Bad news for exporters in the world's second largest economy as if the global economic slowdown were not enough to currency markets, making it very difficult for Japan's largest companies.

The US dollar sunk into the upper eighties. That is the lowest level since January of this year. This makes it very difficult for these large companies in this export-driven economy to thrive. Companies like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Sony, Panasonic, all depend on the strength of the US dollar. Now this is a figure that Toyota has cited in its past. Just give you an idea of how difficult it is for these companies when the currency markets are against them.

One Yen movement, according to Toyota equals about four hundred million US dollars. Now if you translate that into what has happened to the Yan before Japan slipped into recession, it was about one ten, one twenty. And what it looks like today, that's about thirty Yen difference. That equals about twelve billion US dollars in loss. Looking just at the currency, not at what these companies are doing and not at global demand are very difficult environment for these companies to thrive in.

The new government here in Japan has said that it does not want to intervene as of yet into the currency market that a strong Yan would boost consumption at home but a strong yen certainly does hurt exporters trying to operate in a global environment. Later this week, the Tankan Survey which gauges the sentiment of these large companies has come out. We’ll have to keep an eye on that to see exactly how these large companies in Japan are looking at what's happening with the currency.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

Vocabulary:

1. Tankan Survey : An economic survey of Japanese business issued by the central Bank of Japan, which it then uses to formulate monetary policy. The report is released four times a year in April, July, October and mid-December.