Furthermore, in these three years when economic recovery has been unable to obtain a firm footing, some industries achieved earnings growth comparable to or even exceeding that attained in the three years during the economic boom of the latter half of the 1980s: namely, the electrical and precision machinery industries, which have succeeded in adjusting to the new international division of labor; and the pulp and paper industry in the raw materials sector, which has been able to benefit from the increased volume of information processed and distributed in today’s technological age.
I have so far emphasized the brighter side of the domestic economy with the hope of further encouraging the efforts of domestic industries, but reality is obviously not so simple. During periods of transition of industrial structure, the contrast between the bright and dark sides tends to become stronger.