Political Crisis = Anime/Manga Stocks Rise?
The subject line is only true if the probably-pending Prime Minister is an anime and manga nut who has already displayed his desire to make use of the popular media to improve Japan’s image– and make money –worldwide.
Nonetheless, the Wall Street Journal reports that following the announcement of Shinzo Abe’s resignation, shares of Japanese companies that create and sell anime and manga or other nerd-related stuff (the WSJ actually uses the word “otaku!”) went up– such as Broccoli, which went up 71% (which still only left it at a whopping ¥157). GDH (Gonzo) went up only 8.2% but that brings it to ¥51,400. For you economics geeks, the overall stock market actually went down about 0.5%.
One investor actually referred to these companies as “Aso-related shares” and said that if he does become Prime Minister, the companies may jump up to another 10%. Man, I wish I could invest in the Japanese stock market.