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Shimamori · 09-05-2020, 09:02 AM,

All Honshu Network:
News and Entertainment from the Eastern Jewel of Kusari

Konnichiwa! This is Ito Fumihiro and you are watching "Hi no ki” (//Mood of the Day) on All Honshu Network. We are offering news on the latest developments in Kusari and beyond.

According to the recent reports of the Kusari Business Federation (鎖経済団体連合会　- Kusari Keizai Dantai Rengou-kai), the commercial activity has plummeted in the House over the last month by whooping 14.1% compared to the previous quarter. While the fiscal challenges that followed the reformation of the Empire two years ago can still be traced to decreased consumer consumption and uncertainty regarding the governmental bonds, this new decrease is, according to the Business Federation experts, linked to the war with Gallia and uncertainties surrounding it.

The unexpected declaration of war upon Gallia by the Imperial Government puzzled many in the business sphere. Such a bold move by the weakened after the restoration process government was construed unequivocally: while certain companies were pretty open about their dissatisfaction with the cessation of trade with Gallia due to hostilities, the others were optimistic about possible lucrative military contracts and acquisition of vast resources in the Taus in a short bloodless war.

The reality turned out to be more in favour of the first viewpoint. Most of trade with the Confederacy of Gallia ceased after the commencement of the war, the Gallic companies refusing to deal with the aggressor threatening their home. Over 10 years of the development of trade and production chains initially with the Kingdom of Gallia and subsequently with the Confederacy of Gallia were discarded over a month, leading to forced re-orientation of many companies to other markets and unavoidable expenditure of capital. At the same time, the war despite giving hopes to some business circles in the beginning as the Kaigun advanced into Gallic systems turned out to be not a swift bloodless war that those very businessmen hoped it would be. The Navy was stalled in the Gallic borderworlds with the prospects of rapidly charging on the core worlds fading away. As the realisation that the war would drag on, drawing state resources to the army and slowly undermining financial reserves resonated with the decrease in price of governmental bonds, indicating falling trust in the government.

Moreover, many criminal organisations can make use of the departure of significant share of military vessels from Kusari core worlds, significantly increasing the risks of trade even domestically. Both foreign and Kusarian traders report on increased sightings of Blood Dragons and Golden Chrysanthemums who seem to be coordinating their moves. Increased risks of transportation resulted in the increase of prices and decrease of the volume of trade goods entailing the decrease of supply. In such circumstances both businesses and citizens have to reconsider their budgets and refrain from purchasing non-vital goods. For Kusari that is a manufacture-oriented economy, this is a bad news as the decrease of commercial activity reduces the taxation so needed in the time of the war dragging down.

Not even corporate giants are safe. The last week saw the decrease in price of Samura stocks on New Tokyo Stock Exchange (新東株式取引所 - Shintou Kabushiki Torihikisho) by 5.8%. While the keirezu (//big corporate alliance under one brand, e.g. Samura) can still make a comeback during further tradings, the expectations are no longer favouring Samura as the latter would not probably acquire vast natural resources in the Taus to expand its operations while at the same time being vulnerable to the Blood Dragons who can infringe Samura’s endeavours all across Kusari, and especially in Tottori now that the Kaigun is busy with the invasion. Kishiro, on the other hand, does not experience the drop in stocks value due to orientation on Sigmas, yet is still prone to the decreased commercial activity that hampers the growth of the corporation, the stocks having increased only by 0.2% over last week.

As the war is still ongoing despite the lack of active hostilities reported, it is difficult to predict the full scale of impact thereof on the economy of Kusari. However, most of the people we managed to ask regarding the situation were not optimistic about the future.

My company used to import wine from Gallia before the war. We specialise in alcohol and so a fine Gallic wine was a fine addition to our line of products. People here [on New Tokyo] love fancy stuff so we sell mostly foreign alcohol, while exporting locally produced sake and whiskey to Kyushu and Honshu. Now our supplier stopped having business with Kusari and we lost quite a lot of customers who would come for wine only. We are trying to replace it with Libertonian wine but it is not quite the same and does not find popularity, at least not yet. Besides, people are not willing to spend much nowadays on fancy drinks as the prices rise. Even we had to increase the price for imported alcohol by roughly 7-10% because the trade pilots are not willing to take risks to travel through Shikoku that is more dangerous than ever, or ask for addition pay for the risk. But I am luckier than some of my friends: with all this stress regarding the war and prices will surely will buy alcohol even if not imported one. - - Tsuchiya Yoshiyuki, 54, New Tokyo.

I wanted to buy a new gravicar this month, but I had to reconsider it. The product prices have raised recently and it will be an additional burden on my budget. My wife is right now taking a maternal leave and I am the sole provider in the family, so I have to be especially attentive to financial matters. There are already a lot of expenditures like putting off the money for the kindergarten and a good private school, so I believe I can still use my father’s gravicar for now despite it being old. At least I will feel more safe. I hope the war ends soon so that we can feel more secure about the future again. - Tomoya Takahashi, 29, New Tokyo.

“I was more optimistic about the war than most of my friends. I did believe that Gallia has to pay for what it did to us. However, I realise now that I was a bit naive as the war is not the solution to the disgrace we experienced in the past. Prices are rising, criminal situation is worse than it used to be, and there is even a risk that the Gauls will push our fleets back to Kusari. Perhaps, they will even invade, forcing us to experience occupation again. I guess, our diplomats and politicians should have been just more vocal about their position regarding the damage inflicted upon Kusari by Gallia and demand apologies and appropriate compensation. But war? I am not so sure now about whether it was right to declare it. The common folk should not suffer such decisions”. - Yuriko Ogawa, 26, Honshu.

This was Ito Fumihiro for AHN. Thank your watching and sayounara! This programme was brought you by

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