Japan and Foreign Visitors: Updated September 25, 2024.

 

Number of foreign visitors to Japan tops 2.9 mil., record for August

Article https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240918/p2g/00m/0na/050000c

Ideas:

Japan is seeing record numbers of foreign visitors but it has a way to go before it has the same number as Spain of France. 

But to be fair, location might be a challenge, even with improve travel as Spain and France have a big advantage related to location.

Yes, China and the rest of Asia of Asia has a huge population, but there might be travel limitations for some.

There might be some political issue between China and Japan which might be limiting some Chinese travelers as they were the largest group to travel to Japan in 2019 before the pandemic.

It looks like China has regained the top spot for foreign travelers to Japan, as they might have resolved any flight challenges which was affecting travel to Japan.

And regarding the political issues, it seems Chinese travelers have forgotten about the Chinese ban of Japanese seafood imports, as most likely many/most Chinese are eating Japanese seafood in Japan now.

South Korea is a another country with some historical issues with Japan, but it seems like the weak Japanese yen is enough to persuade many South Korean tourists to travel to Japan.

Some might say, in Japan, there are now too many foreign visitors, but tell that to the hotels, restaurants, and other places that lost a lot during the pandemic when Japan was closed off during the pandemic.

The weak Japanese yen has of course been a challenge for Japanese travelers has they have to fight inflation  and also weak Japanese yen when they travel overseas.

Gone are the days, maybe, when hordes of Japanese would travel to Hawaii and other places in the 80's and 90's.

Japan has always been on the side of caution, and sometimes maybe too much, but better safe than something else.

And also it might be because of the 3/11 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that Japan has become even more cautious and maybe for good reasons.

All of the cancellations because of the quake warning should be enough to remember what happened during the pandemic when the country was closed off and many businesses went out of business and it took many months for the economy to get back to some kind of normalcy. 

Have a nice day!

Japan Cosmetic Sales in China: Updated April 10, 2024

 

SK-II skincare sales hurt by anti-Japan sentiment in China

Article Source:  https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68077984

Ideas:

Boycotts usually don't last long and consumers tend to forget what all the noise was about in the first place.

South Korea had its own not so good situation recently, when many Japanese products were boycotted and even Uniqlo was forced to close some of its stores.

But that was then as now South Korean tourists are heading to Japan in record numbers.

At the same time, there are Chinese tourists heading to Japan, even though there might be some media situations causing the not so good situation.

Again consumers, overall, tend to forget what all the noise is about and they get 

back to buying buying what they like despite all of the background noise.

Unfortunately, much of the noise is media related, such as the conservative or 

liberal media keeps up the noise and people see and hear what is going on 

everyday.

SK-!! is a good example of what companies need to do in jus wait out

the situation, keep promoting the products or brand and consumers eventually 

will come back.

Unfortunately, consumers in some countries tend to get carried away with

boycotts, but most people in a country are far too busy to think about boycotts 

everyday and they just want to go about their lives with not engaging in all the noise.

Most likely, because of past transgressions by Japan in the past, there might be 

situations which happen every now and then and its not easy to solve and the 

media has a role in making sure the situation doesn't continue to be a major 

situation.

Brands always bounce back and sales get back to normal after all of the noise is 

crowded out by consumers who just want to buy they like, despite all of the 

political noise surrounding a situation.

SK-!! tend to be higher priced brand but that doesn't stop consumers from buying 

the brand or product. And even prices increases might not affect the demand that 

much if the product or brand, such as Apple as a example are already higher 

priced and a price increase, for most consumers who like a product or brand 

don't even notice a price increase.

Have a nice day and be safe! 

Japan and Employee Well-Being: Updated Feb. 2, 2024.

 

[Graphic News] Japan ranks last globally in employee well-being

Article Source: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20231121000806

Article:

Japan came in last in a global ranking of employee well-being, measured by assessing workers’ physical, mental, social and spiritual health, the results of a survey conducted by the McKinsey Health Institute showed.

Employee well-being in Japan was at 25 percent in the poll of more than 30,000 workers across 30 countries, according to the study. Turkey ranked the highest at 78 percent, followed by India and China. South Korean employee well-being came in below the average at 48 percent to rank 23rd. The global average was 57 percent.

Although Japanese businesses have built a reputation for offering lifetime employment and job security, it also means employees can find it hard to change jobs if they aren’t happy. Japan consistently has had low ratings in workplace satisfaction and levels of stress in international surveys and the results reflect it, according to Rochelle Kopp, who advises companies on cross-cultural communications and business practices.

According to the survey, employees who had positive work experiences reported better holistic health, are more innovative at work and show higher job performance. (Bloomberg)

Ideas:

Japan companies, for a very long time, have been mired in traditional workplace practices that go against what is happening globally. But that has been Japan for a while as traditional Japanese companies don't change that much.

But as younger workers are entering the workforce in Japan, they want better work/life options and not want to work the long hours that their parents did.

Younger workers are also shunning what be considered less prestigious jobs such as factories, convenience stores, or anything that requires long work hours that doesn't fit their lifestyle.

The same can be seen in South Korea, where young university graduates only want to work for large companies that give better wages and better benefits.

Many small and medium sized companies in South Korea are having challenges hiring workers because young university graduates just don't want to work for them.

But some, maybe many South Korean companies, at least the large companies, see that the young workers want better work/life situations including less overtime work, less dinner meetings, and less weekend work.

Some Japanese companies too, see that in order to get the best talent needed for their companies they need to offer better work/life balances, better benefits, and less hours to attract the best possible talent for their companies.

The challenge is what about those who are unhappy with their present jobs? In Japan its not easy to change jobs. The Japanese government has been trying to make the Japanese workforce more flexible, able to change jobs more easily like in the US.

Will the situation change anytime soon in Japan? Probably not but as more and more younger graduates enter the workforce, they will vote by choosing companies that cater to what they need and other companies will notice and they too, to keep up, will begin to offer better hours, better work/life balance situations, including less overtime and or less weekend work.

We live in a global world and young people everywhere see what's going on in other countries, and young Japanese workers will not want to be left behind from the rest of the world.

Have a nice day and be safe!

  

Foreign Entries to Japan: Updated Jan. 26, 2024.

 

October foreign entries to Japan top pre-pandemic levels for 1st time

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231115/p2g/00m/0na/029000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan saw an estimated 2,516,500 foreign visitors in October, up 0.8 percent from the same month in 2019, the first time the monthly figure has surpassed levels seen before the coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Wednesday.

The increase of visitors from Asia, Australia, parts of Europe, and North America, in particular, in an environment of a weak yen and resumed airline services contributed to the return of foreigners to Japan, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Visitor arrivals from January to October totaled over 19.89 million. The figure is on pace to reach 25 million for 2023.

Ideas:

While there might be an increase in foreign visitors to Japan, its amazing that the higher airline ticket prices haven't stopped tourists from going to Japan. But maybe it has, even though there are record numbers, the amount might have been even more.

The weak Japanese yen, maybe offsets the high airline ticket prices, as maybe tourists weigh both together and still see going to Japan, despite high airline prices, the weak Japanese yen, is a deal maker.

The record is 30 million in 2019, just before the pandemic shut everything down for a few years.

Article:

The most arrivals in the reporting month came from South Korea at 631,100, more than triple compared with the figure in October 2019. Taiwan came in second at 424,800, up 2.7 percent.

Visitors from mainland China, which used to be the largest visitor group to Japan before the COVID-19 pandemic, stood at 256,300, down 64.9 percent, while they still ranked third in a list of arrival numbers by country and region in October.

After Beijing lifted restrictions on its citizens regarding group travels bound for Japan in August, the Japan Tourism Agency projected arrivals from mainland China would increase along with China's major holidays starting on Oct. 1.

Ideas:

Back in 2019 South Korea didn't have positive feelings about Japan, so the numbers might have much less back then.

Most likely, Chinese tourists will again be the largest group. However, as South Korea in the past or before the pandemic, there might be some who harbor not so good ideas about Japan and especially the Fukushima situation releasing power plant water into the ocean, as now China has a ban of Japanese seafood.

When I went to Tokyo from South Korea, in Feb. of 2023, Japan has been open for visitors for only a few months, and you still had to show proof of three boosters shots, and register on a Japanese website to get approval. At that time, its seemed somewhat confusing as there seemed to be many steps you had to go through. And walking to the immigration area, for maybe 100 to 200 meters, there were foreign helpers every few meters, it seemed, holding signs about what do to and if you had all of the needed paperwork.

In Jan. of 2024 when I went back to Tokyo from South Korea, you only had to show your passport, and they had refined the immigration process, where you show your passport, get your picture taken and do digital finger prints, in an area before the immigration counter, and then you went to the immigration counter and got a 3 month stamp in your passports. A much faster process through Japan immigration.

Article:

But arrivals from China decreased about 70,000 from September.

The slump appears to have been caused by China's slow flight recovery as well as it falling behind in easing travel restrictions compared with many other countries.

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, however, anticipates flights connecting the two neighbors will increase.

Ideas:

It seems China is a little behind other countries in finally opening up completely, including the resumption of airline flights and Chinese tourists getting out and about to other countries.

But as Chinese has a huge middle class, who want to travel, it won't take much time for Chinse tourists are again traveling everywhere.

As the Chinese new year is approaching, most likely the numbers to Japan will again get back to normal and maybe again be Japans largest group of foreign tourists.

Article:

Arrivals from the United States rose 38.2 percent to 211,900 from four years earlier, while Germany marked a 17.6 percent rise to 30,900, the highest ever for arrivals from the country in a single month.

The number of Japanese nationals traveling overseas in October stood at 937,700, 43.6 percent less than the same month in 2019.

Ideas:

The weak Japanese might be the main incentive to visit Japan as travel from the US and Germany is not easy as it takes many hours sitting on a plane to get to Japan.

Again, it seems the high airline ticket prices haven't deterred from traveling to Japan.

At the same time, as Tokyo Haneda international airport, near the center of Tokyo, is much closer than Narita international airport, which is maybe 30 kilometers away from Tokyo. As foreign airlines compete to get spots at Tokyo Haneda, it has to be an incentive to travel to Haneda instead of Narita, which used to be the major airport for international arrivals But now it seems Haneda has just a many international arrivals as Narita.

Have a nice day and be safe!

Nissan Company: Updated Jan. 20, 2024.

 

Nissan ups full-year profit outlook on weak yen, faces task in China

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231109/p2g/00m/0bu/068000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Nissan Motor Co. on Thursday upgraded its earnings forecast for fiscal 2023, with net profit projected at 390 billion yen ($2.6 billion) citing brisk sales and a weak yen. But the Japanese automaker also said it faces the "immediate task" of improving its business in China.

The profit estimate for the year through next March represents a 75.8 percent rise from the previous year. It was revised from a projection in July of 340 billion yen.

The company forecasts operating profit and sales at 620 billion yen and a record-high 13 trillion yen, respectively, also upgraded from 550 billion yen and 12.6 trillion yen.

Ideas:

Regarding China, the South Korean company Hyundai is scaling back production in China due to increased competition from Chinse car makers. Hyundai used to have 5 plants in China and now they are down to two.

So Nissan might have some difficulties in the Chinese market with Chinese car markers improving.

Back in 2022, and before, Japanese carmakers were having supply chain challenges so maybe in 2023 the challenges have been reduced.

Also, if it was any problem related to company image, maybe they are passed the Ghosn situation from a few years a ago.

Article:

With the weakening yen, it has now set the assumed exchange rate of the Japanese currency at 140 yen against the U.S. dollar and 153 yen versus the euro, revised from 132 yen and 139 yen, respectively. A weaker yen normally bloats Japanese exporters' overseas profits when repatriated.

For the first half ended in September, Nissan reported an over four-fold jump in net profit from a year earlier to 296.21 billion yen. Operating profit more than doubled to 336.74 billion yen on sales of 6.06 trillion yen, a record high and up 30.1 percent.

Ideas:
Nissan might be making significant profits due to the weak yen , but as far as domestic production goes, Nissan still has to deal with domestic supply chain challenges, if it imports any parts for it cars, it like all companies in Japan has to deal with increased energy and oil prices related to imports as the weak yen increases import prices.

The three major car companies in Japan, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all seem to be well positioned in the global markets to increase in sales and profits.

The real challenge in 2024, is, if the Bank of Japan decides to increase its key rate, which could cause the weak yen to strengthen, which then Japanese exporters could have their profit reduced. 

Article: 

The yen's depreciation contributed to the rise of operating profit by 13.3 billion yen, it said.

Global unit sales increased 3.3 percent for the six months to 1.62 million cars, faring well in Japan, North America and Europe.

But Nissan struggled in China due to intensifying competition and a shift in the country to new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. In the world's largest auto market, it logged a 34.3 percent fall in unit sales.

Ideas:

Japan might not have a weak yen for much longer, or maybe it will, but Japanese exporters need to plan for when the yen is not so weak. 

But most likely, in recent reports, due to inflation in Japan, the Bank of Japan might not change its ultralow policy anytime soon, which will keep the Japanese yen weak, and help Japanese exporters.

Regarding China, four new Nissan models might help in the Chinese market, but maybe not, as Chinese car makers seem to be ahead in the EV markets, as again, Hyundai, which makes EV cars seems to giving up on the Chinese market, with closing 3 of its 5 plants in China.

It will be interesting to see what Toyota, Honda, and other car makers such BMW are doing in China with increased competition from the Chinese carmakers.

Article:

To reverse the slump, Nissan said it plans to release four new models of new energy vehicles in China starting in the second half of 2024.

"By implementing our plans rapidly and reliably, we hope to improve our performance and put it back on track toward growth in the challenging Chinese market," Nissan President Makoto Uchida said at an online press conference.

The automaker maintained its full-year global sales target at 3.7 million units.

Ideas:

Again, four new models might help, but will it sway the average Chinse consumers to buy a brand that is not Chinese.

Some suggest, there are now not so good relations between China and Japan, and will it affect Chinse consumers from buying Japanese cars.

But, to be fair, Chinese tourists are still coming to Japan in large numbers despite some not so good relations between the two governments.

The same situation is happening in South Korea, with many South Korean products, which used to be popular in China, are losing significant market share, such as South Korean cars and South Korean cosmetic brands.

Have a nice day and be safe!