Blurry...

タイトル：不鮮明な…

Are we really in the recovery mode?

the recovery seems to be blurry like this pic!
the "unanimous" top news of the day: Bank of Japan making its move...

And my future looks blurry too.
Where the hell am I heading to!?

本当に回復期に入ってるの？
写真：この写真みたいに景気回復は不鮮明な気がしますが！
きょう圧倒的なトップニュースになったのが：日銀が動いたこと…
俺の将来も不鮮明だな。
俺はどこに向かってるんだろう！？

きょうのトップニュースについての共同の記事（和訳は略）

The article from Kyodo about the top news of the day!

◆BOJ lifts key rate to 0.5% by 8-1 vote, to raise rates slowly
TOKYO, Feb. 21 KYODO
The Bank of Japan raised its key short-term interest rate to 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent on Wednesday, the first increase since last July, as part of the bank's efforts to normalize its interest rate levels.
The nine-member BOJ Policy Board reached the decision by a vote of 8 to 1 at the end of a two-day meeting. BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui said the bank will maintain an accommodative stance with very low rates and ''slowly adjust its monetary policy by assessing economic and price conditions.''
Deputy Governor Kazumasa Iwata cast the only dissenting vote to a proposal from Fukui that the central bank take its first additional credit tightening step since terminating its zero-interest-rate policy on July 14 last year, according to the BOJ.
The interest rate level of 0.5 percent is the highest in about eight-and-a-half years. The central bank lowered its policy target rate from around 0.5 percent to 0.25 percent in September 1998 and adopted the latest zero-interest-rate policy in March 2001.
Along with the policy shift, the board decided by a vote of 8 to 1 to raise the basic loan rate to 0.75 percent from 0.4 percent. Iwata also objected to the proposal.
The basic loan rate effectively serves as the ceiling for the overnight call rate. The new call money and basic discount rates took effect immediately.
''We made the decision by adopting a forward-looking approach. If our policy remains unchanged, its stimulating effects on the economy will increase and expectations that low rates will continue over the long term will distort the allocation of funds,'' Fukui said at a press conference.
He stressed that the BOJ has no plan to indicate the timing of its next credit-tightening move, but suggested it will not seek another immediate rate increase.
''We will make judgments without a preset schedule. Uninterrupted rate hikes will suggest that we are bound by a certain timetable,'' the BOJ governor said.
Fukui hinted at his willingness to further tighten the bank's credit grip, saying the 0.5 percent rate ''can be considered relatively low'' if the economy posts 2 percent or so growth in a stable fashion.
The BOJ chief said Iwata was more concerned about future price trends than other board members. It was the first time that votes by the bank's leadership had been split since the introduction of the new BOJ Law in 1998, he added.
But Fukui emphasized that Iwata will cooperate with other BOJ executives in implementing the monetary policy change. ''Each board member makes independent decisions, but in executing the matters decided we will be united,'' he said.
Iwata, a former government economist and University of Tokyo professor, is regarded as one of the ''dovish'' BOJ policymakers, or those favoring an easy-money policy.
Under the new BOJ law, the nine-member panel became the top policy-setting body. The board consists of the governor, two deputy governors and six board members with academic and industry backgrounds.
On price trends, the governor said the BOJ expects Japan's core consumer prices to stay on a rising trend, although year-on-year changes in the core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, may hover around zero in the short term due to fluctuations in crude oil prices.
Many economists project that year-on-year changes in the core CPI may sink below zero later this year, pushed down by declines in global crude oil prices.
Asked whether the BOJ will dare to hike its rates while the CPI growth on year remains in minus territory, Fukui avoided a clear-cut answer, only saying the bank will make judgments by examining future economic conditions.
He also said the BOJ sees private consumption, which has weakened since last summer because of bad weather, has returned to a gradual growth path.
The governor had pointed to mild inflationary pressure and sluggish personal spending as reasons for the BOJ to refrain from rate hikes at its policy meetings in December and January.
The BOJ chief said the central bank will maintain the current policy of purchasing 1.2 trillion yen worth of government bonds a month ''for the time being.''
The rate hike came after the country's economy was confirmed to have logged stronger-than-expected growth during the October-December period of 2006.
Japan's gross domestic product grew an annualized 4.8 percent in the October-December period from the preceding three months in real terms. The GDP data showed personal spending has rebounded from a slump that was attributed to bad weather in the summer.
Fukui said BOJ rate decisions should take into consideration ''external consequences'' in the increasingly integrated global economy.
His remarks are believed to address concerns about the yen's recent weakness against the dollar and the euro, and the ballooning ''yen-carry-trade'' in which investors borrow yen funds cheaply at low interest rates and invest them in higher yielding assets denominated in the U.S. dollar and other currencies.
Fukui said the Group of Seven nations have discussed the risks of volatile movements in financial markets when investors unwind their positions. He also pointed out that continued low rates in Japan could perpetuate ''one-sided positioning'' in transactions of global foreign exchange, bond and stock markets.
During the G-7 financial leaders' meeting in Germany earlier this month, eurozone politicians attacked the yen's fall against the euro and a statement at the gathering included expressions that suggest the yen's depreciation against the euro should be corrected.
In the previous BOJ policy meeting in January, three board members had sought a credit squeeze, while the remaining six, including Fukui and Iwata, demanded no change in the monetary policy.
In a statement released after the rate decision, the BOJ said on the U.S. economy, ''Uncertainties over the future course of overseas economies, including that of the U.S. economy, are abating.''
==Kyodo