Japan’s Government Bonds Have a Cute Sales Mascot, But Only One Buyer Matters
The Ministry of Finance created Kokusai-sensei, a cartoon character with his own Twitter account, to lure private investors. It shouldn't have bothered. The Bank of Japan now dominates the market.
In the land that gave us Hello Kitty, it’s no surprise the Japanese government employs an endearing mascot to sell its bonds. His name is Kokusai-sensei. A pint-size rendition of him welcomes visitors to the investor relations office at the Ministry of Finance. Pudgy and professorial, he’s got his own Twitter account and stars in an online manga.
Yet this whole publicity campaign seems rather unnecessary. There’s just not much for Kokusai-sensei to do these days, thanks to the existence of a single, massive buyer of Japanese government bonds: the Bank of Japan. Why bother to encourage private investors to buy JGBs when the BOJ has been devouring enough of them to finance the bulk of the government budget deficit since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012?