flickering pictures

A neat new U.S.-based news service called the Global Post has started covering events around the world, with an emphasis on regions that traditionally fly under the mainstream radar and a novel insistence that its reporters must live full-time in the countries they cover. It’s too early to say if it’ll live up to its promise of fair, in-depth reporting, but it seems to boast a solid team of correspondents and with the scarcity of other good options, I’m more than willing to give these guys a shot.

On that note, the Global Post’s Thomas Mucha — a former CNN editor who once worked the business beat in Asia — has just put together a well-written piece on the apparent decline of Japan as the world’s second largest economic powerhouse. It makes sense if you think about it — Japan produces very little oil and depends heavily on imported metals and other natural resources, pays its workers the highest wages in the world, and tends to make shiny expensive things that people can’t afford in tough economic times. Honda, Toyota and Nissan — though not as desperate as their U.S. counterparts — are reeling from auto sales that are downright lethargic. Japan is also saddled with a massive government debt that sits at about 170% of its GDP — even America’s huge and growing debt is still only around 61% of its GDP.

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