Happy Halｌoween!

There are no costume parties nor Jack-0'-lanterns here, but still I survive. Wish me luck!

BTW, I got a desk calendar from FT. Its customer service is always kind to me. Haha. Tomorrow is the first day of November , and the price of many goods increase such as gasoline. If you come to Tokyo and buy a litter (a quater gallon) of gasoline, you have to pay 169yen ($1.47). That is, a gallon = $5.56. It is very much expensive, isn't it? PLZ, raise interest rates, Mr. BOJ Gov.!

"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll buy a funny hat. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you're a consultant."
-Scott Adams

ハロウィーン、コスチューム、ジャック・オー・ランタン、ファイナンシャル・タイムス、値上げ、ガソリン、日銀総裁、コンサルタント、スコット・アダムス

Hikonyan attracted 550 thousands visitors to Hikone Castle!!!

The 400th Anniversary of National Treasure Hikone Castle Festival marked 550 thousand visitors since its beginning. The festival archived this goal about two months before its closing. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun analyzed that Hikonyan, the mascot cat for the festival, contributed very much to attract many visitors.

Sorry, I couldn't find out any English site...

国宝・彦根城築城400年祭 累計入場者数が会期中目標入場者数の55万人を突破した。会期はは11月25日まで。マスコットのひこにゃんが集客に貢献したと日経は分析している。

オフィシャルサイト： http://www.hikone-400th.jp/
ひこにゃん倶楽部： http://www.hikone-400th.jp/hikonyan/
ウィキペディア(wikipedia)： http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%B2%E3%81%93%E3%81%AB%E3%82%83%E3%82%93

Hanshin Highways faces criticism.

Kansai Economic Federation (KEF) criticized the Hanshin Highway for the raise of toll. The company is aiming to introduce a toll schedule increasing with distance in FY2008. In some cases, drivers have to pay more money than today. The toll schedule now is a flat toll, by the way. The President of KEF, Mr. Shimozuma, said a privatization should be implemented to alleviate a burden of citizen by streamlining of public services. From his point of view, the toll raise is a wag-the-dog thing. The President of Kansai International Airport, Mr. Murayama, also expressed his concern on this issue.
Under perfect competition, a withdrawal pressure from a market reduced the cost of goods and services. However, in public service domain like today's case, this circut does not work due to the lack of competitors. Rather, it is reasonable for privatized servicers to raise toll or fees to maintain its organization. We need to introduce a scheme which gives incentives for public servicers to cut down the cost. The point is how.

関経連は阪神高速の値上げを批判した。阪神高速は来年度中の距離別料金制の導入を目指している。現状は一律料金。区間によっては値上げになる。関経連会長の下妻氏は民営化は公共サービスの合理化により市民の負担を減らすもの、料金値上げなんて本末転倒だと批判した。関空社長村山氏も懸念を表明した。
自由競争下であれば退出圧力がコストの削減をもたらすが、今回のような公共サービスの場合競合相手がいないので、下妻氏が期待するような民営化即合理化という回路はないのではないでしょうか。このようなライバルがいない状態では自己保存のために料金値上げするのは自然な回答ではないでしょうか。合理化インセンティブを与える仕組みが必要でしょう。