Yesterday in the Nikkei Weekly there was an article on Japan’s new prime minister Abe and his view towards the future of the growth of the Japanese economy. No doubt about it the economy is growing, however, the population is getting older. This creates a difficult situation for Japan. How to sustain growth when you will not have enough people to do the work?

The answer according to Abe is raising productivity. In the Nikkei article it is mentioned that on a scale of 30 Japan is number 19 in terms of productivity. Banking and construction seem to be doing the worst. Anyone trying to open a bank account in Japan would not dissagree.

Construction is hopelessly unproductive. This morning I was on a construction site since 7:30, at 9:00 the first contractors came. After a lengthy discussion they started in worked until 10:00 and went off for a break for about 30 minutes, and then after some work, it is off to lunch again, in the afternoon another couple of breaks and a whole day is spend on the site (and charged to the client).

Furthermore, the simplest task is being performed by double or triple the number of people actually needed. How many times have I not seen this scene: two “security boys” to direct traffic, two to three “suits” (quite often salesmen) that basically don’t do anything except for watching the work being done, and then a few more to do the actual work. A few “ladder-holders” might be needed as well. I am not kidding, last month at the station in Denenchofu where I live there were, well counted, 7 people busy “changing” the train table. A board of 1×1.5 meters could easily have been changed by one person.

I am not sure yet about Abe politics, but I think he has seen what I see far too often and I am sure that with productivity he is onto something.

(To be continued)