PREFACE
Not so long ago Japanese manufactured goods predominated. But now, products from other countries such as South Korea are attracting attention even in India. So what happened to Japan?
Several years ago when I was on a newsgathering visit to India, a simple question posed by a local journalism researcher made me realize that the days when Japanese money flowed around the world and it was fashionable to talk about Japan as No.1 were well and truly gone. Japan's position in the world economy had changed significantly.
Japan's rapid economic growth in the wake of the Second World War was considered a miracle. However, a policy of extreme monetary easing, introduced in response to the rapid appreciation of the yen against the dollar following the Plaza Accord in 1985, triggered an economic bubble. The collapse of this bubble in the 1990s left Japan with budgetary deficits and financial institutions and companies with massive nonperforming loans. Many went bankrupt and the Japanese people suffered from the impact of restructuring as well as a very poor employment market.
Thanks to government policies requiring the injection of public funds into financial institutions and to deregulation, Japan has at last almost sorted out the problems associated with the non-performing loans-but there is still no sign of an end to the massive budget deficit. Since 2002, the country has been experiencing the longest period of economic expansion since the Second World
War, but the accompanying low growth rate has deprived the nation of any sense of economic prosperity. Japan's economy faces a difficult future, marked by increasing social inequality, a declining birth rate and an aging population that is leading to an overall fall in the population.
Meanwhile, the globalization of markets is increasing, and growth is shifting to powerful emerging economies, namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China-the so-called BRIC countries, which are well positioned for growth. That said, there is no need to be overly pessimistic. Japan is the world's second-largest economy in terms of gross domestic
product (GDP) and, if it manages a soft landing without making policy mistakes in dealing with its aging and falling population, it should be able to maintain current levels of prosperity. The Japanese, with their high level of education and a characteristic industriousness should be able to remain leading players on the international stage.
This reference book is designed for use in explaining the economic realities surrounding Japan and its potential to non-Japanese people. The content will enable readers to reply in detail to a variety of questions that they may be asked either in Japan by visitors to the country, or overseas. The information is presented in a straightforward question-and-answer format.
Should the following pages help promote a greater understanding, among people of other cultures, concerning the Japanese economy-not to mention an enhanced insight into, and respect for, Japanese culture-then the book can be considered a success.
100Q&A A English guide to the Japanese economy Part2
- Q51 Why did the Nintendo portable videogame con-sole sell so well?
- Q52 Sony Corp. has also launched a portable video-game console, PlayStation Portable (PSP), hasn't it?
- Q53 Between fall and winter 2006, a succession of new next-generation videogame consoles were launched, weren't they?
- Q54 What is the combined turnover of Japan's 14 principal trading companies? (a) 47 trillion yen (b) 67 trillion yen (c) 87 trillion yen
- Q55 How have Japanese trading companies developed over the years?
- Q56 So Japan and the United States, the birthplace of the Internet, don't have high levels of broadband penetration when compared to other OECD mem-ber countries?For a country like Japan with limited natural resources, the development of energy resources is really important, isn't it?
- Q57 Why are trading companies targeting convenience stores, supermarkets and other distribution channels?
- Q58 There are also examples of trading companies getting involved in the cable television (CATV) business, aren't there?
- Q59 There also have been reorganizations amongst trading companies, haven't there?
- Q60 A food industry focused on local demand I Instant noodles, which were invented in Japan, are no longer eaten just in Japan, but are enjoyed around the world. Which country accounts for the largest consumption of instant noodles?
- Q61 Instant noodles, soy sauce and Ajinomoto (seasoning) are well-known internationally, but Japanese food products and food manufacturers are not as well known internationally as Japan's electrical appliance and automobile manufacturers, are they?
- Q62 The NTT Group was in a strong position when it came to fiber-optic cable, wasn't it?
- Q63 What business segments are there within the food-manufacturing industry?
- Q64 There are a lot of different segments, aren't there?
- Q65 Is there a big difference in the size of these three food manufacturers?
- Q66 Realigning the pharmaceutical industry Major reorganization is taking place in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry. In 2005, the third-largest pharmaceutical company, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., merged with the seventh-largest, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to form a new company called Astel-las Pharma Inc. The second-largest company in the sector, Sankyo Co., Ltd., and the fourth largest, Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., merged to form Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. This has created an era of three strong companies rather than just one-Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as used to be the case. Although Takeda remains the market leader in Japan, what is its worldwide ranking?
- Q67 Why is the Japanese pharmaceutical industry realigning?
- Q68 In order to compete with overseas pharmaceutical companies, Japanese manufacturers need to merge and increase in size, don't they?
- Q69 What well-known medicinal drugs have Japa-nese pharmaceutical companies developed?
- Q70 How is the market for generic drugs developing in Japan?
- Q71 Which of the following six countries exports the least clothing in terms of value?
- Q72 Generally speaking, Japan possesses a high level of technology and, in both the automobile and electronics industries, it enjoys flourishing exports, so why isn't it internationally competi-tive in apparel markets?
- Q73 There are lots of young Japanese people with a sophisticated fashion sense on the streets of the Omotesando, Harajuku and Daikanyama districts, aren't there?
- Q74 Are overseas promotions working well?
- Q75 There are famous Japanese designers such as Kenzo, lssey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, aren't there?
- Q76 The figures in (a) to (d) below represent the market size of Japan's broadcasting, newspaper, and publishing industries, as well as the total sales of the U.S. media company Time Warner Inc.Which figures represent which?
- Q77 Why is Japan's broadcasting industry so small?
- Q78 What is the makeup of the 4-trillion-yen broad-casting industry?
- Q79 Is broadcasting being digitized in Japan? Doesn't such a switch require a huge investment, particularly on the part of local broadcasters?
- Q80 How is the newspaper industry doing as we enter the broadband era?
- Q81 How is the publishing industry doing?
- Q82 Employment in Japan is becoming increasingly mobile. In 2005, the number of newly recruited individuals (people who entered employment or changed jobs) and job leavers (those who left their jobs) reached record levels. How many people found new jobs? (a) 2.5 million (b) 5.5 million (c) 7.5 million
- Q83 Isn't lifetime employment an important feature of Japanese management? Is the situation changing?
- Q84 Young people employed for the long term have often been quick to resign, contrary to their employers' wishes. Is there also a change of attitude taking place among employees?
- Q85 Isn't lifetime employment an important feature of Japanese management? Is the situation changing?
- Q86 Doesn't this cause problems for the companies that have gone to the trouble of recruiting these young people?
- Q87 What is the average annual salary of a Japanese salaried workers? (a) 2.50 million yen (b) 4.37 million yen (c) 5.09 million yen
- Q88 In Europe and the United States, length of service and age are not remuneration-related considerations, staff instead being evaluated according to results and overall contribution to the company. Why did a seniority-based wage system become the norm in Japan?
- Q89 The Japanese system of seniority-based wages is under threat, isn't it?
- Q90 Wage differentials are widening between non-regular employees and full-time permanent employees, aren't they?
- Q91 Which of the following is the total number of hours worked per year by production workers in the Japanese manufacturing industry? (a) 1,975 hours (b) 1,929 hours (c) 1,888 hours (d) 1,538 hours (e) 1,524 hours
- Q92 The hours worked, in comparison to the United States and Europe, are still high but, compared to the past, they have decreased. Do salaried workers now have more time on their hands than before?
- Q93 I Isn't that illegal?
- Q94 Isn't lifetime employment an important feature of Japanese management? Is the situation changing?
- Q95 The number of people working more than 60 hours per week is on the rise. Do many people work more than 12 hours a day five days a week, or 10 hours a day six days a week?
- Q96 The Japanese word karoshi (death resulting from overwork) is now an internationally understood term and even appears in the Oxford Eng-lish Online Dictionary. Are there still instances of karoshi?
- Q97 Every year the United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) publishes the Human Development Index (HOI), which ranks the quality of life in U.N. member countries and in which Japan ranked seventh in 2006. The UNDP also publishes the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), whic ranks 75 countries and regions according to how much progress women have made in terms of entering the areas of politics and business. What was Japan's GEM ranking? (a) Seventh (b) Twenty-second (c) Forty-second
- Q98 In Japan's 2005 House of Representatives elec-tion, weren't a record number of women elected to the Diet {parliament)?
- Q99 Are policies being put into place to reduce discrimination against women?
- Q100 Frameworks and systems have been created to eradicate discrimination against women, but they haven't had much impact have they?