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A winder (a machine that winds thread into a cylindrical shape) on display in the Towel Museum ICHIHIRO in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture. Imabari City prides itself as Japan's top towel-producing area. In the Towel Museum, a number of artistic productions and other works using towels are exhibited.
The manufacturing sector has served as a driving force for economic growth in Japan, as the labor productivity growth in the sector has been far greater than that in all sectors since the 1990s. While the proportion of added value produced in Japan's manufacturing sector to its nominal GDP has still been around 20 percent recently, the sector has a large ripple effect on other sectors.
Hit by the worldwide recession that was triggered by a financial crisis in the U.S.A., Japan's manufacturing sector has remained in an extremely challenging environment since late 2008, but signs of recovery were seen in their business from around April 2009. However, this still cannot be considered a self-sufficient recovery as it has been driven by export growth owing to demand from emerging economies, with China a leading example, as well as by increased consumer spending mainly in durable goods, such as energy-saving home appliances and cars, thanks to the effects of economic stimulus programs, including the "eco-point" program and "eco-car" tax break and subsidy program.
In 2009, there were 235,817 establishments (with four or more persons engaged) and a total of 7.74 million persons engaged in the manufacturing sector. These establishments shipped 265.3 trillion yen worth of manufactured products, with added value amounting to 80.3 trillion yen.
Based on the Indices on Mining and Manufacturing (2005 average = 100), the production index for 2010 was 94.4, up 16.4 percent from the previous year, while shipments stood at 95.8, an increase of 16.7 percent from the year before.
This section describes the selected four industries in the manufacturing sector in terms of shipment value: machinery, chemicals, iron and steel, and fabricated metals. In each industry, (a) describes the number of establishments (with four or more persons engaged), persons engaged, and the value of shipments (data source: the Census of Manufacturers); and in (b), production and shipments (data source: the Indices on Mining and Manufacturing (2005 average = 100)).
(A) Transport Equipment Industry
(a) In 2009, a total of 11,501 establishments employed 947,704 persons, and shipped 47.1 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased year-on-year by 26.7 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years. This was due to the increase in the production and shipments of passenger cars, motor vehicle parts, etc.
(B) Production Machinery Industry
(a) In 2009, a total of 20,917 establishments employed 536,630 persons, and shipped 12.0 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased year-on-year by 49.3 percent and 50.4 percent, respectively. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years.
(C) Electrical Machinery, Equipment and Supplies Industry
(a) In 2009, a total of 10,173 establishments employed 476,765 persons, and shipped 13.7 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased by 19.6 percent and 19.2 percent compared to the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in four years.
(D) Electronic Parts and Devices Industry
(a) In 2009, a total of 5,066 establishments employed 462,543 persons, and shipped 14.9 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased by 26.3 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively, from the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years.
(E) Information and Communication Electronics Equipment Industry
(a) In 2009, a total of 2,174 establishments employed 217,348 persons, and shipped 11.5 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased by 9.8 percent and 26.8 percent, respectively, from the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years. This was attributable to the increase in the production and shipments of household electronic machinery, electronic computers, etc.
(a) In 2009, the total number of establishments (figures in brackets indicate the numbers excluding those associated with medical and pharmaceutical products) is 4,831 (4,002) employed 347,103 (250,225) persons, and shipped 24.3 (16.9) trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased by 5.8 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, from the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years. In 2010, production and shipments in the chemical industry (excluding medical and pharmaceutical products) increased by 9.0 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively, from the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years.
(a) In 2009, a total of 4,588 establishments employed 220,518 persons, and shipped 16.0 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production and shipments increased by 29.4 and by 28.8 percent compared to the previous year. As a result, both production and shipments recorded their first increase in three years.
(a) In 2009, a total of 30,611 establishments employed 584,127 persons, and shipped 12.4 trillion yen worth of products.
(b) In 2010, production increased by 6.7 percent and shipments by 5.8 percent compared to the previous year. This resulted in the first increase in 10 years in production and in 14 years in shipments.
The construction industry, accounting for about 10 percent of both GDP and all employed persons, is one of the core industries in Japan. However, it faces a series of challenges, including rapidly shrinking private construction investment and increasingly fierce price wars. The business environment surrounding the industry is now harsher than ever before, given the prospect that new public works will inevitably be limited by the restraints of a declining population, an aging society with low birth rates, and a severe fiscal setting. In fiscal 2010, the industry employed (excluding Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures) 4.72 million persons, and investment in construction stood at approximately 41.1 trillion yen.
Investment in construction in fiscal 2010 showed a year-on-year decrease of 3.0 percent at current prices and a year-on-year decrease of 3.4 percent at constant prices, for the reference year 2005. Construction investment in fiscal 2010 was down 51.0 percent compared to fiscal 1992, when it hit a peak of approximately 84.0 trillion yen.
A breakdown of construction investment shows that building construction totaled 22.3 trillion yen (down 1.9 percent from the previous fiscal year), while civil engineering works amounted to 18.9 trillion yen (down 4.3 percent).
In terms of public and private construction investment in fiscal 2010, public investment amounted to 16.6 trillion yen (down 4.5 percent from the previous fiscal year), while private investment totaled 24.6 trillion yen (down 1.9 percent). Public investment accounted for 40.3 percent of total construction investment, while private investment accounted for 59.7 percent.
The 2010 total floor space of building starts was 121.5 million square meters, up 5.2 percent from the previous year. In particular, the floor space of buildings for medical, healthcare and welfare use increased by 59.0 percent compared to the previous year, to 7.4 million square meters. Meanwhile, the number of housing construction starts (in the case of an apartment building, the number of apartment units was counted) fell in rental housing but increased in owned homes and built-for-sale housing, adding up to 0.81 million units. This was a 3.1-percent increase from the previous year, thus regaining growth after the drop that had been registered last year.
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