On the other hand, domestic demand has continued on an uptrend, and nonmanufacturers' sentiment has remained at a high level on the whole. In the past, there were many cases in Japan where changes in the global economy or external demand affected overall developments in the economy relatively quickly.
However, what is unique to the current phase is that domestic demand has remained firm so far  2  despite weak external demand. One factor underpinning firm domestic demand is business fixed investment. According to the December Tankan (Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan), business fixed investment is planned to continue increasing steadily (Chart 3).