＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
To prevent the spread of COVID-19 pneumonia, widespread and prolonged requests for business closures have been implemented to combat the “coronavirus recession,” which has resulted from the spread of the virus. A “100,000 yen payment to every citizen” has been approved, and various other measures have been proposed, including compensation for business closures, a reduction or abolition of the consumption tax, deferral or exemption of rent and tuition payments, tax reductions and exemptions, and interest-free, unsecured loans.
But will these measures actually be effective? How will they be funded? Are there any issues with fairness? Some have even warned that this could lead to a “recession worse than the Lehman Shock” or even a “Great Depression.”
So, today I would like to share my suggestions for overcoming the “coronavirus recession.”
1. Raising Interest Rates
The Bank of Japan has already lowered interest rates too far, pushing them into negative territory. This has led to various negative effects, side effects, and harms. Further monetary easing and the abolition of the government bond purchase cap would not be effective monetary policy. It may sound paradoxical, but interest rates should be raised instead.
The effects of raising interest rates can be expected to be as follows:
1. Raising deposit rates will increase depositors’ interest income, stimulating consumption.
I believe that this will have a greater effect on stimulating consumption than lowering the consumption tax. Increasing government bond purchases will not benefit the majority of the public. With demand for capital investments and other factors sluggish, the policy of unlimited government bond purchases, which aims to increase circulation, is not very convincing.
Since mortgage interest rates are currently at their lowest levels ever, I would like to see an interest rate hike implemented, which will benefit the majority of depositors.
2. The negative interest rate policy can be expected to improve the management of struggling banks (especially regional banks).
Regional banks are already in a very difficult financial position, with interest margins almost completely gone. However, if the COVID-19 recession becomes more serious, a financial crisis could occur. For this reason, I believe an interest rate hike is necessary.
2. Labor Force Shift
The expected effects of a “labor shift” are as follows:
① Labor shortages can be alleviated by shifting unemployed workers to other industries, such as agriculture, nursing care, and services, which have traditionally relied on foreign labor.
3. Promoting the Conversion of Businesses to Other Industries and Business Types
The expected effects of “promoting the conversion of business types to other industries and business types” are as follows:
① Providing subsidies to struggling small and medium-sized businesses if they switch to other industries or business types that meet social needs could also help alleviate excessive competition.
② Reducing non-essential and harmful industries and increasing the number of useful industries.
4. Banning Pachinko Parlors by Law
South Korea already banned pachinko parlor operations by law in 2006.
The expected effects of “banning pachinko parlor operations by law” are as follows:
① It will reduce the number of people with gambling addiction.
The problem of gambling addiction has been raised for some time, but despite the recent state of emergency and the request to refrain from business, some pachinko parlors continue to operate, ignoring the request. Furthermore, there have been daily reports of customers flocking to these parlors from other prefectures.
Of course, we can expect resistance from vested interests such as the police and Diet members to abolish pachinko parlor operations, but we hope the government will take this opportunity to decide to legally ban pachinko parlor operations.
② It will cut off funding sources for North Korea and organized crime.
③ It is expected to reduce crime.
④ It will redirect money that previously went to pachinko parlors toward spending, stimulating consumption.