With a trade relationship with Australia stretching back more than half a century, Japan shouldn’t be dismissed as an export market, despite economic woes and the rise of its neighbour China.
Read the headlines about Japan’s economy over the past year and you’d be forgiven for believing it was the land of the setting sun. If you think Japan is entering its twilight years as one of the world’s great economies, however, you’d be underestimating its intrinsic power.
First, the facts. Yes, the Japanese economy is contracting. Its current economic woes stem from its exposure to the global market; as an export-oriented country, when worldwide consumption dropped, so did its revenue.
However, many people forget the scale of Japan’s domestic market, says Elizabeth Masamune, Austrade’s senior trade commissioner in Tokyo, and Japan country manager. She points out that the ‘doom and gloom’ figures relate to export production, whereas there’s a huge section of industry devoted to a domestic market of more than 125 million people.
And while Japanese domestic consumption has stagnated, “what we certainly have seen is growth in trade and sales of Australian product to Japan,” she reports. “Just because Japan might not be growing, it doesn’t mean that our sales to Japan are not growing.”
Areas of opportunity
Masamune identifies four main areas where Australian exporters can do well in Japan: the first is food. “Japan has only 40 percent food self-sufficiency, so they have to import food,” she explains.
Lately Japan has been buying from exporters in Asia, but food safety scares from suppliers such as China have presented an opportunity for Australian providers to re-establish a reputation as a quality supplier.
“Japan takes 25 percent of Australia’s food exports already so this is a very substantial opportunity in my view to just change out image a little bit, move up the value chain and also start supplying food—and wine—we weren’t supplying before,” she says.
Australia is also strong in another commodity: minerals. Thankfully, Japan still wants our minerals and are willing to race China to buy those resources, despite a decline in demand due to a drop in its own export production.
Unexpectedly for some, given Japan’s advanced reputation, technology ranks highly as a big opportunity for Australia. Japan invests more of its gross domestic product in research and development than any other nation and has 3.5 times more patent submissions than its nearest rival, the USA.
“Technology is how they’re going to maintain their competitive edge. Given that their population is declining and that they don’t have any natural resources, they see this as the key way of being able to stay ahead,” says Masamune.
She suggests that Australian companies looking for investors could be in luck: “The Japanese have realised that it doesn’t have to be invented in Japan to be good. They are quite happy to invest in helping start-up technology companies to get going. For Australian technology companies there’s a very important market here.”
And the biggest opportunity? Demographic shifts, says Masamune. Japan’s ageing population will see a few changes. The first is the retirement of a generation of workers, prompting a skills shortage.
“They could have immigration but they’re not very keen on that, so they need to bring more women into the workforce to boost productivity,” notes Masamune. She says that means openings for diversity programs as well as facilities such as childcare, training for women and even an indirect market for timesaving household devices.
The retirees, known as the dankai generation, will also become an important market in themselves. Dankai are typically wealthy and are likely to lead long, active lives.
“They’re into lifelong learning. Even grandma now has her version of Nintendo that she can play with that has bigger buttons on it,” says Masamune. “The Japanese companies are onto this, but there would also be suitable products and services from Australia.”
Inbound tourism pitched at this generation would also be a good move, she suggests.
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