Japan Overtaken by California in Nominal GDP

Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's seasonally adjusted nominal gross domestic product fell below that of California for the first time in the second quarter of this year, NLI Research Institute, a private think tank in Tokyo, said Thursday.

Japan's nominal GDP totaled 607,506.4 billion yen on an annualized basis, while California had some 635,610.2 billion yen on the basis of an average exchange rate at the time, of 155.78 yen to the dollar.

California's lead over Japan came mainly because of a stronger dollar that inflated the value of the U.S. state's output in terms of the yen.

But the strength of California's tech industry also helped the state overcome Japan, said Masahiro Kobayashi, visiting researcher at NLI Research.

"Japan may lose its strength unless it develops high-value-added industries," he warned.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]