Signs to make us worry
Japanese consumer confidence has continued to fall. In January 2008 the consumer confidence index was 37.5 points, 0.5 points down from the previous month and 10.6 points down from the previous year. In addition to the overall index, other confidence index figures are down, including overall livelihood and income growth. Indeed, Japanese consumers have really lost confidence.
1. Worry about losing investors
One thing that makes the Japanese worry is the performance of the Japanese stock market. Since the summer of 2007, Japanese stock prices have continued to fall. The average stock price was around 12,500 yen last week, whereas the price was around 17,500 yen in July last year. Japanese economists worry that investors may no longer see the Japanese financial market as attractive as other markets such as China and the South East Asian countries.
2. Worry about few entrepreneurial activities
There is not much in the way of entrepreneurial activity that could revitalize the Japanese economy. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) 2006 results, early-stage entrepreneurial activity in Japan was 2.9%, the second lowest rate among the 42 countries surveyed. This rate is much lower than that of China (16.2%) and the United States (10.0%). This should make us worry that there are fewer business seeds being sown in the Japanese economy.
3. Worry about educational performance
Another worry is the decline in educational performance of Japanese students. According to the OECD International Student Assessment (PISA) survey of 2006, Japan saw a decline in reading performance between PISA 2000 and PISA 2006. Furthermore, Japan received the lowest score in self-efficacy; a score related to students’ belief in whether they can handle tasks effectively and overcome difficulties.
“We should do something …”
The Japanese government feels a sense of urgency to fix these economic and educational issues. To promote new business, the government offers promotion programs for current and prospective entrepreneurs such as new partnership activities and coordination of market development activities. For education, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is reviewing current educational guidelines to improve the scientific literacy and reading performance of students.
It should be mentioned that Japan should not worry too much about these issues. Japan is still the second largest economy in the world by real GDP. The literacy rate in Japan amounts to 99% of the total population CIA the World Factbook). However, it is true that the Japanese economy is not as booming as it was in the 70s and 80s, and Japanese students do not necessarily excel over students of other countries in any academic subject. It may be, therefore, only a matter of time before the Japanese begin to really worry about these issues.
March 14 2008 | Culture and Economy and Weekly Articles | No Comments »
