- Title: JAPAN: Businessmen pray for a prosperous 2011
- Date: 5th January 2011
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 4, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE FLOCKING TO KANDA MYOUJIN SHINTO SHRINE PEOPLE WALKING INTO SHRINE THROUGH GATE PEOPLE LINED UP IN FRONT OF SHRINE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE THROWING COINS AND BILLS INTO BOX AND PRAYING COINS BEING THROWN MAN PRAYING WITH HIS HANDS CLASP TOGETHER (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 53-YEAR-OLD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT MANAGER, SADAO HOSOI, SAYING "In the current situation if young people cannot find jobs then the Japanese economy and industry will decline, I wish that this year our economy and society can finally give a hope to young people." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YOSHIKO SAEKI, 46-YEAR-OLD MEDICAL WORKER SAYING "Gloomy news is all we hear around us these days, so I wished that this year we'd get some bright and joyful news for a change." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DRAWING FO RTUNE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SHINYA WATANABE, 24-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN, SAYING "I wished for an economic rebound from the bottom up so that my business is also positively affected." JAPANESE DRUM BEING HIT SHRINE OFFICIAL HITTING DRUM VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PRAYING INSIDE SHRINE SHRINE OFFICIALS SHAKING BELLS PEOPLE WALKING IN AND OUT OF SHRINE
- Embargoed: 20th January 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan, Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA4QSB7EK4MY0C7YV0T5BVIT8JD
- Story Text: Thousands of Japanese business men and women flocked to Tokyo's Kanda Myoujin shrine on Tuesday (January 4) to pray for better fortune in the new year .
By midday (0300 GMT) some 70 thousand business people had packed the Shinto shrine dedicated to, among others, the god of good fortune.
With Japanese economy recovering in a sluggish pace from a record recession, Some prayed for good fortune of others.
"In the current situation if young people cannot find jobs then the Japanese economy and industry will decline, I wish that this year our economy and society can finally give a hope to young people," said 53-year old Sadao Hosoi,a nuclear power plant manager.
While Japan's overall jobless rate was at 5.1 percent in November 2010, unchanged from the previous month, one in 12 Japanese aged 15 through 24 was unemployed in the same month according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"Gloomy news is all we hear around us these days, so I wished that this year we'd get some bright and joyful news for a change," said 46-year-old Yoshiko Saeki, another visitor to the shrine.
But most businessmen just wanted the economy to imporve.
"I wished for an economic rebound from the bottom up so that my business is also positively affected," said Shinya Watanabe, a 24-year-old businessman who has been in his current job for just two years.
According to a government report in December, Japan's economy grew a revised 1.1 percent in July-September from the previous quarter and exceeded initial estimates, but sentiment on the streets remain bleak, The government is struggling to strike a balance between shoring up a flagging economy and reining in its huge public debt, about twice the size of the country's gross domestic product.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect the economy to shrink 0.1 percent the following quarter as exports slow and auto output slumps after the expiry of government incentives for purchases of low-emission cars. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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