business

Japan Inc seeing uneven recovery from pandemic as services lag

13 Comments
By Noriyuki Suzuki

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Without running to layoffs, both will let their workforces shrink through retirement and by curbing new hiring to cut fixed costs.

I would be willing to bet a significant amount of my meager savings that this is an outright lie. I have seen too many instances of companies saying this with a wink and a nod while receiving generous subsidies on the public dime and oversight and enforcement is non-existent.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Airlines employees are in a tough spot, depending on the company. It seems at least some companies (e.g. United) allowed their employees to work at other jobs while keeping their contract with the airline.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

A strong earnings recovery is a requisite for companies to raise wages for employees.

Why is this the case under Kishida's "new capitalism" while for 30 years strong earnings had no correlation to wage hikes?

This correlation already has been broken with neo-liberal policies.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

They are going to be so “surprised” when Japan inc makes record profits while the need for food banks are at record highs. Birth rate drops further and tax take from expenditure plummets. But they can muse on that after a shofar drive to their favourite restaurant. But still number 3 economy despite their evolvement.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

If Japan does not ask the Chinese Communist Party to get back the money that Japan invested into Chinese securities and real estate assets, then Japan will be severely screwed when retirees ask for their pensions.

I recently learned from my friends in Nomura that Japanese financial companies and all Keiretsus have been dumping all Japanese overseas profits into China for years. The amount of Japanese money in Chinese real estate is enormous. Now, the CCP is weaponizing the Western investments into China (economic traps) for favorable political changes including the global popularization of socialism. If the West does not listen, China is going to allow the real money into those fake investments to disappear forever, and the global bubble collapse will be huge! Japanese retirees to European/American retirees will commit seppuku in massive numbers if they learned that all of their pensions went into China and lost.

Long story short: yet another non-news provided by your friendly neighborhood Kyodo outlet...These guys must be working 24/7 to produce something even remotely looking like a news, not even mentioning "positive" ones...

The Japan INC is in panic! They know that all overseas profits and investments are largely gone due to China. They can't do anything and have to come up with endless meetings and lies to buy time.

Without running to layoffs, both will let their workforces shrink through retirement and by curbing new hiring to cut fixed costs.

There has been a rising trend of suicides since Covid-19 and dismal Olympics 2020. The Japanese media hides the fact of this terrible, rising tragedy. Layoffs are going to destroy the social fabrics of Japan, and Japan INC now does not have much money to cover up the possible mass layoffs.

6 ( +13 / -7 )

A strong earnings recovery is a requisite for companies to raise wages for employees.

That isn't true. Before the pandemic, when corporates were raking in the highest profits in history, workers' wages barely budged, thanks to the corporates' wage-suppression policies.

Empowered and aggressive labor unions are requisite for companies to raise wages.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Reconfiguring the economics that underlie business practice, to a more sustainable form, not dependent on outsourcing is required to provide a viable and future oriented social, cultural and economic society. Trimming various enterprises to enhance a profit margin based on reduced output and labor is certainly key. Further, focusing on such as domestic tourism and not industrial-based-model requiring visitors from afar or the nearby mainland is a wise tack.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Exports and foreign tourism bring money into a country, most of it direct to companies and individuals. But government responses to Covid have seen economies fractured. Every dent the economy takes means less tax revenue to support the increasing public debt.

Decades of globalisation have persistently optimised the economy and supply chains. Abandoning this is going to see astronomical price rises. Not immediately. There is a lag, but switching back to the pre-WWII nation state model will see almost everything increase in cost by 50%, 100%, 200% or more, not 2% or 5%. A mix of scarcity from trade blocks, climate change and reduced production will ensure that prices only go one way - up.

If you were just surviving before this, you won't be after it. An entire strata of society will be plunged into workhouse levels of poverty. Governments will use this, putting them to work filling in for migrant labour in return for fairly miserly benefits. Call it workfare or indentured slavery, for those doing it, it will amount to the same thing. Unfortunately, forced labour is lousy labour, so expect to find things in your food, walls falling down, and data to be incorrect. Fun times ahead brought to you by our governments.

If you want to insulate your family against this, stop spending cash you do not need to - no holidays, no eating out, no treats. Trade your ICE vehicle in whilst you can still get something for it and - if you really need a car, as you can rent them - buy a cheap EV. Sell anything you do not need. Consider anything you use that might wear out in the next few years and buy a replacement now whilst it is cheap and available. Consider moving to a cheaper property or lower cost part of the country. Is your child's university education worth the cash, or could they do better if you set them up in business or a career for less outlay. And then make as much money as you can, as quickly as you can, starting now. 2 jobs, 3 jobs, online retail. Whatever. Money will insulate you to some degree. So stop staring at your monitor reading this and start thinking of a way to bank yourself some cash whilst you still can, before things get worse. Because they are going to.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

While both ANA and its domestic rival Japan Airlines are expected to see their earnings improve from a year earlier, when travel demand evaporated amid the pandemic, they still forecast net losses of 100 billion yen and 146 billion yen, respectively, in the business year to March

….

Travel demand has never evaporated.

Thinking that repeating the same untruth makes it true is irresponsible.

Japanese government restrictions have and continue to damage the travel industry.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Until the 6th wave, that is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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