Japan part 4—Dependency on China
Oct 02nd 2009 01:16
japan
situation
outsourcing
(Thank you for reading my journal. One of the hardest parts of learning a language is trying to sound as native and as natural as possible. Even if you understand what I have written, please let me know if my phrases or word choices sound a little strange. Thanks.)
In Japan, there is a very popular community site “mixi”, which is like Facebook. However, most of the users are Japanese since an invitation from the users and a Japanese cellphone’s number are required to register. About a month ago, a new feature was introduced. You can enjoy various applications for free. Some of the applications are PC games, educational, and just for entertainment. The most popular one is a kind of game that enables sharing of fun with friends. A few days ago, this game’s administrator notified its users that from the 1st to the 8th of October, their customer service would not work as well as usual due to 8 straight holidays “in China”. Although they didn’t mention details, I’m sure that this notification indicates that some operating sectors are outsourced to China.
I know that companies in developed countries tend to outsource some sectors or jobs to China and India. I’ve noticed that more and more companies in Japan, especially foreign companies, have been outsourcing them to China. Despite that, when I was looking at that notification, I couldn’t help but be surprised. I realized that outsourcing scale has been enlarging faster than I thought.
Japanese people won’t survive without the vegetables imported from China. Japanese brand frozen foods are produced in factories in China. Low labor costs in China help us enjoy decent products at reasonable and cheap prices. Many well-known luxury brands in Ginza which is famous for its high-end shopping area have been depending on rich Chinese tourists. I often hear that some of them spend about one hundred thousand US dollar at only one store. There are many Chinese workers and trainees in Japan. It’s true that they have been sustaining a part of the Japanese economy.
In Japan, there is a very popular community site “mixi”, which is like Facebook. However, most of the users are Japanese since an invitation from the users and a Japanese cellphone’s number are required to register. About a month ago, a new feature was introduced. You can enjoy various applications for free. Some of the applications are PC games, educational, and just for entertainment. The most popular one is a kind of game that enables sharing of fun with friends. A few days ago, this game’s administrator notified its users that from the 1st to the 8th of October, their customer service would not work as well as usual due to 8 straight holidays “in China”. Although they didn’t mention details, I’m sure that this notification indicates that some operating sectors are outsourced to China.
I know that companies in developed countries tend to outsource some sectors or jobs to China and India. I’ve noticed that more and more companies in Japan, especially foreign companies, have been outsourcing them to China. Despite that, when I was looking at that notification, I couldn’t help but be surprised. I realized that outsourcing scale has been enlarging faster than I thought.
Japanese people won’t survive without the vegetables imported from China. Japanese brand frozen foods are produced in factories in China. Low labor costs in China help us enjoy decent products at reasonable and cheap prices. Many well-known luxury brands in Ginza which is famous for its high-end shopping area have been depending on rich Chinese tourists. I often hear that some of them spend about one hundred thousand US dollar at only one store. There are many Chinese workers and trainees in Japan. It’s true that they have been sustaining a part of the Japanese economy.
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You can enjoy various applications for free.
A few days ago, this game’s administrator notified its users that from the 1st to the 8th of October, their customer service would not work as well as usual due to 8 straight holidays “in China”.
I imagined that outsourcing scale has been enlarging faster than I thought.
However, most of the users are Japanese people since both an invitation from the users and a Japanese cellphone’s number are required to register.
Some of the applications are PC games, some are educational, and some are just for entertainment.
Many well-known luxury brands in Ginza which is famous for its high-end shopping area have been depending on rich Chinese tourists.
Many of our companies here outsource to China too. However I've never understood why some of our manufactoring companies operate in China. Since the cost to ship is very expensive. The reality is they are not saving as much money as they think they are. The biggest gripe that most companies has is (mine included) that the employee's benefits and pay costs too much. I wonder if its the same for Japan, by importing many items from China. What is the impact on the workers in Japan?
はじめまして。Thank your for reading my entry and making corrections.
>Snoopyさんは英語が上手ですね！
いえいえ。まだまだです。
＞とても面白くて、いい評論です。
ありがとうございます。I'm really happy that you enjoyed reading it.
また時間があるときに、遊びに来てくださいね。
Hi Lorry 楼璃
Thanks for your help as always.
> Since the cost to ship is very expensive.
As for the US, yes. As you know, Japan is close to China. It takes only 3-4 hours by airplane from Tokyo to major cities in China.
As far as I know, in Japan, especially in Japanese companies, employee's benefits and salaries are not as high as in the US. However, with the prolonged Japanese economic stagnation, price war has become more and more sever. The consumer demands for products(high/good quality at reasonable prices) are strong here, I sometimes even feel that they are ridiculous. Thus, many companies have outsourced to China to reduce the labor costs.
To meet that Japanese people's demands and the concerns about the safety of food/products, in outsourcing factories in China, there are production lines exclusively for Japanese brand products that will export to Japan.
Where Japanese companies establish their won factories in China, the Chinese government requires them to establish joint ventures with Chinese local companies. That usually will cost Japanese companies the flow of high technology to China in order to get the low-waged workforces. Thus, lately, our manufactoring companies tend to establish factories inside Japan.
>What is the impact on the workers in Japan?
It might be a long story. I'll introduce one, which will not answer your question though. Around 25 years ago(maybe), the Chinese government sent many intelligent Chinese people to Japan in order to let them study economics etc in Japan. The government expected them to come back to China and contribute to China's development. However, according to the news, many of them remained in Japan. Some of them have greatly succeeded in Japan. With China's development, they have come to play an important role.
Sorry, long reply.
I realized that the scale of outsourcing has been enlarging faster than I thought. (I think this sounds more natural.)
Finding the happy medium is difficult to almost impossible. >.< The solution would take a smarter brain than mine to find, but I still worry about it.
Thanks for your corrections and comments. Also, thank you for writing my testimonial.
>This is definitely a huge issue of concern for all highly developed countries I think.
Yes, it is!!
> it is also dangerous to let all manufacturing/agriculture leave the country
The improvement of the self-sufficient in food is one of our biggest challenges. With the Japanese economic downturn, young people have finally become interested in engaging in Agriculture. New style agriculture and new attempts also have appeared. I hope that this tide will continue.
I think the government is also actively trying to pull their country from "NIC" (Newly Industrialised Country) status to MEDC (More Economically Developed Country) status. They are offering grants for students to study in other (more educated) countries, and education is the key to the economy of any country. Where I live, in my college there is a high amount of Chinese students. Which is more than I can say for the UK government who seem so incompetant and always argue on the issues which don't affect many at all and lose sight of the bigger picture.
I think that if powerful MEDCs want to compete with China, they will have to produce highly technological products, as they cannot compete with the NICs which manufacture goods at low costs. After all that is what Sir Dyson (a famous entrepeneur, famous for his line of hoovers) said. I think his offer is more reassuring than Mr. Brown's actions.
Thanks for your interesting comments as always.
First of all, I'm impressed by your rich knowledge about global situations/the global economy despite you being young. When I was reading your comments, I couldn't help but wonder how many Japanese school boys/girls are interested in such things.
It's clear that China is going to play a more important role in near future. On the other hand, they have many challenges inside the country. I felt that when I lived in China. Every country has been facing many challenges though.
＞Where I live, in my college there is a high amount of Chinese students.
Does "Chinese students" mean students from China? not including overseas Chinese? Although about 10 years ago, I heard that the UK opened the door for Chinese students more widely than other countries.
Speaking of this topics, according to the news, some Chinese students raise money from all relatives for going to a college since it's considered that the status of graduating from a college will give them a best way to get out of poverty. However, after graduation, many of them have been facing difficulties finding good jobs which cater to their demand that they have to earn enough money to take care of their families and relatives. This is partly because the number of colleges has sharply increased within the last decade and there are not enough posts prepared for college-graduates. So, some of them attempt to get opportunities to study/work abroad.
>I think that if powerful MEDCs want to compete with China, they will have to produce highly technological products, as they cannot compete with the NICs which manufacture goods at low costs.
In Japan, I often hear this viewpoint. However, the Chinese market is huge. If companies acquire the market right now, they have to manufacture common goods at low costs, which will sometimes result in blemishing brand images. Thus, they seem to be struggle with the dilemma.