Japan - Konkurrent und Partner im globalen Wettbewerb (Japan - Rival and Partner in Global Competition)

The venue, jointly organized by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce in North Rhine/Westphalia, the “Industrie Club”, the German-Japanese Society and the German-Japanese Economic Council (DJW) offered a good opportunity for the research fellows of the DIJ’s Business and Economics Section to present their latest research results to practitioners from industry and associations. The topics of the lectures were chosen in accordance with the interests of the auditorium: they dealt with current changes in the Japanese economy and resulting chances for European corporations in Japan and Asia (Waldenberger, Meyer-Ohle, Legewie), and with investigations on the efforts of Japanese corporations to strengthen their competitiveness (Hemmert, Dirks). Additional presentations were made by Rupert Vondran (DJW), Horst Waesche (Hoechst AG), and Wilhelm Meemken (Ecos GmbH).

The number of participants was high: one hundred. This can be understood as an indicator that there still is interest in Japan in the German economy. During the discussion, some participants raised sceptical expectations and opinions, which in our view can be attributed to a lack of information and the pessimistic view that German mass media at the moment is taking on Japan. However, the organizers of the workshop continue to do their best to close the information gap.