Japan has shown great potential in dominating the tech industry. The deputy chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan to Israel and the head of the embassy's economic department have high hopes for the industry and Japan's capacities in overcoming its strongest competitors in China.
In the last five years, Japanese companies have increased their presence in Israel substantially. About 26 Japanese companies had offices in the country before 2014, and that figure grew to 92 by 2019.
Before the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited Israel in 2015, there was a large meeting of business leaders, along with Japanese companies and corporations that made less than 10 investments in Israel per year. In 2019, about 51 investors engaged the deals between Japan and Israel.
According to Japan's minister and deputy chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan to Israel and the head of the Embassy's Economic Department Kazuhiko Nakamura, Israel is a vital partner of Japan in terms of innovating its products and services. He also noted that the biggest challenge so far is the improvement of Japan's productivity, where it would need essential innovative efforts to boost the market. He added that there is particular importance for both Japan and Israel to cooperate and partner in becoming startup nations that have higher capacities to innovate.
The commercial Attache at the Embassy of Japan Motoki Kurita also added that the joint efforts of both countries are a perfect combination for innovation. He then added that the cultural difference, however, is quite significant. He even referred to such cultures as close to the opposite. He referred to Israelis as high-risk takers, fast, and blunt about its interests, while the Japanese are more meticulous with risk factors before engaging a deal.
Kurita then explained that innovation is created by the collision and fission of two different perspectives and ideas. He noted that these differences are similar to that of Japan and Israel's relations, indicating that both countries could create truly disruptive innovation together.
In other news, Japan being a staunch ally of the US is also fuelling China's efforts in getting ahead in the tech industry despite the tensions between the latter countries. After the US made it tougher for American companies to deal with Chinese tech giant Huawei and other Chinese tech companies with stricter regulations, China has been improving its superfast cellular networks.
China has been planning to deploy more than 500,000 base stations in its 150 billion USD push for 5G networks. The fifth-generation cellular service would involve Japan supplying the tech to Chinese tech giant Huawei.
