MAEDA Katsunosuke
Vice Chairman, Keidanren
"To live well, a nation must produce well". This is the opening of Madカジノシークレット おすすめ ゲームn America, an influential book written by a team of professors at MIT in 1989, which warned the United States of the declining international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries. As the book reminds us, we must bear in mind that manufacturing is the most fundamental of economic activities. Only with the existence of the manufacturing industries, is there any opportunity for non-manufacturing industries such as financial and service sectors to gain importance as supporting industries. Particularly for a country like Japan whose natural resources are very limited, the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 24% of GDP and 22 % of employment, has been the key industry contributing to economic development and higher living standards for the Japanese people, through acquiring the foreign currency necessary to import resources and foodstuffs.
Currently, therカジノシークレット おすすめ ゲームs a trend that stirs a sense of crisis in Japan by using the term "economic crisis" to describe the present situation of the country. This trend arises from an overly simplified view that equates the financial sector with the economy, a perception which may even mislead the course of the Japanese economy.
In my view, Japan is not experiencing an "economic crisis" but a "financial crisis". Japanese financial institutions, still not recovered from the aftereffects of カジノシークレット おすすめ ゲームconomic bubble, shook from the anticipated impact of the coming big-bang, and the financial system has become unstable. Naturally it is urgent to stabilize the system. However it should also be noted that even under such severe economic circumstances, not a few manufacturing companies are still increasing their sales and profits through ceaseless self-supporting efforts. Furthermore, besides abundant foreign exchange reserves amounting to US$ 220 billion and external net assets of over US$ 800 billion, Japan has a very vast consumer market. In these respects, Japan's economic situation differs markedly from those of Korea and ASEAN nations, and thus the Japanese economy still maintains considerably strong fundamentals.
However, therカジノシークレット おすすめ ゲームs no denying that the Japanese manufacturing sector, the economic mainstay of the country, has been loosing its global competitiveness sharply in recent years. The ultimate reason for this is Japan's high cost economic structure. Every single cost factor, including wages, energy, taxes, land and public utilities, is markedly more expensive than any other foreign country.
In order for our country to sustain its prosperity in the 21st century, it is vital for us to enhance our manufacturing sector's international competitiveness, building its foundations to be second to none. To this end, in addition to strengthening thカジノシークレット おすすめ ゲームndustry's technology base, it is urgent and important that we change the high cost structure of the Japanese economy to create a more attractive business environment to any manufacturing company regardless of its nationality.