It is already the middle of October. Rapidly changing weather situation has continued this week. If you think it is sunny, it rains and if you think it is cool, it is going to be hot. According to weather forecast, from next week onwards, the autumn weather will gradually prevail, and it will be a little cooler in the mornings and evenings but there will be still many hot and humid days during the day, so taking care of your physical condition is necessary.
By the way, the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election was held on September 27 two weeks ago, and Mr. Shigeru Ishiba was elected. After he was nominated as Prime Minister at the 214th extraordinary session of the Diet convened on October 1, through imperial investiture and attestation ceremony, Ishiba administration was formally inaugurated.
And the House of Representatives was dissolved on October 9, just 8 days after taking office as Prime Minister, which is the shortest after the war. By doing this, the 50th election for the House of Representatives will be published on October 15 and voted on October 27. Anyway, the term of a member of the House of Representatives ends on October 30, 2025, and what was a cause of this dissolution in a hurry? After all, it assumes an election of “purification or starting over again”. The Liberal Democratic Party will have a really hard time but opposition parties will have no decisive factor, and the public will be lost.
Next, in October, price increases continue, especially in food. It is said that the number of items is over 2,900. Among them, the wholesale trading price of Koshihikari produced in Niigata which is the main brand of rice produced in 2024 getting started increases by more than 80 % compared to the same period last year, and it is the highest price in 31 years. It is said that the background is influence of last year’s intense heat or demand increase due to increase of inbound visitors, but even if a policy of reducing acreage was abolished, it might be attributed to an agricultural policy maintaining the system in actuality. Considering the current situation where more than 700 million people are suffering from starvation, we should increase production by high-tech and turn to export expansion.

■■What I have recently thought and focused on:
■The presidential election in the United States:
It is now less than a month until voting day, but the election campaign is a mud-slinging match and on top of that, fake news is flying around. There is no way to comment what the outcome will be from now on. Mr. Trump is incoherent now and does not mind “doing whatever it takes to win”, and will use every means possible during the remaining campaign period. It is something like American version “battles without honor and humanity”. At present, approval rating of Mrs. Harris seems to be slightly higher, especially among young people and women. But the situation in 7 key states that hold the key to winning or losing is chaotic and I am curious about it.
■The announcement of this year’s Nobel Prize winners has started:
It is the time of year when Nobel Prize winners have been announced. Taking the lead, Mr. Hopfield of Princeton University in the United States and Mr. Hinton of the University of Toronto in Canada won Nobel Prize in Physics on October 8. The reason for award is “basic discovery and invention that machine learning is possible by artificial neural network”. Based on their results, AI (artificial intelligence) producing high-precision sentences and moving pictures has been developed and made a significant impact and change in society.
Incidentally, seeing the winners from 1901 (the first) to last year by country of origin, first place is the United States (209), the second is the United Kingdom (80), the third is Germany (71), the fourth is France (35) and the fifth is Japan (25). The first Japanese to win Nobel Prize is Dr. Hideki Yukawa winning Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949, but after that, the growth of the number of winners had been sluggish. But it increased at once in the 2000s.
By the way, I visited Sweden, Finland and Germany as the leader of mission to Northern Europe by Kansai Productivity Center in November 2011, and witnessed the state of women’s social advancement and was appalled by the difference between these countries and Japan. The details of this matter are for another time, but I visited Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden where the awarding ceremonies for Nobel Prize are held. The imposing atmosphere was very impressive. I bought gold medals that inside is a chocolate, because I can’t get the real thing in my hands.
■The current situation of Japanese economy:
Prime Minister Ishiba delivered the first policy speech since taking office. Among them, he showed his attitude of placing emphasis on “productivity improvement” and “acceleration of public and private investments” toward the realization of “growth-type economy driven by wage increases and investments”. And he held up five “protecting” ,namely, ①following the rules ②protecting Japan ③protecting the people ④protecting the region ⑤protecting the opportunity of young people and women.
Words such as “productivity improvement” and “regional revitalization” have been heard too often as a policy so far. I feel this “again”. The question is how he realizes these. Even if only money is scattered, where we end up is “shortage of human resources” or “lack of ideas”. After all, it will be like throwing the whole thing to consulting company, and the result will be something that is much the same and not unique.
■The current situation of labor productivity in Japan:
Mr. Shunpei Takemori, international economist, comparing the United States and Eurozone, Germany and Japan, points out that ①changing for the better of productivity gap between the United States and these areas until around the 1990s②worsening since then. In case of Germany that leads manufacturing in Europe, it had constantly outperformed the United States in the 1990s but it is lower than the United States now. In case of Japan, it is more serious and the gap which had been shrunk nearly 20 % in the 1990s is expanding 30 % now. And in international economy, the United States and China are enhancing their presence and on the other hand, the position of Japan and EU is declining. He says that the biggest reason is a lag of high-tech (IT and finance).
■A lag of digitalization in Japan:
More than 20 years have passed since Japanese government started IT implementation plan “e-Japan strategy” in 2001. And the Digital Agency started in September 2021, but it is not fully effective, because it can not break down vertical walls of various government offices yet. By the way, a lag of digitalization is arising from distrust of government regarding information management (leak) and leaning on the industry and tribal lawmakers that are trying to protect vested interests.
And in Japan, My Number system was introduced on January 1, 2016, but the acquisition rate of My Number Card remains 74.8 % as of the end of August this year and usage rate of My Number insurance card also remains 11.3 % as of July this year. On the other hand, the United States is very strict on privacy protection, but “Social Security Number” equivalent to My Number in Japan was introduced in the United States more than 80 years ago. The people and residents in the United States are required by law to obtain this number without exception.
If you don’t have this, you can’t live. In my case, social security number obtained when I moved to the United States about 50 years ago remains unchanged as long as I am alive, and it is managed by U.S. government. Thanks to that, anywhere on Earth, the pension matching the insurance fee paid by me while working locally is transferred to my bank account designated by me. As mentioned above, in the United States, thoroughness of social security number system is playing a major role in the spread of digitalization and it is the biggest weapon in productivity improvement through efficiency, regardless of whether it is a government or a private sector. Japan should try to facilitate the introduction of My Number system, even if it strengthens the law. If it goes on like this, our country will leave behind global trends toward digitalization, and a further decline in national power is inevitable.