Friday, August 24, 2007

Tokyo Stock Exchange

On Monday, after a week of feverish decrease in the exchange rate of our beloved Euro, we decided to go to the Tokyo Stock Exchange to see if we could somehow change the situation, by providing the Euro some moral support.

I confess that the desire to visit the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) was also due to the fact that I wanted to finally experience a chaotic stock exchange environment...and where best than the second biggest stock exchange in the world?!

It was an interesting experience but not quite the one I had expected.

The TSE was founded on May 15, 1878 and busy screaming people wearing special kimonos could be seen on the trading floor until April 30, 1999 when the trading flour was closed and replaced by an electronic trading system. What a shame. I came to Japan 8 years too late! On the other hand, the exchange rate has never been so favourable, so I cannot really complain!

What one sees today, is the so called TSE Arrows. At the center of the spacious trading room is a circular formation of computers where a small number of people either walk around or sit, looking rather bored from the heights from which visitors look down on them. A big computer screen towers above it all with thousands of little numbers which are updated at regular intervals. And on top of this all, a circular display with constantly updated numbers chasing themselves, gives TSE Arrows a certain poshness. Around this central area a number of offices are occupied by other people working at computer, again staring at numbers.



I surfed the web a bit in the search of trading chaos and found out that in Barcelona, at 11 am the trading floor is open for 15 minutes, and one can experience the old-style trading. In Frankfurt apparently they still have some limited old-style trading.

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