Nikkei-225 cracking-Straits Times (blog)

Goh Eng Yeow examines the financial tremors put Asian markets such as Nikkei tumbles my friends said I was very happy. As of today I'm exactly back from Japan for a month.Only four weeks ago, I was fortunate in the now affected by the disaster Sendai region, bathe in the hot springs and enjoy the excellent food served by the hostels.It should be a big nightmare now, see the current update given by the various TV stations about the consequences of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Sendai and the surrounding region.I wonder what happened to the picturesque Lake Tazawako region – an hour by train from Sendai-which I have made it a point to visit every time I'm in Japan And as I write, the quakes in the Japanese stock market nervous start to be felt in other Asian markets.In all, the Nikkei 225 Index has fallen by almost 14 percent since the earthquake broke out last Friday. Almost half of its loss was due to a knee-jerk sell-off Tuesday morning as the Japanese Government warned that radiation levels on a damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima had reached levels that can damage human health.And that had terrible effects on the regional markets – with Hang Seng plummeting 3.5 percent, Shanghai falling 1.8%, and the STI down here 2.24 percent.FAVORITE STOPOVER now Fukushima city is one of my favorite stopovers – a modern metropolis whose train station a tasty and cheap sushi outlet offers. It is only 1 ½ hours away from Tokyo and many of its inhabitants work in Tokyo. And that the scary part: the nuclear power plant, which is located near Fukushima, is close to Tokyo, and it threatens to spring a radiation leak. If that unthinkable event happens, it will be a disaster of epic proportions good, given the millions of people in and around Tokyo .so live, I'm not surprised that the nervous Japanese stock market is responding to the way that it did this morning, with the Nikkei 225 plunging approximately 6.5%.The earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan had coincided with the second anniversary of the bull-run off triggered by the apparently successful efforts of the u.s. Federal Reserve and other central banks in support a collapse in the global financial system two years ago.Now with the possibility of another major disaster unfolding before our eyes, I wonder who will be riding to the rescue of this time.Many writers have praised the Japanese for their extraordinary discipline in the face of such a major disaster – the absence of plundering, patient queuing on half empty departmental stores and the helping hand extended to others in need.But tough questions must also be raised about the use of nuclear energy. "How could it be there are so many nuclear power stations with runs in the Japan, all so close to the coast line?" asked a Japanese professor.Author at Lake Tazawako region: Photo: GOH ENG YEOWto this blog, I want to share a picture of myself on the Lake Tazawako region for the horrific Japanese earthquake. Who would have believed one month after this picture was taken that such a major disaster would have overtaken Japan?

Related Articles