While I was in a bed

I got a cold, then while I was sleeping on a bed yesterday. The Tokyo stock market was broken. It is called Livedoor shock . The reason was the panic caused by the accounting fraud of the IT company "Livedoor" ; not only that, but also the Tokyo Stock Exchange showed its weakness (unbelievable!! it is not the days of floor traders) and Monex Beans holding disrupted the market with their shallow judgment. I have never seen Nikkei down over 700yen in my life, it's an eye-popping price drop. Financial Times said Horie, Livedoor's president, is a person of necessity in Japan. Actually He was a new type in the Japanese economy, called "Hills zoku" which is the nickname of IT companies in Roppongi Hills . Some feel Hills zoku is cool and some take it as a little bit bubbly negative image.

At any rate, fraudulent financial reporting is a crime and he will have to leave front stage. Here is his blog. He tries to update it still without showing panic. But the Livedoor Yahoo message board is crazy now. I must tell you it is worse than 2channel. If Livedoor has to be delisting, the stock is as good as a paper. I understand the stock holder's panic, but the worst part is the bad jokes that stir their anger. It is not fun to see. As far as I can see by the avatars and ways of talking, most senders seem to be guys. Then I found this news today: "Men enjoy others' misfortune more than women -study." Goodness! guys are scary.

I am not sure I can say if this is financial fraud. :-) Secret money in the family is called "Hesokuri" in Japanese. Sompo Japan DIY life insurance asked married women about the winter bonus of 2005. Generally speaking, wives bear the bad luck in Japan. Reports said 40% answered that their winter bonus increased. If she pays a bonus to herself for her homemaker job, the value would be 240000yen. 45.6% has some secret money for her husband. That amount is about 2.41 million yen. Why? So much! It means 45.6% of husbands don't know their wives have over $20000?? Such big money can't fit into this Hesokuri storage! The funny part is 76% think their husband doesn't have any secret money, even if he had, it would be less than $4000. (Oh, so detailed. Complete control?!). Goodness! women are wily.

Comments

[takeshi]

Another blog's info on this story.
http://blogs.notagreendragon.cbs.dk/the_livedoor_scandal

[Jim]

Here's a link to another perspective on this case from the Economist.
http://economist.com/cities/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5407956
And another:
http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=1703
And the actual FT link:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/5b28effe-8c2a-11da-9efb-0000779e2340.html

If the fossils who run Japan Inc. were so aggressive to go after everyone who commited such crimes in Japan, it'd be a much cleaner place to do business. But unfortunately they only prosecute the one's who piss them off and try to move the country into the future.
An unforgivable crime in such a business climate.

[Mari]

Hi There
The Stock price of Livedoor is almost half, but still can't make the dealing yet. Because nobody buy it. The Nikkei does not recover from the shock yet.

[Ken Y-N]

Hi Mari,

Thanks for bringing that opinion poll to my attention! I've translated it in full for my web site.

BTW, I do enjoy your blog - although I can read and translate Japanese to a certain extent, trying to write a blog in Japanese would result in a bigger mess than the average machine translation, I fear!

[Julian MorrisonJ]

The whole "men enjoy others misfortune" thing - that was men hating people who cheat strangers, but being sympathetic to innocent people. Women are sympathetic to both. However I think women would hate people who cheat them personally. Guys aren't scary, they just care more about rules.

[Shay]

Great info on the whole fiasco. It's also good to see another blog talking about this. (It doesn't seem to be written about a lot.) Welcome to the cool club. :P

[Martin]

Thanks Mari, you explained this really well. It is incredible that the Tokyo stock market computers couldn't handle this. That makes me wonder so much about society...

The hesokuri made me laugh! In Sweden, some old people hide money in cookie jars. I also did that when I was a kid. ^______^