Japan joins India and China on a Gold Buying Spree

From Chron.com

Gold buying has spread to other Asian countries, like Japan. Lombardi points out that, ever since the Japanese government reported a budget deficit, the Japanese consumer increased its buying of gold bullion to be at a 15% greater pace than last year

“The Japanese consumer bought 15% more gold bullion in 2011 than 2010. Thus far in 2012, this trend has shown no signs of slowing down,” says Lombardi.

While deficits have indeed been a factor, it’s obvious that the string of currency debasement policies by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has been the main driver. As the BoJ works to undermine her currency, the yen, the Japanese citizenry will continue to flock into gold and or may find refuge in ASEAN assets and currencies, whom has been inflating less.