Japan Economy Could Set Upswing Mark

The Japanese economy looks increasingly likely to break its longest post-war boom record.

The Nihon Keizai reported on Monday that a survey of 133 CEOs of major Japanese companies revealed that 95 percent of respondents answered, “Japan’s domestic economy is expanding.” In particular, 44 percent said that the economic expansion would continue for over a year.

A continued expansion until the end of this November would mean Japan’s economy will have expanded for 58 months, which is longer than the longest post-war economic expansion on record, the Izanagi boom, which lasted 57 months from November 1965 to July 1970.

Most Japanese CEOs are confident that the current boom will break the record set by the Izanagi boom, which shows an atmosphere that is totally different from the lost decade of the ‘90s.

Seventy percent of the respondents said their earnings this year would be better than that of last year. About 40 percent said they were having difficulty in securing human resources in sales and production units, suggesting that Japanese companies are doing business aggressively, based on their confidence.

Economic experts point to self-restructuring efforts of companies, labor-management culture of coexistence, and government support as drivers of Japan’s economic revival.

Samsung Economic Research Institute’s Goo Bon-gwan said, “The Japanese government is leading structural reform by example through privatizing the public sector. It has made concentrated efforts to foster an environment where corporate and industrial competitiveness can be strengthened. The most notable supports are restructuring-related deregulation and tax support such as a decrease in license taxes and registration taxes.”

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