I mean, pre-order bonuses for the remake of Ocarina of Time (on Switch 2) vary on region: Japan gets bonus art cards, stickers and a paper stand while both the UK and some EU countries gives buyers spiritual stones (France has a wallet) & Canada gets a N64 slipcover for the game. The only thing “universal” for pre-order bonuses is the textured foil cover, other than that: the USA doesn’t have anything unique given to people there.

  • baines@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    go broke on the international exchange

    tied to an aging population and declining tech advantage (read gone)

    ai response for the starting links

    1. The Currency “Collapse” on the International Exchange

    The Japanese Yen has faced a historic decline, dropping past 160 to nearly 180 Yen per USD. [1, 2]

    • The Debt Trap: Japan’s public debt sits at a staggering 240%+ of GDP. To stop the government from going broke under the weight of interest payments, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has historically had to suppress bond yields. [1, 2]
    • The Exchange Rate Penalty: Because the BOJ keeps domestic interest rates artificially low (around 1%) while global central banks (like the US Federal Reserve) keep rates much higher, investors relentlessly dump the Yen to buy Dollars. Massive, multi-billion-dollar government currency interventions have repeatedly failed to save the Yen because they treat the symptom rather than the underlying fiscal debt. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

    2. Demographics: A “Super-Aged” Crisis

    Japan’s population is shrinking by nearly one million people per year. [1]

    • Nearly 30% of the population is now over 65.
    • The working-age population (15–64) has plummeted below 59%, a postwar record low.
    • This top-heavy demographic means a shrinking pool of workers is being heavily taxed to fund a ballooning social security and eldercare system. It strains the domestic economy and drives record-pace bankruptcies among legacy businesses that lack successors. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

    3. The Tech Advantage: Misplaced, Not Entirely Gone

    The claim that Japan’s tech advantage is “gone” is highly accurate regarding consumer tech and software, but inaccurate regarding industrial B2B technology.