How do you say “Custo Brasil” in Japanese?

There is this thing called “Brazil cost,” you might have heard of it. It means the cost of doing business in a country with byzantine regulations, high taxes and non-existent infrastructure, above and beyond the problems that are commonplace in similar countries.

With the lure of the world’s fifth largest population and what used to be a booming economy, multinational corporations have shown an increasing willingness to work and invest in Brazil, so the term has been picking up steam in the last few years. This, in turn, means that sometimes some typical Brazilian story will make international headlines, sparing us the work of translating and explaining too much:

Brazil’s high tariffs on video game consoles have driven Nintendo out of the market there. Nintendo announced yesterday that it will end distribution of its consoles and games there.

(…) Even when Nintendo announced the launch of the Wii U in Brazil in November 2013, Reggie Fils-Aime, the Nintendo of America president, noted the challenges posed by that country’s import policies. Brazil’s high tariffs on video games have driven up the price of the PlayStation 4 to 3,999 reals, almost $1,500 U.S. as of today. An Xbox One, which Microsoft manufactures in Brazil, costs 2,199 reals, a little more than $800 U.S.

The only traditional beat missing from the story is the many Brazilians who will tell you, as they usually do when news like this breaks, that the story is just another example of how corporations and “capitalists” would find a way to make things work if only they weren’t all a bunch of greedy bastards whose sole concern is to stuff their pockets at the expense of Brazilians.