Japan Economic Calendar

Despite its lack of natural resources and reliance on energy imports, Japan has the world's third-largest economy and is a highly developed free-market economy. Japan's national currency, the Yen (JPY), is the third-most-traded currency on the foreign exchange market, after the Dollar and the Euro.

The strong cooperation between government and industry and advanced technological know-how have built Japan's manufacturing and export-oriented economy.

Japan is a global leader in the production of machinery, chemicals, vehicles, ships, optical and precision equipment, electrical appliances, and electronics. Although in recent years, China, the Republic of Korea, and other industrial countries have gained some of the economic edges that Japan formerly had. Japanese businesses have partially resisted this movement by migrating manufacturing operations to low-cost nations. Japan's services industry, which includes financial services, currently dominates the country's economy.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is Japan's central bank and is responsible for issuing and processing currency and government securities, executing monetary policy, and ensuring the stability of the Japanese financial system.

The BOJ is also responsible for determining the Interest Rates, which have been kept extremely low over the past few years. Usually, the population responds to low-interesting by increasing spending, but this is not the case in Japan, where the aging population is spending less and saving more to compensate for the lack of return on savings.