Japan reality check: what is Japan's economy good at? | Hacker News Reader

Japan reality check: what is Japan's economy good at?

japanoptimist.substack.com

2 pointsumerf5 comments

Food security. Japanese aren't starving, and Japanese farmers are a protected species. Sure, they'd have shortages if trade slowed but compared to many other economies, farming is understood to be strategically necessary.

Mass production with fine tolerance at scale. Tesla has a q problem, Japan invented six sigma. (not really: motorola did but Japan "gets it") Tokyu hands is stuffed to the gills with tchotke made to micron tolerance.

Submarines. No, really. They're good. Military export is hard, competitive business.

Pocky. And multicolour flavoured kitkats. They do kitkat better than the British original.

Shinkansen: they are a national railway NOT built in China. And I'm willing to bet the supply chain behind them is indigenous too. Same for almost everything above: if there's a domestic feedstock or part, they're using it.

Japan's food self-sufficient rate is one the lowest among developed countries because they have little farmland compared to their relatively large population. So while they do have food security (they are not short of food) this is largely because of good international supply chains and money to pay for food on international markets.

Interesting that you focused on specific production sectors while the article is more broad and abstract.

I don't know broadly what Japanese economy does better. My answer is probably facetiously ignorant.

Arguably national strategic domestic preference, and technology transfer inbound to marketable reproducible product design? That's the common quality I was arguing to.

I believe they have a bi-facing model: national enterprise uses offshore to produce export goods under the brand, and domestic supply preferences onshore (eg cars) which suggests a pretty good IPR model.

Nobody much says the Japanese fintech sector is the rational choice against London. So post brexit they didn't say "let's all move to Japan" which suggests they aren't the big cheese there? (They went to Dublin and Frankfurt) but maybe with HK losing favour, Japan is a good pick?

> Japan has been the top global creditor for the past 31 years consecutive years.

I once asked what JP got from the Plaza Accord (DE got reunification); this would seem to be the answer. Why fret over a little parochial stagflation when one is getting good returns by investing in the global economy?

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