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The last few years have seen increasingly strong overseas merger and acquisition activity by Japanese companies. This is being driven by factors such as: a Japanese domestic market which is shrinking in many sectors as a result of Japan’s declining population; a cashed up Japanese corporate sector which is finally emerging from 20 years of balance sheet deleveraging, following the bubble of the late 1980s; a continued strong Japanese yen, making new overseas investment especially attractive; and the state of the economic cycle in the US and Europe, which is seeing companies in specific sectors as ripe targets for takeover.

What is likely to be the impact on Japan of the devastating March 11, 2011 earthquake and horrendous tsunami?  Is it likely to be a rallying cry for Japan, which will enable its energies to be channelled into resolving the issues that the economy faces? What is not at issue, is that the areas requiring mitigation are all well identified and debated within Japan. What is missing, on the other hand, is resolution of a way forward and implementation of the chosen measures.

Japan is proud of its regional cuisine. It’s customary when going on a domestic trip, to bring back gifts for family or friends from the local areas’ regional produce. But with Japan’s declining population and the continuing shift from the regional areas to the big cities, some regional areas are facing more difficult economic conditions.  So it is interesting to see them taking the fight to the big cities under the guise of the “antenna” shop.

Japan's mobile phone is increasingly used as a platform for a raft of services more widespread than  the current approach in Australia. Now the phone appears to be claiming another scalp - doing away with the function of the traditional “customer loyalty card”.  No longer do you need a wallet or purse bulging with customer loyalty cards when you can use your phone. 

There is no doubt that Japan’s pharma industry, already having undergone a series of big ticket mergers  in recent years, is about to undergo further dramatic changes. As Japan’s population continues to age and health care costs and the burden on Government expenditure increases, the industry is confronting pressures from a number of sources.
An analyst's report from Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, sees a number of key issues:

Japan’s synthetic and man-made leather manufacturer Kuraray commissions an annual survey of the hopes and aspirations of both Japanese children, who are about to start school, and their parents.

 Australia’s inbound travel market for Japanese tourists had a meteoric rise in the 80s and peaked in 1997 but has had a steady decline since then.