Japan's pet binge seen lifting consumer spending

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan may be grappling with an aging population and a shrinking birthrate, but investors shouldn't bet that its economy is about to experience a fall-off in consumer spending.

Since Japanese love their pets so much they would splurge on making them comfortable, spending could actually hold up, Andrew Foster, who runs Asia funds at U.S.-based Matthews International Capital Management, told the Reuters Investment Outlook 2007 Summit in New York.

"Even as Japan's birthrate is below its replacement rate with one child in a household, people are bringing in a pet and are lavishing expenditures on their pets to the point where the expenditures are not unlike on a second child," he said on Wednesday.

"Those sort of expenditures are meaningful and very profitable. It doesn't mean the country is going to decline because of the demographic shift," he added.

Matthews said his investment company had pet-related exposure in its Japanese portfolio, but wouldn't disclose specific stock names.