I am Yoshida, president of Yamada Shusei Ltd., a professional apparel garment repair group in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture.
In the Nikkei Newspaper of October 24, there was an article about the IMF's forecast that Japan's GDP is expected to overtake that of Germany to become the fourth largest in the world. I would like to consider the implications of this.
First of all, this indicates, I need not reiterate, that the international influence and competitiveness of the Japanese economy is declining.
For a long time after the war, Japan was the world's second largest economy after the U.S. However, after the burst of the bubble economy, low growth continued and Japan was overtaken by China in 2010. And now it has been overtaken by Germany, which has about two-thirds of the world's population. This is not only a temporary factor due to the weak yen and high inflation in Germany, but also a sign of the long-term stagnation of the Japanese economy, including a declining population and sluggish productivity growth.
Factors contributing to the stagnation include the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic, declining labor productivity, aging and declining population, lagging digitalization, and fiscal structure and debt dependence.
In addition, it is said that future guiding principles in response to these factors include the essential need to promote innovation, globalization, and sustainability.
As you can see, the Japanese economy is facing many challenges and difficulties, but as a business manager, don't you think it is necessary to take a positive view that overcoming these challenges and difficulties will provide new growth opportunities and competitiveness?
I myself would like to continue to improve my actions, starting from the smallest footstep, with the viewpoint that the growth of my company will contribute to the revival of the Japanese economy.
