Our collective challenge is to capitalise on those advantages. Ensuring a strong focus on lifting productivity is surely the key here. As we work out how to do this, though, we obviously can’t ignore the uncertainties. But neither can we let those uncertainties force us to retreat, to withdraw from the world.
Figures for the base pay increase up to fiscal 2013 are based on the survey by the Central Labour Relations Commission, and those from fiscal 2014 onward are based on the survey by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo).