Tag Archives: Japan

02/2/21

The View From Afar — Japan Singapore Asia #7

You will recall we are canvassing the world to get an idea of how folks think about themselves, their own businesses, their own countries, and the United States.

Today, our globe trotting correspondent is a Canadian ex-pat who has lived in Japan for more than three decades and has roamed Asia, the US, and Canada for his entire business career which has been focused on the science of materials, very exotic materials and problem solving using exotic processes.

His is an informed view of that part of the world. Recently, we had the great pleasure of a long, fascinating convo in the garden behind Texas French Bread in Austin By God Texas.

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04/29/20

Japan Abandons China

Relations between Japan and China have always been dicey since before World War II, so a new development between them is not a huge surprise.

The nature of the development in this instance is.

Japan has funded a program — as part of its COVID19 economic stimulus package — to financially support companies who move their manufacturing from China back to Japan.

In addition, the program also supports companies who move their manufacturing from China to another Asian country whose main qualification is — Not Made In China.

This comes on the heels of a very simple impetus — the realization of how much Japanese manufacturing had moved from Japan to China.

Why did they move in the first place you ask? Cheap labor. Cheap cost of finished goods because of the cheap labor, prison labor, child labor, lower environmental standards (if any at all), and cheaper materials.

Japan acted pretty damn quick. No wasted time.

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