In January last year, shortly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power, the government created the Industrial Competitiveness Council to study concrete steps to strengthen Japanese industry's international competitiveness, which has weakened in recent years.
Indeed, many Japanese manufacturers were forced to retreat from the market of fast-selling smartphones and tablets after being caught between two fires from Apple Inc. of the United States and Samsung Electronics of South Korea, and being caught up fast by their Chinese competitors.
Japan was also outdone by China and South Korea with regard to environment-related products such as storage batteries and solar panels, which had been Japan's forte and appear to have promising growth in the future.