zlacker

Low interest rates and lack of manpower was one of the catalysts of the Industrial Revolution.

Perhaps Japan is going to be the place to be if you're in the "do more with machines" business.

They can only solve this with significant capital investment and major productivity improvements.

>>neilwi+(OP)
Isn't that something they've already been doing?

>>neilwi+(OP)
I'm not really sure about this, Japan loves meaningless highly manual process intensive jobs and high employment rates, so I understand what you mean, but replacing people with machines isn't really in their DNA even though Japan seems to like robot movies.

Maybe in the face of some type of economical crisis they will change their tune but I wouldn't bank on it. In my opinion, they've been burned once, they were the top dogs for a while, economically poised to even surpass America, and now, a lot of people are without money. So I think it will take a bit of convincing to want to go back to those days.

Japan has an interesting sort of apathy (??), kind of like, they're happy to not be the center of attention and just go on minding their business. We had some business development people visit Japan recently and they were stunned at the lack of competitiveness and interest in growing their businesses.

I guess this is a culture which was happy isolate itself from the world for centuries and I guess if it could, there's nothing saying it wouldn't do it again...I have to say, I can't always blame them :)

>>bamboo+93
There is likely a "correct" size for any given business in regards to it's function in society. If you chase eternal growth you are somewhat at odds with the society you're part of. Eventually you either need to exploit it to grow past the size it needs you to be, or move out into other markets.

I think the difference is that for the most part, small and medium businesses in Japan are just trying to fit the size of their role in their communities, growth for the sake of growth isn't the goal.

Just observations and idle thoughts from me though, both views on growth clearly have merit and I can't actually speak for Japanese business owners.

>>ehnto+Wb
I wonder if in coming years we will start to see growth for sake of growth model to fail. At least if interest rates stay high and there is need to refinance.

Debt used for unsustainable growth could be extremely destructive. It is needed, for example new machinery and so on, but investment has to return more than you pay on it.

>>bamboo+93
Besides what ehnto has said, I also believe you're only partly correct about the manual process intensive jobs. What you're correct about are the jobs linked to culture and tradition. For example manga, soba noodles, bonsai trees, ink making or woodworking. But they are absolutely replacing whole sectors of manual jobs with machines, ones they don't seem to value to protect. Like retail, they're the absolute leaders in vending machines and attendless brick&mortar shops. Or automaking and electronics.

>>neilwi+(OP)
“Lack of manpower” is an understatement. The bubonic plague killed 75-200m people, vastly increasing the cost of labor and spurring technology revolutions in agriculture.

>>Sponge+Zu
I live in Japan and have never seen a attendless brick&mortar shop?

Vending machines are everywhere, but usually only for drinks and there is plenty, and I mean plenty of retail shops.

So I don't know what you mean really. Automaking electronics, again not sure, there is a fujitsu factory nearby where I live, there's hundreds maybe thousands of people going in and out of there each day.

Do you have a romantic view of Japan that doesn't exist maybe?

>>ehnto+Wb
There is likely a "correct" size for any given business in regards to it's function in society.

Quite - the organic size, if you will. In biological bodies, organs that become overdeveloped or overused relative to the rest of the body lead to disease. MY loose analogy for economics is that your body can only store so much excess sugar before you acquire crippling diabetes.