Manna from heaven? Shares tied to Japan's Nagasaki get Pope visit boost
24/01/2019 06:29
By Yoshiyuki Osada
TOKYO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Japanese shares linked to the city
of Nagasaki got an unlikely boost on Thursday after Pope Francis
unveiled a plan to visit Japan, with media reporting Nagasaki,
for centuries a centre of Christianity in Japan, would be on his
itinerary.
Stock traders said the first Papal visit to Japan in almost
four decades would be a big publicity boost and help attract
tourists to the city, associated in the minds of many foreigners
with a second U.S. atomic bomb attack in 1945.
The Pope told reporters on Wednesday he would visit Japan in
November. While his travel plan has not been announced, Japanese
media said the visit would include Nagasaki, Hiroshima, where
the first atomic bomb was dropped, as well as Tokyo.
"If the Pope visits various places in Japan, they will be
reported around the world. Possibly that could increase the
number of visitors," said Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at Toyo
Securities.
Investors believe the business boost from a papal visit
would be most palpable in Nagasaki, the smallest city on his
itinerary, with a population of 430,000, and were piling into
shares linked to it.
H.I.S. 9603.T , a travel company that operates a theme park
in Nagasaki, rose 2.1 percent, while the Nikkei average .N225
saw a 0.1 percent fall.
Kyushu Railways 9142.T , which operates trains in the
region, rose 0.3 percent before ending flat. Even Ringer Hut
8200.T , which operates a restaurant chain specialising in
Nagasaki-style noodle dishes called "champon", rose 0.4 percent.
Foreign tourists have provided a major boost for the
Japanese economy, helping to offset a declining population, with
arrivals more than doubling over the past five years.
More than 600,000 people visit the atomic bomb museum in
Nagasaki every year. The 82-year-old pontiff said this month he
was afraid about the danger of nuclear war.
The southern port city has ancient links to the Christian
world and one of Japan's largest Catholic communities.
The first Christians to arrive in Japan - Portuguese
Catholics in the 16th century - came ashore in the Nagasaki
area.
Nagasaki was home to "secret Christians" who kept their
faith underground for more than 200 years despite an official
ban that began in the early seventeenth century.
(Reporting by Yoshiyuki Osada
Writing by Hideyuki Sano
Editng by Robert Birsel)
((hideyuki.sano@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1827; Reuters
Messaging: hideyuki.sano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))