Not literally. But while Japan’s economy is sucking almost as hard as ours is, former Sony chairman Nobuyuki Idei (1999-2005) says that companies like Nintendo give him hope that Japan’s electronics industry will pull out of this slump.
He told The Financial Times that ”In the past, Japan was criticised for being an over-banked country; now it is over-electronics,” he says. That doesn’t make complete sense, but we know what he’s saying here. There’s almost too much coming out of Japan, and Idei believes that consolidation could help a bit. And so could inventive new products that sense consumer needs and wants.
Idea cited Nintendo’s Wii as a good example of electronics that “sense what it is happening in the world and then act on it,” as Financial Times‘ paraphrasing said.
Maybe he’s trying to say something like less TVs and more R&D. Here’s to hoping that Japan has a few more tricks up its sleeve.
