With the World Cup, sumo's baseball betting scandal and Sunday's Upper House election dominating the media's attention, some readers may have not noticed the extensive coverage also being devoted to China. And we're not just talking about crowds at the Shanghai Expo, but the crowds of visitors to Ginza, whose numbers are certain to increase exponentially over the next decade.
Emblazoned on the June 21 cover of Nikkei Business was a composite image of an elaborately ornamented gate bearing a sign reading "Chuka-gai" (Chinatown) straddling the Ginza 4-chome intersection between the Wako Building and Mitsukoshi department store. The title of the 15-page cover story was "Your new boss is Chinese."
While the article cited a survey by the Teikoku Data Bank last April, in which 78.1 percent of the firms surveyed said they felt "threatened" by the possibility of being bought out by newly developed economies, the message was essentially upbeat, suggesting such partnerships would provide a mutual economic stimulus over the long run.