Japan Asia Ranking: Updated October 18, 2024.

Japan slips to 4th in Asia-Pacific power ranking: think tank

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20241013/p2g/00m/0bu/026000c

Ideas:

It has been suggested that Japan was at its height in the late 1980's just before the asset bubble collapse and has not been able to recover since then. Some might even suggest, not a lost decade, but a lost three decades as its been that long since the Japanese economy really grew a lot.

Japan might be experiencing a record surge in foreign tourists, but beneath the surface is lot of challenges for Japan to try and solve within its economy.

Rankings really don't mean much, but for a country it might mean a lot as any country wants to be seen in a could light so a drop to 4th might, again, be much, for for some in Japan it might be something.

Japan, for the most part, only has itself to blame and for example, the immigration policy is not conducive to increased immigration of young skilled workers. Yes there are now 3.5 million foreigners living in Japan, but Japan has not really opened the door to widespread immigration that might improve in economy.

And again, the aging situation might again be Japans fault as it work-place policies are not beneficial to many working women who want to have children and the cost of living in raising children in Japan, like South Korea, has just become too much for young working couples.

But that's not to take away from India which moved up to third place as India as been moving up for a long time as it improves in economy and other factors.

Japan has lost a lot related to the competition, especially the three just mentioned as Japanese business and industry seems to be stuck and as not been a productive as it was in the 1980's when it was at its height. For example who really remembers Sony or Mitsubishi these days, but were giants in the 1980's. 

The Japanese technology sector has lost a lot to Taiwan and South Korea as TSMC and Samsung are now decades ahead of Sony and Mitsubishi or any other Japanese technology company.

The problem is until just recently, Japan didn't do much about it. But recently it has teamed-up with TSMC to build semiconductor plants in Japan to try and get back some of its lost market share.

The rise of China and of course North Korea has forced Japan to increase its defense spending and probably it will continue to increase its spending as its now very weary of what China is doing, especially related to Taiwan.

Japan and Taiwan are strategic partners but of course anything Japan does with Taiwan China will object to, to they keep it under-cover for most of its dealings with Taiwan.

Japan can't ignore its decrease in productivity, as many Japanese traditional companies are just behind, and for example fax machines are still used a lot in Japan, while very few if any advanced economies continue to use fax machines.

Numbers don't mean a lot but countries such as South Korea, might think they are important and anything Japan does and or Japan's ranking means a lot to them. For example, some might say that the only thing that matters is if we win more medals that Japan in the Olympics, or the more gold medals we win compared to Japan, is what's really important.

The Japanese economy has been stagnant for a very long time, and some even suggest up to 3 decades of stagnation, as some even suggest Japan grew too fast in the 70's and 80's as the reason for its stagnation now.

China might be seeing signs of Japanese style stagnation as its economy has been not so good recently and not growing like it did before.

And South Korea too, it is suggested is beginning to see signs of the same demise that has hampered Japan for a long time is now beginning to creep into the South Korean economy.

Have a nice day!