National wealth up a second year in 2015
TOKYO -- Japan's national wealth
grew a second straight year to 3.108 quadrillion yen ($26 trillion) at the end of 2015, the Cabinet Office reported Friday.
The figure increased 2% from a year earlier, driven in large part by a weak yen that boosted the value of overseas assets.
Japanese economy: National wealth up a second year in 2014- Nikkei Asian Review
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Outlook on 2016 / How to make Japan’s economy sing in 2016
By Hirohisa Sakamoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Economic News Editor
What if you can’t get things done the way you want?
For instance, what kind of scheme would you invent if your dear cuckoo refused to sing when you wanted her to? You’d be accused of being brutal if you said, “If she doesn’t sing, I’ll kill her.” But you’d also be accused of being too easygoing if you said, “I’ll wait until she sings.”
Personally, I would follow the words of wisdom expressed by the 16th-century warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi: “If she doesn’t sing, I’ll make her sing.”
The rationale behind my sentiment is our nation’s economic condition. It looked as if the Japanese economy had come back to life on the strength of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Abenomics policy. As circumstances stand now, however, the economy seems to have stalled, with no sense of direction.
This is the Year of the Monkey. Hideyoshi, who began as a servant in charge of footwear and eventually rose to power, was nicknamed “Monkey.” I don’t intend to draw a metaphorical comparison between these two facts, but I still feel that Hideyoshi’s wisdom and tact provide a viewpoint from which people can consider the future of the Japanese economy.
Hideyoshi gained control over major seaports to monopolize foreign trade, and used the profits to bring feudal lords to their knees. He was keenly aware that the key to preserving power lay primarily in controlling the domestic economy through such measures as mine development and the issuance of gold and silver coins.
The driving forces behind Hideyoshi’s success in unifying the whole country were his exceptional ability to properly look at the world outside Japan and his splendid talent for commercial activities.
In a nutshell, “Hideyoshinomics” was marked by foresight far into the future, a readiness to streamline operations, a strategy for dealing with the external world and a good measure of unpredictability. These four attributes can be deemed the basics of business management innovation, and contemporary Japanese corporations must strive to achieve them.
If these four attributes represent the distant view in a painting, four lines could be drawn as auxiliary elements, each one pointing to an economic task for our nation in 2016. These tasks can be associated with business leaders I have met in my news-gathering activities.
The first auxiliary line, of foresight into the future, resembles the spirit of entrepreneurship. I’m reminded of Euglena Co. President Mitsuru Izumo, 35, whose corporation is engaged in the development of innovative products using euglena, such as nutritional food and fuel.
Izumo repeatedly proposed business tie-ups to numerous companies, 500 of which turned down his offers over a two-year period. Still, he worked hard, and with a dauntless spirit eventually achieved success in putting his venture on the road to prosperity. It will be impossible to reinvigorate the Japanese economy unless efforts are made to reform our corporate culture, in which things different from the norm are currently shunned.
The second auxiliary line — a readiness to streamline operations — points to Akio Toyoda, 59, the president of Toyota Motor Corp. — a globally renowned carmaker that symbolizes high-quality Japanese products.
Japan’s electrical and automobile industries, both engines of this nation’s economy during the post-World War II years, are losing their edge in the international market. This year will be crucial for Toyota regarding whether it can win the tug-of-war for predominance over such state-of-the-art technologies as eco-friendly cars and automated driving.
The third line is a strategy for dealing with the external world. The importance of being able to look at Japan from the standpoint of the rest of the world has remained unchanged through the ages. Early in the new year, the rapid flow of money through markets around the world shook the Japanese economy.
Known for his talkativeness, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, 71, weighs on my mind regarding his ability to communicate his thoughts internally and externally. A great deal of attention centers on whether he will be able to demonstrate excellent skills in pulling this nation out of deflation.
A man of unpredictability — representing the fourth line in the painting — could have what it takes to eliminate the widespread sense of stagnation in society. A good example is Nitori Co. President Akio Nitori, 71. With Hokkaido as his initial business base, he fiercely struggled to transform his corporation into the nation’s largest chain of furniture shops.
His life has been full of ups and downs. Nitori’s lucky necktie is pink, and it’s said that he hopes to have karaoke music played at his funeral. Although he’s in an orthodox line of business now, Nitori remains a “heretic” who refuses to think and act within the framework of conventional business wisdom.
Let us liken Japanese business operators to musicians. The bass they are to play in a piece of music comes in the form of a shrinking mindset — or a way of thinking marked by a tendency to value small things and try to make everything compact.
What does it take to play the “melody” of 2016? We need the determination to make the Japanese economy remember how to sing with a beautiful voice.
The engine of growth is innovative products and services. Great changes of the times can generate new needs in society. Our nation’s decreasing population and aging society should be viewed as good opportunities to create new industries — instead of deploring the seriousness of these problems, which are unparalleled around the world. Gold mines are buried in many fields, such as medical and nursing-care services, transportation, housing, and distribution.
Stagnation or recovery? The year 2016 signifies a period that will test the intrinsic value of Abenomics, which is entering its fourth year.
The prime minister is striving to reignite the economy through what he calls the “new three arrows” of his economic policy package. However, there is gnawing anxiety about the global economy, most notably in China. What’s more, Abe’s growth strategy, which seeks to tap into private-sector vitality, seems to be losing much of its luster.
At the beginning of the new year, Abe expressed resolve to “take on challenges, time and time again.” He must not loosen the reins on his reform drive if he wants to avoid seeing his initiative become nothing but a dream.
The four figures cited in this column — Izumo, Toyoda, Kuroda and Nitori — were born in years with the same Chinese zodiac sign as 2016: the monkey. According to proverbs about stock price trends, years of the sheep will call for patience, while years of the monkey and rooster will see fluctuations.
We must renew our determination to perceive changes in the Japanese economy and endeavor to relay such findings to a new age.
Outlook on 2016 / How to make Japan’s economy sing in 2016 - The Japan News