The tsunami has also hit the economy

Last Monday the government declared that the last quake resulted in Japan’s biggest-ever trade deficit for the beginning of the year.

Between April and September, the trade deficit rose to ¥1.667 trillion. It was the first red ink since 1979.

In a report, the Finance Ministry said that imports increased to ¥34.477 trillion because of more consumption of energy like oil and other petroleum products. On the other side, exports decreased to ¥32.810 trillion.

With the United States, exports decreased to 8.1 percent when imports grew just 0.1 percent.

And with their best Asian partner, China, they lost 1.6 percent in exports while imports grew by 6.6 percent.

But the situation is different with the E.U. as imports and exports grew by 1.3 percent and 10.7 percent respectively.

After this bad first-half year, the Japanese economy is trying to climb back to last year’s level before the quake. Yet, the slowdown in the US and European economies are making things difficult.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111025a4.html

By Armand

C’est la faute au tsunami

Lundi dernier, le gouvernement a déclaré que le dernier séisme a provoqué le plus gros déficit commercial pour ce début d'année.

Entre avril et septembre, le déficit s'élevait à 1,667 billions de yens. C'était leur premier déficit depuis 1979.

Dans un rapport, le Ministre des Finances a fait savoir que les importations avaient augmenté de 34,477 billions de yens à cause de la consommation en énergie comme le pétrole ou autres produits dérivés. Dans le même temps, les exportations ont baissé de 32,810 billions de yens.

Les exportations vers les Etats-Unis ont chuté de 8,1% alors que les importations n'ont progressé que de 0,1%.

Avec la Chine, leur meilleur partenaire commercial, les exportations ont baissé de 1,6% alors que les importations augmentaient de 6,6%.

Mais la situation est différente avec l'Union Européenne où les importations et les exportations ont augmenté de 1,3% et de 10,7% respectivement.

Après ce mauvais premier semestre, l'économie du Japon tente de retrouver le niveau de l'année dernière avant le séisme. Mais elle ne peut pas croître aussi vite que les Japonais le souhaiteraient en raison de la crise aux Etats-Unis et en Europe.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111025a4.html

Par Armand

Deborah by Jules

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Deborah is a nice and funny girl. She's very interested in healing people: she wants to become a paediatrician. Taking care of children is of course her hobby.
What she dislikes in herself is her capacity to create lousy jokes. She can't bear hypocrites, nor does she like playing ping-pong with her little brother

Armand by Deborah

Armand is quite a shy boy although he's able to speak about video games for hours. Video games are what he enjoys most as many boys his age. Therefore he spends most of his time playing on his computer and doesn't sleep much. That's why he seems to be daydreaming all day long. But you can count on him when needed.

Armand is a really serious guy, in spite of his strange musical tastes. In fact, he listens to rock music but he's got on his phone as well songs by French singers that girls love, such as Colonel Reyel or Jena Lee. He wants to work in finance one day.

Be sure you'll never get bored with him. ;)

Jules by Armand

Jules can be very nice and can also be contentious because he is not always tolerant.

But he often argues with good reason and this is very important to him because he thinks that people can't do things without a reason.

He is a video-games addict so he doesn't go out much to meet friends, but I know he is sociable. In the future he wants to be a doctor so it needs a lot of work but he is ambitious and I think he will succeed.