"Prepare yourself for the coming Japanese boom"

This is the title of a column by Peter Tasker, an analyst based in Tokyo, in today's FT. He points out that the decline in the yen from a peak of 78/dollar to 120/dollar is almost unprecedented for a major currency. (a drop of 50%) This is having a dramatic effect. Tourists change their plans rapidly in response to travel costs. Visitors from China are up 80% yoy. Tourism is expected to reach 13 million foreign visitors this year from 1 million a dozen years ago. Hotel occupancy rates are at a 22-year high.

Meanwhile, hourly earnings and total compensation of workers is rising, and there is now more than one job for each applicant. Trasker says Japanese steelmakers and shipbuilders say that are now the low cost producers.

Maybe Trasker's conclusion, that a boom is developing in Japan, is correct.