(ECNS) -- Long regarded as a global benchmark for quality and precision, Japan's manufacturing sector is now losing its competitive edge.
Its share of global manufacturing value-added has declined sharply over the past two decades, while repeated scandals over data falsification and quality failures have damaged trust. At the same time, Japan is lagging in digitalization and new energy transition, revealing deeper structural weaknesses.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries' factory. (File photo provided to China News Service)
Fraud in Japan's manufacturing sector has persisted for decades, penetrating multiple core industries, and its credibility system and quality control mechanisms are now seriously dysfunctional, Guo Rui, head of the Department of International Politics at the School of Public Administration of Jilin University, told China News Network.
Over the past two decades, Japan's global manufacturing share has shrunk markedly.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries—one of Japan's most important defense contractors—illustrates the problem. The company builds submarines that account for half of Japan's active submarine fleet. However, since last year, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has publicly admitted to long-term, large-scale fraudulent transactions, with some funds allegedly funneled through complex channels to members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Scandals involving data falsification at Toyota and Yamaha Motor, substandard steel at Kobe Steel, and health supplements from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical that harmed consumers have not only severely damaged corporate reputations, but also cast a shadow over Japan's once-admired "craftsman spirit."
Assistant Researcher of the Center for Japanese Studies under the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, Jiang Mingyu explained that these scandals reflect governance fatigue in Japan's manufacturing sector. This exposes not only the serious failure of quality management and compliance mechanisms, but also the rigidity caused by excessive reliance on experience-based operational models.
External conditions are further accelerating the erosion of Japanese manufacturing. This is partly due to pressure from U.S. tariff policies, and also reflects Japan's weakening position in global competition.
According to the latest data from Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's exports to the U.S. fell 3.1% year-on-year in October. Among them, exports of automobiles, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and pharmaceuticals dropped by 7.5%, 49.6%, and 30.8%, respectively.
These developments indicate that the decline of Japanese manufacturing is not merely the result of isolated corporate problems, nor simply a consequence of intensifying external competition. Rather, it is a structural predicament driven by the combined effects of an aging manufacturing system, rigid governance, and technological stagnation.
Amid a declining domestic industry, Japan recently announced plans to deploy medium-range missiles on Yonaguni, just 110 kilometers from Taiwan, to echo Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent remarks.
At the same time, the Japanese government has begun consultations on exportinga a defense command and control system to the Philippines.
Japanese officials continue to hype up the notion of strengthening defense capabilities, but in reality, this lacks sufficient domestic industrial support and is more of a publicity slogan, Guo said.
In fact, attempts to inflame military issues to mask economic and technological stagnation will not truly enhance national strength. Instead, such moves are more likely to deepen internal social divisions and exacerbate regional instability.
If Japanese politicians remain obsessed with reviving past glory while avoiding genuine industrial reform and restructuring, the golden age of "Made in Japan" may never return.
(By Gong Weiwei)
https://www.oliannews.com/gj/2025/12-04/397677.shtml