At the beginning of October 1964, a few days before the start of the Olympics, operations began on the Tokyo-Osaka railway line, which was served by unique high-speed Shinkansen trains. They traveled at a speed of 210 kilometers per hour, which in rail transport in the Czech Republic has not yet been achieved in normal operation. However, many countries, including China, have already matched Japan’s lead.
The Japanese are now vying with China over who will have a faster maglev, a train moving contactlessly in a hover over a magnetic field, which could be a significant export item. While in Shanghai the maglev runs on at least a 30-kilometer section, in Japan, according to the original plans, the line from Tokyo to Nagoya was to be put into operation in 2027 and ten later to Osaka.
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However, the work delayed the pandemic and concerns about the impact on the environment, so a question mark hovers over the schedule. Beijing, meanwhile, is investing in a line from Shanghai to Ningpo, and it is eagerly awaited who will win the race.
“The world of technology feels that Japan is lagging behind China more and more, so if Magleva technology could be used first, it would be a huge national pride,” Christopher Hood of Cardiff University told Bloomberg, who wrote a book on Japanese high-speed trains.
However, these are far from being the case, it is believed that in some ways the Eastern Empire is also lagging behind South Korea and Taiwan, for example in the chip industry. The Japanese government assessed last month that it must invest at least $ 9 billion in semiconductor development this fiscal year alone if it has a national industry.
“It will not be an easy return to the scene. If we miss the opportunity now, maybe another will not come, “said the head of the government’s expert team, Tecuro Higashi.
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In his analysis, Bloomberg states that the solution will require something other than a massive financial injection – a change in the way we do business. According to him, there is a need to cut red tape, look more at talent abroad and abandon the idea of companies as “national champions” in general, and instead seek international cooperation. However, according to some opinions, this may be hindered by excessive Japanese quality control.
Global Risk Insights, which conducted business analyzes in the spring, stressed that Japan is falling in the ranking of the International Institute for Management Development, which assesses the digital competitiveness of countries. He considers one of the reasons to be an inhospitable environment for the growth of startups, which tend to have the advantage of greater freedom and flexibility over large corporations.
The islands have only three unicorns among startups, ie start-ups worth more than a billion dollars. In the United States and China, the number of such companies is slowly reaching hundreds, and there are also more than ten in South Korea.
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Global Risk Insights notes that one of the reasons is the reluctance of large Japanese companies to invest in small, start-ups. According to them, this is related to the risk aversion of Japanese investors. Slightly more proven startups are already finding finance more easily in the country, but many of them will not reach this phase without initial support. According to the analysis, the mistake is that in large corporations, research and development is too closed and relatively isolated from the outside world.
But Japan is definitely not lagging behind in everything, it still remains at the forefront, for example in robotics and supercomputers. In addition, according to its current steps, the government is aware of the problems and is trying to fix them. Former Economy Minister Akira Amari of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is convinced that the country faces a challenge that comes once every hundred years.
“Japan is good at getting things from scratch to number one, but not so much at moving them from number one to ten. He wins in technology, but loses in business, “he said.
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