Japan slips to 4th in Asia-Pacific power ranking: think tank

Tokyo lost 1.4 points and 4.2 points in the categories of "economic capability" and "economic relationships," respectively, as the nation's technological advantage "has eroded sharply in the face of competition" with South Korea, China and Taiwan, the report said.

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The only metric rising in Japan is the graying population.

Japanese manufacturers jumped ship a long time ago and the pride of making goods in Japan has long given way to ‘cheap’ being the most important.

Is that really surprising? The top three are nuclear powers.

This link shows the ranking list and other criteria. Surprised NK is ranked 17th, in the "Middle Power" grouping, same grouping as Japan. Surprised Canada isnt counted.

https://power.lowyinstitute.org/

"Japan is changing from an economic and cultural powerhouse to one much more active in defense and security cooperation," the institute said.

Japan has the same the same LDP mandarins in power as it had in its economic and cultural heyday of the 80's and 90's.

Taiwan and SK which have overtaken Japan in these areas have had more churn in their political scene and they have benefited.

The US always leads the way. Inventor of the internet, mobile phone, wifi, online commerce and now generative artificial intelligence.

But when Communist China inevitably becomes the world's dominant economic force, it's success will be built on technologies and innovations that originated in the US and were stolen or willingly handed over by globalization-loving Western and Japanese multinationals.

It's interesting that Australia is fifth with Russia sixth. I guess with Russia focussed on Ukraine and Australia arming up in the south Pacific, it makes sense. SK is seventh as it is bogged down with readiness for NK's erratic threats.

The analysis evaluates the comprehensive power of 27 countries and territories in the region, using a weighted average across eight measures such as military capability, economic resources, diplomatic influence and cultural influence, which are calculated by 131 indicators.

Japan military currently face shortage only able to recruit half of its target. Military need manpower, no matter how much money Japan has.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Defense/Japan-Self-Defense-Forces-miss-recruitment-goal-by-half

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Economic, with current price increase inside Japan less people will buy less, which result to lower GDP growth. From 2nd economy Japan in the world now is in 4th position, just matter of time before it become 5th.

https://www.dw.com/en/japanese-angst-as-india-set-to-overtake-as-4th-largest-economy/a-69044686

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Diplomatic influence, Japan even can't influence small pacific island and micronesia to take aside with Japan in tainted water dumping.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/497884/pacific-nations-acting-to-stay-in-line-with-china-over-fukushima-wastewater-issue-analyst

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14831030

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Cultural influence, Japan put money money on cultural project only to suffer losses.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/Cool-Japan-and-other-state-backed-funds-hit-by-huge-losses

""The analysis evaluates the comprehensive power of 27 countries and territories in the region, using a weighted average across eight measures such as military capability, economic resources, diplomatic influence and cultural influence, which are calculated by 131 indicators.""

Who Cares !?

Being Happy should be the lead indicator, forget about Military Capabilities, and Diplomatic Influence.

Being Happy should be the lead indicator, forget about Military Capabilities, and Diplomatic Influence.

So do Japanese really happy, with long working hour?

https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1d0srw9/only_57_of_japanese_feel_happy_3rd_lowest_rate

Japanese are definitely not happy!

Japanese are definitely not happy!

They are when they retire!

Just keeps going down. People blame it on "a low birth rate and aging population", which I strongly doubt. Look at SK, which has less than half the population of Japan and yet has a higher GDP per capita. "more active in defense and security cooperation" No way. They only have eye candies bought for diplomatic reasons from US. You'll see how paper tiger the SDF is If you do even a little bit of research.

@Ricky how can they be happy if the age with which to receive their pension keeps on changing. Before it was 60, now 65 and perhaps later 70.

@sakurasuki, Yes they're happy working long hrs esp with young and beautiful trainees around and with former mizu shobai ladies entertaining them.

Nobody pays much attention to what an Australian think tank says.

Nobody pays much attention to what an Australian think tank says.

Here's a page from the Lowy Institute which shows their funding.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/about/funding-support

They're funded by the CSIS, an American imperialist neocon think tank funded by the US "defence" industry.

TokyoLiving, care to comment?

Ricky Kaminki13: "They are when they retire!"

Hahaha... that's cute.

I'll never forget in my first few years here when a businessman sat beside me on the train and wanted to strike up a conversation in English. He asked me the usual questions: where I was from, what I was doing here, can I use chopsticks (joke), etc. I asked him if he was coming home from work and he said this:

Him: Actually, I'm retired.

Me: Oh! You're dressed up in a suit so I thought you were going to work.

Him: Oh, I still have to work four days a week instead of five (plus overtime), but now I only get half the pay, haha!

Me: So... you're not retired?

Him: Oh, I'm retired.

Me: ...

So, Ricky, many never retire until they are too old they can barely walk, and then they get part-time jobs directing traffic outside supermarkets.

Anyway, no surprise they've slipped to fourth in Asia, and no doubt before long it'll be fifth world economy. As I've said, Japan will be lucky to be in the top ten by 2030, and the worst part for the nation is the young people are leaving in droves for other Asian nations even.

One funny thing the other day was when my partner and I bought a new air-conditioner. Figured we'd get it now to prep for the upcoming winter. It's for a room we rarely use, but we sometimes have guests over (especially with the weak yen and people visiting the country) and the old air-con was more than 20 years old and probably spitting out some nasty stuff. So, we figured we'd got a little cheap on this one. Salesperson told us that the reason why one Toshiba unit was so much cheaper than the other despite being the same model was that, "This one's parts are made in plants in other Asian nations and assembled here. This one, however, is 100% made in Japan. It's the better product as such." My partner replied, "Maybe 20 years ago, but not now, and not at five times the cost. We'll take the first one." And she is 100% right.

It doesn’t matter who is doing the funding for the research. The reality is that Japan is a country in decline on many fronts!

Anybody living here knows well.

Meiyouwenti: "Nobody pays much attention to what an Australian think tank says."

As opposed to a Japanese one? haha. Didn't they have some massive think tank last year, after having spent years "studying" it, say, "Lack of sleep can make you tired"?

I know, I know... you never care when another country is right unless it is praise heaped on Japan (or what they take as praise for themselves when it's not), even for things it has no power over, like saying Mt. Fuji has a beautiful shape. But hey, if you take it as criticism... who cares, right?

Sadly, we keep hearing the same nonsense over and over. It is NOT the declining birthrate and working force getting lower, the main cause of the Economic decline and deteriorating living conditions. That's just a callous excuse for the politicians cease incompetency, and especially voting the same corrupt and gerontocratic Party over and over again for the past 30-40 years.

If one can deeply look into the root case of this, is the uncanning inability of Japanese people to change, the cultural deep rooted fear of change, of trying something new.

Even if they totally lost the leading in IT, technology, the Japanese companies still refuse to change, refuze to take risks and innovate, the fear of failure is 10x times bigger than the hope of success.

Unfortunatelly, as long as no cultural revolution is on sight, things will only go from bad to worst...

My dreams of the restoration of the “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” are shattered.

So what this reports is that Japan is remilitarizing, taking us back to the dirty thirties.

"Japan has slipped to fourth place in a ranking of the most powerful and influential nations in the Asia-Pacific region compiled by an Australian think tank, falling behind fast-growing India due to Tokyo's prolonged economic stagnation."

Why not use simpler indicators in the evaluation process such as "safely sending children alone to school and back", and I mean without pendophiles on their heels. And "Women walking freely during the night" and I mean without the fear of being physically and forcefully abused by rapist. Then come back and tell us the best nation in your evaluations.

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday  06:47 am JST

Is that really surprising? The top three are nuclear powers.

It's not surprising when everyone running everything in Japan is ageing and mediocre.

MeiyouwentiToday  09:02 am JST

Nobody pays much attention to what an Australian think tank says.

I notice you're not saying they're wrong.

If one can deeply look into the root case of this, is the uncanning inability of Japanese people to change, the cultural deep rooted fear of change, of trying something new.

The two major changes were in the Meiji era and post WWII. They were imposed upon Japan by Matthew Perry who forced Japan to modernize and Douglas MacArthur, the ruler of Japan from 1945 to 1951 who successfully eliminated Japan's military and changed it into a Western style government.

The Japanese are averse to risks and change. Perry and MacArthur have done more for change than any of the prime ministers who merely carry out the protocol. The US changes Japan. It is a challenge for Japan to change by itself.

Japans rank will drop even further because of the current and upcoming generation of teens and 20 year olds! 75% of Japanese people in universities have never heard of “ Dynamic Pricing “ and from the 25% who have heard about it, only 10% actually know what it meant! Not knowing basic things affecting daily life has become the new norm with these people. But if you ask them about idols, you tubers, Line Voom up-loaders they they know them all! Uploading and watching people acting like imbeciles on social media is their priority these days! The older generation and current middle aged Japanese people worked so hard and used their intelligence to make Japan such a wonderful country but the young generation of Japanese will utterly destroy Japan!

Oh no!

Quick! We need to make at least 50 more UN World Heritage sites by the end of the year so people notice us!

Japan is a technological superpower, it healthcare system, schooling, its milltary manufacturing capability is one of the most advanced globally.

Japan vehicle manufacturing sector, especially in next generation EV battery development is unrivalled.

Japan has challenges, depopulation, reform to transform the economy, gender political participation.

However not insurmountable.

Japan space programme is world renowned.

A pinch of salt needed..

Japan has the 3rd largest GDP, behind China and the US. Its space program and military are strong. Not sure where the stats for this article came from.

By the way, California's GDP is larger than India's, although our population is only a fraction of India's, 40 million vs. 1.5 billion.

Japan has the 3rd largest GDP, behind China and the US

Update yourself. Japan's GDP is now 4th behind Germany.

Japanophiles (and I am a Japanophile by the way) might feel a bit offended by such a lovely country being overtaken by a third world hellhole like India, but no one from India feels that they are in a competition against Japan.

You don't compete against role models.

There are 2 kinds of people who will feel offended on this news - the British who have always looked down on India. And the US liberals who can't bear to see a country which they don't regard as an ally or a democracy overtaking their strongest ally in Asia.

So imagine their reaction when India will overtake Japan's GDP in the next couple of years.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/India-to-surpass-Japan-as-4th-largest-economy-in-2025-IMF-says

In any case, most Indians love Japan and don't think that India will ever become as nice as Japan so this news is meaningless for them.

India may well overtake Japan's total GDP imminently - they do have more than 10 times the population! - but the inequality gap there compared to Japan is staggering. Japan's biggest strength is her (relative) equality.

Societies should be judged by how they treat the lowest, poorest members - not the overall wealth of a nation.

JeffLeeToday 07:01 am JST

The US always leads the way. Inventor of the internet, mobile phone, wifi, online commerce and now generative artificial intelligence.

The mobile phone, WiFi and E-commerce were not invented in the US. AI was first proposed by Alan Turing (UK) and the computer was given to the US by the UK.

Apart from that, spot on.

@ JeffLee

The US always leads the way. Inventor of the internet, mobile phone, wifi

Wi-fi was an Australian invention.

Not 100% sure about the others.

Feel free to try your luck in any of the three top or lower rankings. rofl

KyotoTodayToday 04:14 pm JST

JeffLeeToday 07:01 am JST

The US always leads the way. Inventor of the internet, mobile phone, wifi, online commerce and now generative artificial intelligence.

The mobile phone, WiFi and E-commerce were not invented in the US. AI was first proposed by Alan Turing (UK) and the computer was given to the US by the UK.

Apart from that, spot on.

Yeah, well, little thing called arpanet, buddy. Everyone has their own story about how they were the first in everything.

KyotoTodayToday 05:44 pm JST

TaiwanIsNotChina

That is the only thing the Internet is good for? Fascinating :)

What are you talking about? I was just stating a fact. And, as I'm sure you know, The Internet (US) and WWW (UK) are not the same thing. Ey, buddy?

You're right, the WWW would not be possible without the Internet. And Apple, Microsoft, and Google are slightly more important than Babbage from a modern perspective.

I stand corrected, Google says Germany ahead of Japan in GDP in 2024. Still, number 4 in the world isn't so bad.

If someday India passes Japan in GDP it isn't such a big deal, considering their vastly different populations, 124 million vs. 1,500 million (1.5 billion).

TaiwanIsNotChina

> You're right, the WWW would not be possible without the Internet. And Apple, Microsoft, and Google are slightly more important than Babbage from a modern perspective.

And the Internet would not be possible without, Babbage, Lovelace, Turing and a whole bunch of Polish geniuses.

My point, as others have pointed, is that America didn't invent everything.

I'm done with this silly conversation - only losers try to win on online forums.

Still, number 4 in the world isn't so bad.

If someday India passes Japan in GDP it isn't such a big deal

Contradictory. Not so bad, or no big deal, which is it?

Your son-in-law is of Pakistani origin so maybe you can check with him why Pakistan with double the population of Japan is in such a bad shape.

EvilBuddha: "There are 2 kinds of people who will feel offended on this news - the British who have always looked down on India. And the US liberals who can't bear to see a country which they don't regard as an ally or a democracy overtaking their strongest ally in Asia."

I feel like you missed an entire third group -- the Japanese who hear this news. No one is more offended by the idea of other nations bettering them; especially Asian nations.

Fighto! "India may well overtake Japan's total GDP imminently - they do have more than 10 times the population! - but the inequality gap there compared to Japan is staggering. Japan's biggest strength is her (relative) equality."

Hogwash. I forget... what is Japan's ranking in gender equality? Dead last in 150 countries? Or maybe it moved up to 144 or something last year. I forget. And Joe Tanaka is equal to an LDP politician or the like? hahaha.

Causes of deterioration are LDP politics that only exploit citizen, far-rights or supporting groups who use whatever ways only to maintain corrupted regime, and major media or voters who have no intention to correct politics.

Situation will be worsen.