Japan

"While Milken did not make it explicit to this audience, they were participating in the first phase of the process he had authored in the United States. First he would build a client base of buyers. Then he would raise capital for small-time entrepreneurs. And finally he would transform those entrepreneurs into mighty challengers, financing their raids on the giants of Japanese industry. The process would be replicated, but the time would be compressed: what had taken seven or eight years to evolve in the U.S. would probably occur within two. And even if the Japanese culture proved too inimical to the hostile takeover in Japan, Milken still wanted to tap the reservoir of Japanese capital to mount raids in this country that were far larger than any he had ever backed—ten-and fifteen-and twenty-billion-dollar bids."

"The new frontier is Asia. In Asian countries and regions, including Taiwan, the Chinese region including Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam, a tremendous amount of capital began to pour in from all over the world around the start of the 21st century. As a result, new industries emerged, regions prospered, and cities developed. Cities attracted people, economic activity became lively, and that in turn attracted more new investments. For people and companies who have ideas and motivation and are not afraid of hard work, Asia today is the same as California in the 19th century. While we Japanese were idly passing the time as if taking a nap during the lost two decades, the neighboring countries were undergoing remarkable transformations. This can be aptly called a "paradigm shift" in the economy. The Industrial Revolution allowed Britain to rule the center of the world. After World War II, the supremacy shifted to America. After Japan's bubble economy, the focus is shifting towards China and India, and other Asian countries, in the 21st century. Historically, China and India have not been at the center of the world only for a very short period. These cradles of civilization have had a massive influence on the world in terms of ideology, religion, academics, culture, and political systems. Of course, Japan is one of the countries that has been strongly influenced by them. If we unravel world history, the Western systems did not become global standards until after the Industrial Revolution."

"Japan as number one. We became one of the richest countries in the world. We had nothing to fear. The people and the politicians thought it was the case. However, it was just a temporary bubble economy. As soon as the inflated bubble beyond its substance burst entering the 1990s, the Japanese economy began to shrink rapidly. The Nikkei average stock price, which hit a high of 38,915 yen at the end of '89, plummeted to nearly half in just over nine months. The land prices in large urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka also fell rapidly. At that point, the Japanese should have awakened from the dream and made up their minds. They should have needed to take the first step towards the future by restructuring companies with excess debt and employees, reconfiguring the old industrial structure, and actively paying the price of the bubble. However, Japan did not do that."

"In the world outside, enormous changes were taking place. In Europe and the United States, the very landscape was being transformed by the Industrial Revolution. Pitheads, factories and smoking chimneys sprouted across the countryside. Trains trundled through the fields, in the cities electric lights glowed and telephones and cameras had been invented. As for Japan, it had remained sealed against change until 1853, when the American Commodore Matthew Perry and his steam warships appeared in Tokyo Bay. Their mission was to force the shogun to open his country to trade and exchange. They also brought with them the first breath of the new world."

"Economists are primarily concerned about growth as measured by GDP, which they argue makes us all better off. Their logic about deflation goes like this: If people anticipate that prices will drop thanks to deflation, they will be less likely to spend money today, which means that output will be lower than it could be. This in turn leads owners of capital to make fewer investments, which would result in less innovation and lower employment. That in turn makes people spend even less, thus causing the economy to contract further. Economists point to Japan as a country that has been experiencing both deflation and contracting output. To avoid this scenario, they argue for policies designed to achieve some amount of inflation, including the Fed's so-called quantitative easing (cheap money), which is intended to expand the supply of money."

"Low-wage ecosystems like Shenzhen became a giant magnet for US process knowledge. Beijing made a deliberate decision not to be like Japan, which kept its market limited to American companies; rather, China mostly welcomed foreign manufacturers to train its workers. It is some sign of China’s economic openness that so much of its exports are driven by Apple and Tesla, while Japanese exports have been driven almost entirely by its own companies. After it built up a critical mass of process knowledge, however, Shenzhen became as much an innovator of new electronics as an implementer of American ideas."

"My SPP shares lost their value: first 30 percent, then another 30 percent, then another 30 percent. We went from HK$5.40 down to 60 cents. Secondly, the mortgagors for our various hotels, if they had a chance, called back their debts. It was just like the property boom and bust in Canada later, in the eighties. Everybody was panicking. My main supports were all based in England. My cash flow became very precarious because land sales at Pacific Harbour simply came to a halt, but once you start building a hotel and it’s three-quarters of the way finished you can’t stop. We had big hotel projects at Narita, the new airport in Japan, and in Auckland at the harbour; and a major shopping centre in the middle of our Fiji development. We couldn't stop any of it."

"My grandfather Zhang Chunfu (1885–1943) belonged to a generation of Chinese who, under the bullying of the great powers, strove to reform and make progress. But each time China took one step forward, it seemed it always had to take one step back. When my grandfather was a child, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao vigorously advocated reform; when he was in his teens, the Guangxu Emperor’s “Hundred Days’ Reform” took place; but what followed was Empress Dowager Cixi’s rule from behind the curtain. When my grandfather was twenty-five, the Republican revolution succeeded; but what came next was nearly twenty years of warlord separatism. After the Northern Expedition succeeded, it seemed there were a few years of stability and progress; but then Japan invaded China. My grandfather also passed away in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance."

"BYD was founded in 1995 and is a private high-tech enterprise. At the beginning of its establishment, BYD had only 20 employees and was virtually unknown in Shenzhen, a city filled with many enterprises. However, unexpectedly, 14 years later, it developed into a high-tech private enterprise listed in Hong Kong. Now, BYD has built nine major production bases in Guangdong, Beijing, Shaanxi, Shanghai, and other places, covering nearly 7 million square meters in total area, and has branches or offices in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other places, with a total of more than 130,000 employees and total assets of nearly 35 billion yuan."

"In contrast, McDonald's, just twelve years ago from the US across the ocean, "landed" in Japan, overthrew traditional food, and dominated the food industry. So, what does McDonald's rely on? My explanation is that the world's food industry trend is moving towards hamburgers, and I was able to accurately catch the trend and succeed. Conversely, resisting the trend would mean inevitable failure. Stay slightly ahead of the trend"

"I believed that by the watershed year, McDonald's in Japan must expand to have at least 100 stores, or else McDonald's in Japan would not be successful. Thus, I set the target customer for McDonald's to be the "young class who is not averse to bread and beef." Then, using 1975 as the target, I aggressively expanded the business. After the watershed year, with the post-war population in Japan continuously increasing, the young class who are not averse to bread and beef also increased year by year. Since then, we entered the whirlwind era of McDonald's burgers."

"However, times have now changed, and whether the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the military suits modern needs is really doubtful. So I took the lead in expressing my own view, which is that "enrich the country, strengthen the military" should be changed to "enrich the country, delight the people." This is because Japan's politicians continue to adhere to the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the military, incessantly focusing on the tertiary and secondary industries, an attitude that will inevitably be eliminated by the times. The "delight the people" that I advocate in the "enrich the country, del"

"I believe that by 1985, my McDonald's will have become a company with an annual turnover of ten billion yen and will have also formulated a long-term strategy for McDonald's. According to one set of statistics, Japan's consumption of rice is decreasing by an average of 2% per year, therefore predicting a 20% decrease in ten years, and 40% in twenty years{{id_0000}}."

"Once everything is prepared, you can apply at the cultural center to become a “Chilean Pastry Training Course Instructor.” Since there are no competitors, such a course might not even exist. However, to attract students, cultural centers are also looking for unique and original plans. As long as you market yourself fully and inform them that your pastries are unique, you are very likely to succeed. If you are luckily accepted, this will mean the birth of Japan’s first (and possibly the first) “Chilean Pastry Instructor.” If that really happens, you will become Japan’s number one in that moment. An exclusive instructor is bound to attract many students eager to learn."

"Becoming the first will make fame easier to achieve. “Japan’s only Chilean Pastry Instructor” could become your label to advertise on blogs or Twitter, possibly attracting magazine or TV producers. If you get some media appearances, you will become a pioneer in the field, a great “master.”"

"In an era in which Japan has all but given the boot to American technological leadership, it seems only reasonable that a corpo- ration whose subsidiaries in Europe are the largest independent software companies in their respective countries would be talked about constantly as an example of successful American multinationalism."

"Jobs eventually canceled the other phone ideas and declared multi-touch the future. He was adamant there’d be no keyboard, so the phone would be as full screen as possible. Apple’s engineers suddenly had to find suppliers that could build multi-touch displays at scale—something that didn’t exist at the time. There was no way Apple could send the specs to some factory and wait for the parts to be built; instead, it sent teams of engineers to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China to find hungry vendors it could work with to co-create the processes. “There were a few truly groundbreaking mass production processes we were involved with, where we really had to go around to find the best people in the entire world—the peak of what humans have developed for some of these technologies,” says a product manager. By early 2006, they had a full-screen prototype enclosed in brushed aluminum. Jobs and Ive “were exceedingly proud of it,” journalist Fred Vogelstein would later recount. “But because neither of them was an expert in the physics of radio waves, they didn’t realize they’d created a beautiful brick. Radio waves don’t travel through metal well.”"

"“You have to add in that time cycle—from that part coming from China and into India,” this person says, pointing out that the lower labor costs of India get offset by the added logistics of sending freight from China. Historically, this engineer points out that when Japan, then Taiwan, and then China made their mark in global electronics manufacturing, they all started by supplying components, creating a foundation of technical expertise. Only afterward would a supplier of, say, motherboards, begin to vertically integrate and expand into taking on final assembly, test, and pack out; by contrast, Apple in India has been doing FATP for seven years and is only now trying to build up the competency of suppliers making parts. “My sense of it is, [Apple is] doing it ass-backwards,” this person adds."

"But his shipyard at Norfolk was becoming too cramped for the large ships Ludwig planned to build. In 1951 he was able to make a deal with the occupation government in Japan to lease the former Imperial Navy Shipyard at Kure, where many of the largest war vessels had been built, and move most of his shipbuilding operation there. There were plenty of workers eager for jobs at any wage. While he built tankers, he was also experimenting with other kinds of vessels, mainly self-unloading vessels for hauling dry cargo — iron ore, coal, and other minerals — or versatile bulk carriers able to haul either ore or petroleum. To help provide cargo for his ships, he diversified into other activities — mining, ranching, timber grow¬ ing, oil refining, salt production — and became a major supplier of many commodities to Japan, producing as well as hauling raw materials from South America, Australia, and other areas where he had established projects."

"The volume of sales of men's suits largely depends on the salesman's skills and attitude towards the customer. The same piece of clothing, if recommended properly, might just be sold. If not properly recommended, business that should have been done may be lost. Therefore, selling suits, whether it's marketing or sizing, requires very high skills and experience. However, selling casual clothes is different: you do not have to measure and tailor the customer. Nevertheless, popular items often sell out and the less popular ones might not sell at all, creating a significant gap. Men's clothing, especially suits, is expensive and has a high margin but just like Japanese kimono, the turnover period is very long, usually only twice a year and at best three times. If the sales are good, it can make money, but if not, inventory could pile up. Sometimes, I feel like a taxi driver who only wants to pick up long-haul passengers, waiting for the opportunity takes a long time."

"[](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_20)Pachinko operated in a legal grey zone, opening a space for ethnic Koreans shut out of the traditional economy. In time, they would come to dominate an industry amounting to 4 per cent of Japan’s GDP, more than Las Vegas and Macau combined.[21](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_21)"

"Angelo was born into a family of "pettener," as the peasants from Belluno who spent the long winter days, free from work in the woods, making combs from the horns of cattle were called, artifacts that they would go down to sell in the city squares of the plains. Ancient rituals handed down through generations, skilled work performed by men in front of the hearth. Precision work, where it takes time, patience, and perseverance. Like making frames. Perhaps it is no coincidence that in Italy, as in France and also in Japan, the optical industry was born in mountain countries, where time expands and distractions are reduced, allowing craftsmen to become masters of the technique."

"“Jiang” refers to a “Superior General,” or excellent staff. It recalls Oda Nobunaga forming an army by selecting skillful individuals like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, combining old vassals and new recruits, and Shibusawa Eiichi who established the first corporation in Japan and gathered excellent talent."

"Until the early 1990s, most bluefin tunas went to Japan, and for a while afterward, toro became extremely popular in the United States. However, when the IT bubble burst in the U.S., demand increased towards Russia, and now it’s China. Hearing about the destinations of bluefin tuna gives insight into where the economy is booming. I genuinely think bluefin tuna has become a global commodity. However, I still wish something could be done about the price. Bluefin has become truly expensive, making it hard for ordinary people to afford."

"He thinks New Zealanders’ aversion to the sharemarket goes back to the 1987 crash, which was for New Zealand like the global financial crisis of 2008–09 was for the US and Europe. ‘The GFC brought America and Europe to their knees whereas in New Zealand, partly because of good economic management by the government at the time and partly because we had already made structural changes to our economy after the ’87 crash, we fared better than most.’ For New Zealanders, he thinks the psychological effect of the crash was so severe that it reminded him of people in the post-war era who were so traumatised by what they had been through that they vowed to never buy a Japanese-made camera or car. ‘I think there are people who were so badly affected by the crash that they vowed never again to invest in shares. Thirty years later the psychological effects are still there, though a new generation who did not personally suffer might now be more open to the idea.’"

"In this new world of economic opening and globalization, initiated by transnational corporations and technology, which at times seems to be retreating to economic blocs and protectionism due to the force of historical subsidies, which even the most developed countries such as the United States, European Union, and Japan firmly have in place. Especially in the agricultural sector, individual and social insecurity leads to protectionism and isolation, while the struggle for markets and excessive competition, 89 Carlos Slim are a modern substitute for warfare instincts."

"Knoetze first attended a congress on small business in Berlin, where he built up valuable contacts from Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. After visiting each of these countries as well as Singapore and Tokyo in Japan, he returned with a wealth of information about the flourishing small businesses of the Far East."

"He pointed out that about five million small enterprises in Japan employed 80% of workers in the private sector. With reference to these statistics, he said: ‘To create jobs one must think small.’ He proposed the creation of a small business development corporation with a ‘multiracial’ board of directors and starting capital of R100 million, half of it provided by the state. ‘I shall personally propose to my Group that we contribute one tenth, that is R5 million, of the private sector’s R50 million to such a corporation.’13 Money alone would not solve the problem – small business also had to be promoted through investments in training and aftercare of new entrepreneurs. He proposed that the state provide a further R2,5 million for initiatives of this nature."

"those who want to be first, must take a chance and order when no one else dares. John Fredriksen did so. The shipyards in Korea and Japan had empty order books from 1991 onwards and were pressured into lowering prices."

"In Golar, one could fine-tune operations and be creative with financing, but the main figures were set when tied up in contracts over two decades. It's almost like a banking business. Neither Fredriksen nor Trøim are suited for that. Something needs to happen all the time, and Golar is after all in a market that is expected to grow significantly for a long time. World gas production is increasing strongly, we know this not least in Norway, and with high oil prices, gas is very competitive. Everyone expects the USA to cover a larger part of its energy needs with natural gas, Japan will replace nuclear power with natural gas, and in Asia generally, the energy need seems insatiable. Someone has to transport all the gas from the production fields to the market. The conclusion was clear for Fredriksen: ordering more ships."

"The demographic time bomb By 2050, the UN forecasts that the global population will surpass 9.3 billion people, on the way to more than 10 billion by 2100. Scientists calculate that an average of three months is currently being added to life expectancy every year and that there could be 1 million centenarians across the world by 2030. In Japan alone there were more than 44,000 centenarians in 2010."

"the subtlety of the Japanese attitude; that it wasn’t about breaking contracts whenever they became inconvenient. It reflected a different mind-set. ‘We’re used to an absolutist Roman law view of contracts,’ Gibbs says, ‘and in the West we’ve developed languages capable of the precision needed for such contracts, whereas Japan’s language, by design, is imprecise; each word has several meanings, so as to avoid offence.’ The Japanese were relying on relationships, with a certain amount of give and take expected at difficult times."