00:00 Prologue 01:21 The Olympics that failed to revive 09:19 The era of overtaking, the gap narrowing 25:24 JAPAN as number One, faded glory 30:50 In search of the cause of Japan's decline 36:09 Halfway to success, Abenomics 47:36 Epilogue The 32nd Tokyo Olympics has concluded its 17-day journey. The Olympics were held amid an unprecedented pandemic. Japan, which had promised to recreate the glory of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, won 58 medals, including 27 gold medals, and ranked 3rd overall. This is a great feat achieved after 57 years since 1964. It was the moment when former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge to hold this Olympics as a "Revival Olympics" came true. However, the reality that remained after the festival is harsh. On the 23rd of last month, when the opening ceremony was held, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Japan was 4,225, but on the 8th of August, the day of the closing ceremony, the number of new confirmed cases increased by 3.4 times to 14,472. Concerns that the Olympics could become an opportunity for the spread of COVID-19 have now become a reality. Tokyo, where a fourth state of emergency was declared ahead of the Olympics, has extended the emergency until the end of this month, and Japan's largest think tank, Nomura Research Institute, analyzed that the economic loss from the fourth state of emergency would amount to 2.19 trillion yen (22.71 trillion won). This analysis shows that even after offsetting the economic effects of hosting the Olympics (1.6771 trillion yen, 17.3915 trillion won), it is impossible to avoid a loss of more than 5 trillion won. ● The era of overtaking, reversal of Korea-Japan economic indicators The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calculated that Korea's GDP per capita has been overtaking Japan's since 2017 based on purchasing power parity (PPP). GDP per capita based on PPP is an indicator that measures the purchasing power of citizens by reflecting the different prices and exchange rates of each country. In 2017, Korea's GDP per capita was $41,001, while Japan's GDP per capita was $40,827. This is the first time that Korea has overtaken Japan in about half a century since statistics on GDP per capita for both countries began to be compiled in 1970. The driving force that has elevated Japan to the second largest economy is none other than manufacturing. However, Japan continues to decline in manufacturing competitiveness evaluations. According to the Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (CIP) published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Japan ranked second after Germany among 152 countries surveyed in the 1990s, but fell to fifth place (as of 2018) behind the United States, Korea, and China in the past 30 years. During the same period, Korea overtook Japan, going from 17th to 3rd place, and China from 32nd to 2nd place. The 'Global Competitiveness Evaluation' published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland by comprehensively evaluating 20 detailed items in four areas, including economic performance, corporate management efficiency, government administration efficiency, and infrastructure, is also a good indicator of Japan's decline. Japan, which had been ranked first overall, competing for first place in all items since the evaluation began in 1989, fell to 31st place in the evaluation announced this year. Korea, which had fallen to the 40s immediately after the IMF foreign exchange crisis, is maintaining its highest ever ranking, surpassing Japan at 23rd place. ● Where is Japan headed in 2021? Since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Japan has risen to the ranks of advanced countries in name and reality. However, the long-term recession that followed the collapse of the bubble economy for several decades was called the so-called “lost 30 years.” Since the inauguration of the Shinzo Abe Cabinet in 2012, “Abenomics” has brought about the second longest post-war boom, but there have been continued assessments that the lives of the Japanese people have not improved much. And will the Olympic flame, which will be rekindled in Tokyo after 57 years in 2021, become the foundation for Japan’s revival? Lee Chang-min, a professor at the Department of Convergence Japanese Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, defined “Abenomics,” which the Abe Cabinet implemented in 2012 to revitalize the economy, as a “low-temperature boom.” “The value of the yen fell and stock prices rose due to strong quantitative easing, but it was companies that benefited. Although corporate operating profits have certainly improved, the effect of stimulating the domestic economy in Japan has not been significant since companies have focused on overseas direct investment rather than domestic investment and wage increases. As a result, companies have become very wealthy, but the general public has not felt the warmth of the boom much,” he pointed out. Professor Lee analyzed Japan’s strengths and weaknesses as follows. “Based on its abundant intellectual capital, Japan has consistently made large-scale R&D investments, and it still has many medium-sized and small-sized companies with world-class technology in the fields of materials, parts, and equipment. Another is Japan’s abundant external net assets. It has assets worth 305 trillion yen overseas, which is similar to the annual GDP of the United Kingdom, which ranks fifth in the world in terms of GDP.” “However, the accumulated intellectual capital is not leading to startups or corporate innovation, and Japanese companies that are strongly oriented toward domestic consumption are also considered weaknesses.” Park Sang-joon, a professor at the Department of International Liberal Arts at Waseda University in Japan, said of Japan’s future, “I think Japanese companies will survive. As long as companies survive, the economy of Japan will also survive. It will not be easy to return to the economically vibrant period before the bubble, but if we maintain the current level without a sharp decline, we will continue like this for at least the next 30 to 40 years,” he predicted. Broadcast date: Sunday, August 15, 2021, 9:40 PM KBS 1TV Reporter: Jiyeon Yoon #TokyoOlympics #JapaneseReaction #KoreaJapanReversal #EraOfOvertaking #Semiconductors #TegatMurphy #OhGunYoung #LeeChangMin #KogashigeAki #CurrentAffairs #KBS CurrentAffairs 'CurrentAffairs' homepage https://bit.ly/39AXCbF Facebook / changkbs Instagram / window.sisa WAVVE·YouTube 'CurrentAffairs' Search