In this edition of BizCast Japan, co-hosts Albrecht Stahmer and Ken Worsley begin by taking a look at two of Japan’s hardest-hit export industries: automotives and electronics. With Japan’s automakers looking as if they are going to lose about 415 billion yen in fiscal 2008 and electronic firms looking at a staggering 1.95 trillion yen loss, this part of the discussion focuses on Toyota and Sony, but reaches out to comment on the state of affairs at other firms in their respective sectors.

The second half of the program examines businesses that have been doing well despite (or perhaps due to) the recession. Rakuten, Usen, Internet banks and brokerages, Uniqlo, Nintendo, Tsutaya, purveyors of second hand items and pawn shops. The final firm discussed is Tokyo Disneyland, which has reported all-time high visitors over the April-September period. However, both hosts express their belief that these figures are due to 2008 being Tokyo Disneyland’s 25th anniversary, and actually find Disney’s reported numbers to be lower than expected.

As always, thanks for listening.

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