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Japanese Look To Online Fortune Tellers as Economy Worsens
Trying to parse the vagaries of the economic future may be as difficult as peering into a fortune teller's crystal ball – but many Japanese are forking over their hard-earned Yen to do just that, even while cutting back on other expenses.
Zappallas Inc. is a Japanese company that operates a huge network of fortune-telling Web sites for mobile devices with names like "Your Future in Three Months" or "Certain Fate." And while Japanese consumers are cutting back on purchases of computers and mobile phones, they are increasing their spending on the prognosticating Web portals.
The great majority of Zappallas' 2.2 million site subscribers are women ages 20 to 34, and their increased interest in Tarot card readings, horoscopes and I-ching seems to be growing as job worries and economic woes mount. A 61 percent rise in net first-half profit for the company is expected to be followed by a strong second half. Registered users, who pay a set monthly fee for any one of Zappallas' 443 sites, climbed 21 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 million at the end of October.
So far it seems American consumers are not following their Japanese friends' behavior. Maybe because we've got fun horoscope sites for free! (Take a look. You know you want to.) [From: Reuters]
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsMaster ShakeDec 3rd 2008 10:58AM
Here we go again with more fake US / UK news reports about how the AMERICAN economic crisis is really worldwide. PURE B.S. A few very, very rich people have been affected from their investments in the US, but housing prices are holding just fine around the rest of the world, and banks are not collapsing like dominos anywhere but in the US. Don't believe a word of this nonsense. America bears the full brunt of the problem.
DarkLightDec 3rd 2008 10:54AM
And I'm calling "PURE BS" in your message
I can't speak for Japon, but I can for Mexico, and ever since the crisis started, all the prices (of pretty much everything) have been going up and up, several big old established companies went bankrupt, and there are craploads of people being laid off, wich combined with the high prices of everything, equates to yet more violence, wich only makes matters worse
Granted, it's not as bad as in the U.S.... So yeah, the U.S. might be bearing most of the brunt, but definitelly not all of it as you claim.
Master ShakeDec 3rd 2008 11:02AM
I was referring to Asia and Europe, which the US media has been hyping as having been "severely impacted." I don't think I've ever seen any article mentioning the impact on Mexico. I have spent the last two months in Germany, Spain and Russia, and there are no price increases, and no one that I know has lost their job. Property values are unchanged. Yet I read articles in the US/UK press every day about how bad things supposedly are elsewhere. This is PROPAGANDA to make Americans feel less like their government is the problem. Well guess what America... you DO have the problem - about 99% at least. This is the result of 8 years of Bush. Enjoy.