TOKYO, July 30—The obituary writers for the Japanese electric appliance industry that dominated the world with SONY Walkmans and karaoke boom boxes in the 1980s are scratching their heads: Could it be possible that the once-mighty Japanese industry that was defeated by Apple, Samsung, and now being invaded by Chinese products, can be reborn?
Data seem to suggest so: In 2017, Japan’s domestic sales of civilian electric and electronics appliances, including refrigerators and smart phones and audio visual products, grew 0.5 percent year-on-year to 5.234 trillion yen (USD49 billion), rising for the second consecutive year after 2.8 percent and 2.7 percent in the preceding two years, according to the Association for Electric Home Appliances’s statistics. It’s the aggregate amount of so-called white goods, personal computers, smart phones, video equipment, light bulbs and so on.
Industry watchers are expressing cautious Yes to the recovery and so do the media, including the Morningstar China business website, searchina.net. ‘I see signs of change at Panasonic,’ Yoshiaki Nakamura, a former Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official and Senshu University professor, wrote in the Yomiuri Online July 26. The Kadoma, Osaka-based company, among a few remaining Japanese capital electrical makers, ‘thinks it needs to continuously seek change’ and is promoting what the company called the ‘Game Changer Catapult led by project leader Masanori Fukada, he said. The results so far? The ‘Sake Cooler’ that idisplays foodies to go with sake on the digital panel and a new flat screen called the Ambient Media Player, he said. Sharp Corp., which Taiwan’s Hon Hai and its Foxconn group acquired nearly 60 percent of paid-up capital in 2016, is also making a comeback with its new line of appliances, as well as SONY, Nakamura wrote, saying the Japanese makers are showing their ‘muscles.’ No coincidence perhaps, earlier this year, the China site searchina.net, reported ‘an unexpected recovery’ of the Japanese industry.
Dissecting industry data, sales of air-conditioners registered sharp year-on-year gains the past few years as well as fridges and washing machines – clearly reflecting the impact of accelerating climate change and soaring temperatures across Japan. Japanese makers’ shipment of other products are believed modest, if not shrinking sharply. But other factors that contribute to sales rises are few as Japanese consumers are opting to spend for services such as travels and dining-out and sports to purchasing tangible goods.
This may not mean the Japanese electrical appliance industry’s rebirth is actually taking hold and can be sustainable, contrary to what Mr. Nakamura claims. The cold truth is that many Japanese companies that steamrolled the world market with their televisions (SONY, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba, among them), threatened foreign rivals with their PCs (SONY Vaio, Toshiba Dynabook, NEC, Fujitsu, Sharp), competed with their mobile phones (all of them plus Kyocera and a few others), have given up their overseas ambitions and been either acquired by foreign makers or retreated to their home markets alone. Plus, the home markets are being challenged by Chinese makers such as Haier that had acquired Sanyo of Osaka and Samsung. Plus, Japan is a saturated market with its population aging progressing at the world’s fastest pace, with nearly 30 percent of its 126 million people over 65 years old.
If the industry’s comeback is taking place, it’s thanks to unheard of names such as Irisohyama of Miyagi, Yamazen of Osaka, Yuasa Primus of Tokyo, info-tech equipment supplier Elecom of Osaka, and Twinbird of Niigata that manufacture what the old big makers had abandoned – electric fans, microwave ovens, radios, and other low-priced products. They assemble their products in Japan by importing half-finished components from their Chinese and other overseas plants. They offer products by eliminating advanced and complicated features – back to the basic – to keep costs low.
Toshio Aritake