TOKYO, Japan — American apple pies, English breakfast tea … these items instantly recall images of their countries of origin.

For Japan, it’s electronics. More specifically, Sony Corp. has defined Japanese electronics ingenuity to the global marketplace for decades. So it only makes sense that the Nikkei plunged 9.6 percent on a profit warning from Sony: That it would see a 59 percent earnings drop, year to year, this quarter.

Sony cited poor sales and a strong yen. A double whammy, if you will. Not only is there falling demand from consumers, but the strength of the yen has made business for exporters even more expensive. And the yen was strong versus the U.S. dollar, which plunged in trading into the 94 yen territory.

Inside a major Japanese company today (I’ll refrain from naming the company as its earnings report is not out yet,) workers told me something’s got to be done. They hoped Japan’s government would take a more active role in loosening credit with its allies’ financial markets.

But the sense they have is: “We’ll believe it when we see it.” Until then, they’re expecting the bad news to keep coming for Japan’s biggest corporations.

A marquee company showing such steep profit losses only confirms to the market what investors had been fearing — that we are in the midst of a true global slowdown affecting the bottom line of major companies.

Next week, Honda will release its earnings report. Analysts widely expect the news will not be good, as automakers see a worldwide softening in demand. Japan is bracing for yet another possible beating for another company, but also to its overall business psyche.

OPPAMA, Japan – The town of Oppama is about as far away from Main Street, USA as you can get. Virtually nothing here resembles anything American, except for a lone McDonald’s on the corner. But stop and talk to 78-year-old fish-shop owner Kohei Ishiwata and he’ll wax poetic about the U.S. credit crunch.

Kohei Ishiwata waxes poetic about the U.S. credit crunch.

“They made fake money out of thin air!” Ishiwata exclaims, inbetween slicing up thick chunks of fresh sushi.

Step next door to Yuji Fujita’s vegetable shop and he’ll teach you a thing or two about trickle down economics, Japan-style. “I hope the U.S. economy improves. They’re a big influence for us,” he says, his 20-month-old son sleeping in the corner of the grocery store that’s been in the family for three generations.

The influence is everywhere on Oppama’s main street, which relies on the robust appetite of Main Street, USA. Oppama is home to a major Nissan plant. It’s the area’s primary employer and every part of life here is connected to the automaker.

But automakers are taking a huge hit from the U.S. credit crunch and the global economic slowdown. U.S. consumers, the primary customers for Japan’s auto industry, are buying fewer Japanese vehicles. Already inside the Nissan plant, workers tell us they’re worried the ax could fall on their jobs at any moment.

But the Oppama businesses that live off the Nissan paychecks also worry about the secondary impact. Oppama fears it could pay in a general slowdown to its community’s economy

The financial meltdown is undoubtedly a banking crisis and a market rollercoaster. But it’s more than just tickers at the bottom of TV screens and money being moved around in central banks. It’s a global problem being felt in neighborhoods around the world.

TOKYO, Japan — Japan’s culture and language is nearly always restrained and polite. So when an economist today told me grimly, “This is very, very bad,” I knew, indeed, this was a seismic shift in the entire global economy.

Markets across Asia have dropped all day and are still falling (we are still in the middle of the trading day as I blog). Two of Lehman Bros.’ biggest creditors, based in Japan, led the steepest market decline by Japanese banks since 1987’s Black Monday.

Yes, this was a very, very bad day in trading, but economists widely agree that Japan’s banking system will ride out this storm and manage exposure to Lehman’s bankruptcy.

What is the bigger concern in Tokyo’s financial sector is what this meant to the companies you and I buy from: Toyota, Nintendo, and Sony, just to name a few. Japan and China are export-driven economies, feeding the consumer demand from the United States. If the financial sector continues to suffer, they reduce loans to consumers. Consumer confidence overall, as this bad news continues, plummets. The impact is that Bob and Betty Ruth in Atlanta, Georgia, pass on buying the new Wii and Prius, affecting the bottom line of Japan’s leading companies and overall economy.

And economists say that impacts Japan’s export driven economy far worse and for far longer than even the crippling of a 158 year old Wall Street institution.

A very, very bad day, indeed, but if US consumer spending erodes further, says many Japanese economists, the global economy could get even worse before it improves.