did not speak of his own accord

just kidding seeing if you're still

awake now the G5 Nations which included

Japan the United States the UK France

and Germany all got together to agree to

this Plaza Accord and the goal was to

devalue the US dollar and one of the

ways they did that was by forcing Japan

tend to deregulate in order to stimulate

private sector growth now whenever you

hear the word deregulation just remember

that investers will probably be printing

10d soon AKA they're going to make a lot

of money but it can also mean that if

people are not careful it's one of the

special ingredients for creating an

economic bubble because what

deregulation eventually did was it made

the Yen so strong that it made Japan

less competitive on the international

market Market their products became more

expensive in relation to other

currencies so Japan started to make less

money and that created recessionary

pressures for Japan So to avoid a

possible recession Japan focused on

strengthening its domestic economy in

other words they wanted to make sure

that people had an opportunity to make

more money at home since they were

making less money overseas and the way

they did that was by increasing the

marketability of Securities by creating

as many investors as possible and the

way they did that was by adopting what's

called a loose monetary policy and

expanding credit Japan made it really

cheap to borrow money by dropping the

discount rate from 5% in 1985 to 2 1/2%

by 1987 the amount of money in the

system as measured by M3 went up by 141%

from 1980 to 1990 and with all this

money in the system and easy access to

cheap credit and low interest rates

meant people started to leverage or

borrow money so that they could invest

and that's what created a giant bubble I

realize it's kind of complicated so if I

put you to sleep here's a visual analogy

of what the plaza Accord really did the

Japan hey look what I found more

pancakes let's speed it up pancake

pancake eat little buddy eat eat

[Music]

eat you get the idea it created a peak

for Japan's economy if you wanted to

make money fast you had to invest your

money in the market and it was in the

market where you could not lose let me

just show you how thick some of these

pancakes were because from the year 1981

to

1991 whenever a company would launch or

IPO the first day's average returns in

that 10year span was

32% remember the stock market today like

right now returns anywhere between 7 to

10% per year on average not 32% every

time a company IPOs for 10 years

straight so people started buying

blindly in 1987 for example literally

blindly as many as 10 million people

applied to buy shares in a telecom stock

before even knowing what the valuation

would have been that stock went up 200

times price to earnings ratio and was

valued at

$376 billion which at the time meant

that one company was worth more than

Germany's and Hong Kong's entire stock

markets combined stock prices started to

go up three times faster than corporate

profits some stocks started to trade

between 100 to 400 times price to

earnings ratios but then it all reached

a peak in

1989 the Japanese stock market hit 225

times PE on average and that's really

high when you remember a healthy PE

should be 10 times less than what it was

by comparison the highest the US market

ever reached during the financial crisis

was roughly half of that the Japanese

stock market got so big it was worth

about half of the world's entire stock

market about $4 trillion and the

interesting part about it was that it

wasn't just a bubble created by ordinary

people and their greed it was huge

contributed by corporations that adopted

a mentality economists like to call Tina

which stands for there is no alternative

it means companies were making more

money from the capital gains on their

real estate and stock Holdings than they

were from their actual business and that

forced a lot of them to continue

borrowing and buying more it's estimated

that about 38% of real estate was bought

by corporations and by 1980 about 2/3 of

the entire stock market was owned by

corporations and because the plaza

Accord focused on deregulation a lot of

the speculation that fueled all of this

growth was funded by these unregulated

shadow Banks So eventually the party had

to come to an end and when the property

values collapsed when the stock market

bubble popped in the early 1990s the

Central Bank of Japan had to step in and

stop the bleeding and the way they did

that was by slashing interest rates to

nearly zero the bank of Japan started to

inject money into its failing Banks

which created zombie companies that

could not repay their debt and they had

no money for capital investment and the

reason Japan didn't let them fail is

because they didn't want businesses to

close and for people to lose their jobs

so they continued to pump money into the

economy but it was too little too late

the trust was lost and this period of

time became known as The Lost decade now

if you look at Japan's stock market

you'll see that it actually lasted for

three it was three loss decades because

it wasn't until recently that Japan's

stock market recovered to the same level

that it was way back in

1989 money was leaving Japan because

there was no reason to park your money

in a stock market that wasn't performing

and the safe option which was the bond

market wasn't that attractive either

because interest rates were still

extremely low at the same time this was

happening though China's economy was

starting to do some crazy things China

was starting to allow companies to

relocate production to their factories

and that made Japan's economy even worse

that's because China is a lot more

competitive in terms of labor cost it's

a lot lower than anywhere in the world

and although some companies from Japan

took advantage of this cheaper Chinese

labor it still wasn't enough between

1990 and

2003

212,000 companies went

bankrupt in the same period the stock

Market dropped by

80% land prices in the major cities fell

by up to

[Music]

84% when all was said and done it's

estimated that the Lost decades cost

Japan 17 million jobs and that created

Financial inst ility and depression

among the Japanese population the Lost

Decades of Japan created something

called stagflation which is where you

have inflation or Rising prices while

everything else is stagnant or it stays

still like people's incomes so to

stimulate the economy the bank of Japan

dropped interest rates to near zero to

stimulate borrowing and spending but

that didn't end up saving Japan instead

this period of stagflation extended into

the 2000s and it forced the Central Bank

of Japan to do something that was even

more extreme in 2016 the Central Bank of

Japan dropped the key interest rate to

negative NE

.1% now hold on a minute negative

interest rates does that mean that

people then get paid to take out a

loan no but that'd be cool though

instead the negative interest rate was

targeted directly at the commercial

Banks of Japan the idea was if it cost a

bank money to hold their customer

deposits every month they would want to

hold as least amount of money as

possible it was a way of not just

encouraging but forcing those Banks to

lend out that money as much as possible

it was a way for the papa Bank the

Central Bank of Japan to tell the baby

Banks the commercial banks that hey we

have to artificially stimulate borrowing

and spending quantitative easing is the

more technical word for it in economics

and the bank of Japan wasn't the only

one doing it before the bank of Japan

adopted negative interest rates in 2016

it was the Danish Central Bank that set

negative rates in 2012 then the European

Central Bank did it in 2014 to fight

against deflation and then later that

year the Swiss National Bank did it to

prevent excessive appreciation of the

Swiss frank and then in 2015 Sweden's

Central Bank did it to boost inflation

and economic growth but here's the thing

it still didn't really work because

Japan has one major problem their aging

population Japan has one of the highest

life expectancy rates in the world and

one of the lowest birth rates in the

world Japan has one of the fastest

declining populations in the world from

the current 124 million the number is

expected to drop below 100 million by

2056 by 2,100 the population will likely

be half of what it is now according to

the world economic Forum as many as one

in 10 people in Japan are over the age

of 80 Japan's Workforce is getting

smaller that puts a strain on its

economic growth because the more old

people you have that are not working it

means higher health care and pension

costs and that makes it harder for the

bank of Japan to justify increasing

interest rates when the population is

already having a hard time that's why

rates were negative for 8 years straight

the bank of Japan just raised interest

rates in 2024 which was the first rate

increase in 17 long years well the bank

of Japan the boj is Raising interest

rates for the first time in 177 years

today making it the last major Central

Bank to exit the world's negative raid

policy the question is how does all of

this tie into the collapsing Yen and the

strength of the US dollar so typically

the Yen goes up in value when people are

worried of a recession happening but so

far we've seen the opposite because the

US economy has been really strong even

though we have high interest rates which

has also had the effect of attracting a

lot of money into the US economy which

has helped boost the strength of the US

dollar and weakened the Yen Japan right

now is criticized for not doing enough

to convince people to park their money

in the Yen since rates are still close

to basically zero which means there's no

incentive to and according to Sachs the

outlook for the yen is weak for at least

a little while longer just remember that

how strong a money or a currency is

depends a lot on the central bank's

interest rate the more expensive it is

to borrow money the more valuable it

tends to be and the cheaper it is to

borrow it the less valuable it tends to

be right now the US dollar is pretty

expensive to borrow at

52% whereas the yen is really cheap but

looking back at history history my

personal question is what were the

lessons that we learned what could we

have done different to prevent the Lost

Decades of Japan and it turns out

there's actually three lessons that

economists have learned that could have

maybe prevented or lessened the effects

of it first the bank of Japan should

have adopted a tighter monetary policy

sooner meaning they should have been

afraid to increase interest rates and

make it more expensive for corporations

to speculate on real estate the way they

did two if Japan had stronger regulatory

oversight over its financial

institutions it would have really

lessened the sketchy lending practices

of Shadow Banks and if they restructured

the npls or non-performing loans of the

banks that failed they would have really

restored the confidence of investors to

start borrowing and investing money

again and three if Japan's economy

wasn't so initially dependent on exports

from the beginning if it was a little

more Diversified towards the domestic

side of things then the strength or the

weakness of the Yen maybe wouldn't have

mattered as much to the Japanese economy

so those three things could have

probably lessened or even prevented the

effects of the L decade now if you made

it this far into the video here's my

personal opinion of the weaker Yen and

how it all affects us I visited Japan

earlier this year and without any kind

of expectation it became my favorite

place that I've ever been to especially

Tokyo and Kyoto I just love the food the

culture and the people everything was

clean Super were respectful I felt safe

and it was just incredible I'm super

excited to actually go back probably

sometime in October and to top it off

everything was insanely cheap because of

how strong the US dollar is against the

Yen so if you're planning on traveling

overseas right now is arguably the best

time in 38 years to visit Japan so if

you do plan on going please be

respectful stay safe have fun and as

always I hope you have a wonderful rest

of your day smash the like button

subscribe if you haven't already don't

forget to to grab your free stocks links

are down below go track them

automatically with a spreadsheet link

Down Below in my patreon thank you so

much for watching this video I'd love to

see you back here next week I'll see you

soon bye-bye