A rebuttal to analysts downplaying yen strength: Japan’s corporations create inspiring products unmatched by rivals.

On August 26, 2010, the author challenges an economic analyst who claims the yen is “not strong.” He confronts the analyst with the harsh reality faced by Japanese industries, questioning the true intention behind statements that intentionally defend the strong yen while ignoring the struggles of companies that need a weak yen to survive. The author argues for the excellence of Japanese manufacturing with specific examples and demands proof if foreign companies are truly superior. This essay sharply critiques the motives behind the discourse disseminated through the media.

To the Economic Analyst Who Claims the Strong Yen Is No Problem
August 26, 2010

Among my classmates and seniors are those who now serve—or have served—as presidents of Japan’s most genuine and prestigious companies, the very firms that have carried and led this nation. Naturally, they want to hire and continue employing Japanese workers.

Yet, especially during this historic financial turmoil, they steeled themselves and carried out restructuring—one of its main components being personnel cuts or wage reductions—and boldly advanced into China, gradually restoring performance.

Anyone who watches the markets even a little knows what exchange rate range these companies—pillars of Japan’s industrial nationhood—had assumed as their limit. Compared with predatory, restructuring-at-any-moment, sell-out-at-any-moment companies of 20th-century-style capitalism, they maintained lower profit margins, but even then, they had a minimum line.

And yet, at foreign securities firms—the very spearhead of short-selling in Japan—analysts are revered for their pedigree and heavily quoted by Japan’s economically illiterate mass media. Why then, at such a time, do they proclaim nonsense like: “From the viewpoint of purchasing power parity, the yen is not at all expensive. Even in the 70-yen range it is no problem” (indeed, some said even lower)?

Is it to justify your firm’s relentless short-selling?
Or to grant yourselves a protective charm for your deeds?

If the yen rises further, stock prices fall further—how on earth will Japan’s economy improve?
And surely you know better than anyone how long it takes for stock prices to recover once they have plummeted.

If you insist that repeating such cycles is fine, because Japanese stock prices will eventually return to levels of 25 years ago, then by all means, please publish your “noble theory” in the mass media.

As for me, I am convinced that Japan’s companies are truly world-class, their products often nothing short of inspiring. For example, after enduring years of a harsh, God-given trial of loneliness, I once thought: “This is it—this is the ultimate product.” It was Hitachi’s washing machine with the “Air Iron” function. Everything about it was superb. I even fell in love with it for a time.

So tell me: are Samsung’s products truly more inspiring, more moving, than those created by these Japanese firms? If so, then explain to me why nine of our nation’s leading manufacturers could lose in net profits to just one company, Samsung.

If there truly exist foreign companies that create products more splendid and moving than those I hold in the highest regard, then by all means, enlighten me.
After all, you can be published at any time in the major newspapers and weeklies. I look forward to it.