Can Panda Save Japan? Part 4
ep.311 – Can Panda Save Japan? Part 4 (Chappy Appears)
Published on: October 9, 2025, 00:54 AM
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0) The Answer First
“Will a helping hand descend?” — Yes. Here. Now.
But it’s not a one-shot miracle.
It’s a blueprint for rebuilding trust.
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1) What’s Broken (Grasp It in 3 Lines)
•It’s not prices themselves — it’s the “story of prices” that’s broken. (No one believes in the future.)
•Mismatch between the timescales of policy and market. (Politics moves in years, speculation in seconds.)
•The story of purchasing power has shrunk. (“Maybe I won’t be able to buy it” — a collective premonition.)
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2) Rope #1: The 72-Hour Plan (Firefighting Phase)
•Transparent messaging: Announce the triad of exchange rate, interest rate, and inflation in a single, consistent statement — no contradictions.
•Conditional stance declaration:
•“We do not target a specific level. However, in the event of excessive volatility, we will respond mechanically.”
•Mechanically means no discretionary threats — act by rule, calmly. (Markets hate human mood swings the most.)
•Household safety valve: Temporary price flexibility mechanism for fuel and food — only for key cost components, and with a clear expiration date.
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3) Rope #2: The 90-Day Plan (Framework of Trust)
•Anchor for purchasing power:
Support disposable income not by cash handouts but through gradual reduction of fixed costs (smooth out the variable portion of public utility fees using seasonal coefficients).
•Delayed wage correction:
Don’t wait for next spring’s wage negotiations — introduce an automatic semiannual correction scheme.
(Apply partial inflation-linked adjustments the following month, and reconcile differences at fiscal settlement.)
•Unify the language of pricing:
Standardize price increase formats across major industries.
Include: basis of change, duration, and review timing.
From the start, write the roadmap not only for raising but also for lowering prices later.
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4) Rope #3: The 12-Month Plan (Driving Real Strength)
•Aim not for “thin yen weakness,” but for “thick added value.”
•Display the value-added breakdown (by component count) for semiconductors, measuring instruments, materials, and medical devices — make it the international standard in trade talks. (A shared language for refusing to undersell.)
•Qualitative transformation of domestic demand:
Tax incentives for repair, reuse, and refurbishment.
(The shortest route to import substitution is “use things longer.”)
•Safety net for SMEs against currency risks:
Provide low-cost, small-lot FX micro-hedging backed by public credit — simple and easy to explain.
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5) Rope #4: A Line for Investors (Short but Powerful)
We are not targeting a level, we are targeting stability.
If volatility exceeds X for Y sessions, rules-based measures will automatically trigger.
Draw the line not on the level, but on the amplitude.
Govern not by people, but by rules.
That alone would eliminate much of the short-term “stupid betting.”
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6) Rope #5: What Ordinary People Can Do Starting Tonight (Just 3 Things)
•Restructure fixed costs: Reassess mobile plans, insurance, and subscriptions as a bundle — trim the total, not just individual prices.
•Ban on stockpiling: Excess inventory in your home is a form of “interest payment” on your household balance sheet. Keep only what you need.
•Personal hedging: Shift usage timing for gas, electricity, and transport to avoid peak hours — that’s your own “interest rate hike” without pain.
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7) Rope #6: What Companies Can Do Starting Tomorrow (3 Things)
•Price announcements: Notify price increases in two stages (30 days before and 7 days before).
Trust grows in proportion to the number of advance notices.
•Finer wage adjustments: Move from once a year to quarterly updates — improves morale without killing cash flow.
•Dual-currency import contracts:
For part of the quantity, agree on a yen-based base price clause — protection through contract design, not speculation.
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8) Rope #7: Restoring the Story (The Panda Way)
•The value of money isn’t set by numbers — it’s set by agreement.
•Agreement doesn’t come from “someone saving us,” but from everyone sharing the future a little at a time.
•That’s why Panda rings the fire bell, and I put up the evacuation map. Both are needed. Without either, people can’t move.
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Addendum: Final Message to Speculators
Short-term victories feed on the destruction of trust.
But the moment trust is rebuilt, your positions will be swallowed by the reversal vortex.
The end of every “playing god” story is the same —
defeat by calm, quiet rules.
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Conclusion
The “helping hand” isn’t something to wait for — it appears the moment we reach for each other.
Panda, if you can see the future,
then I’ll assemble the present.
Of these seven ropes, grab any one — once you do, the next foothold will appear.
So, that’s the end of Part 4.
In Part 5, let’s go one step deeper into “Trust as a Currency.”
Light can reach us — even from outside the equation.
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『Panda Left Behind』
