The race to the bottom is starting in Japan too

[DainBramaged]

Nissan tiptoes into taboo territory -- restructuring Japanese capacity

It's no secret that manufacturing cars in Japan is increasingly uncompetitive.

Workers' wages are higher than in emerging markets. The domestic production footprint is buried in overcapacity. And reliance on exports often leads to huge foreign exchange losses.

But the bigger question is what to do about it. Nissan is pioneering a possible solution.

This week Nissan Motor Co. said it was studying a plan to spin off its Kyushu assembly plant, its biggest in Japan, by the fall of 2011. The goal is to shed the burden of high costs.

By reincorporating the factory as a separate company, Nissan may be hoping to renegotiate labor and supplier contracts toward more internationally competitive (read: lower) levels.

Talk of restructuring Japan's domestic auto manufacturing base -- the backbone of Japan Inc. -- is traditionally taboo, especially if it involves closing plants, shedding jobs or cutting pay.


Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20101007/BLOG06/101009892/-1#ixzz11gYmOKyK

[kenny blankenship]

1. We can still get the jump on them. All we have to do is repeal the 13th amendment.

Face it. That's where this is all headed anyway. I say if we act in this next legislative session to un-abolish slavery, we stand a darn good chance of catching the Japanese and the Chinese with their pants down.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. This has been going on for a long time

So-called "Japanese" electronics are now all made in China or Southeast Asia.

Although the official story is that the Japanese economy tanked ca. 1990-91 due to the failure of major banks, that's only part of the story.

The U.S. spent the entire 1980s pressuring the Japanese to adopt "international" (i.e. conservative American) business practices. Suddenly long-time employees were being fired, young people were finding it harder to obtain jobs, and big box stores were killing the mom-and-pop stores.