Katsutaro Inabata
President

Time flies. This is the third New Year since the COVID-19 pandemic started. I am writing this message in early December, and Japan is virtually in the “eighth wave” of the pandemic, with daily infections counting nearly 120,000 cases per day. However, the term COVID-19 is disappearing from news headlines due to the relatively small number of critically ill patients. Restrictions to enter Japan have gradually been eased, and foreign tourists are increasing. At last, after three years, the “ordinary” seems to be returning to our lives.

Verifying the infectious disease control measures

As the old Japanese saying goes, we tend to forget about a crisis once it passes. But there are many questions I ask myself reflecting on the past three years. Quarantine and isolation are the basics of preventing the spread of contagious diseases. But why did Japan not take strict border control measures like Taiwan? And how come, even with the highest number of hospital beds per head, there were growing concerns of a healthcare crisis in Japan? Why did the World Health Organization (WHO) not strongly endorse the use of ivermectin–an antiparasitic drug developed by a Nobel Prize winner Dr. Satoshi Omura–and why did Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare shy away from approving its use? Do the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines truly outweigh their risks? And so on. I understand that it is inevitable to go through trials and errors in case of an outbreak of a new infectious disease until we find the virus’s nature. Still, I feel the situation needs to be verified in retrospect. In December, the ministry announced that it would mull downgrading the legal classification of COVID-19 to Class IV from Class II. Better late than never, and at least we are moving forward, but I hope verifications and reviews will be thoroughly made to be ready when we face the next pandemic.

Japan’s Economic Security Promotion Act

Meanwhile, the idea of economic security gained renewed attention during the pandemic. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, facemasks disappeared from drugstores’ shelves, making us realize that many are not being produced domestically in Japan. The same goes for semiconductors, with which we are still having problems. The accelerating globalized economy has led Japan to excessively rely on specific countries for people’s essentials, and now there is a movement for its correction. Such a trend has existed since the beginning of the U.S.-China trade friction, but the supply-chain disruption accelerated the movement. It led to Japan’s enactment of the Economic Security Promotion Act in May. Details of the bill are on the Cabinet Office website (Japanese only), but there are four key points.

The first point is to ensure the stable supply of essential products, such as semiconductors, medicine, materials for battery storage, and minerals, with the government stepping in to inspect the solidity of their supply chain. The second is to ensure the stable provision of essential infrastructure services. The government will pre-examine equipment installation by operators of crucial infrastructures, such as electricity, communication, and finance. The third is fostering the development of critical and advanced technologies, which includes not only supporting such development but also imposing confidentiality on persons who engage in critical technologies. The fourth, already introduced in 51 other countries, is to withhold disclosure of security-sensitive patent applications. I regret having to refer to rather heavy topics from the start of the year. Still, I decided to go ahead since the act’s enactment seemed to be a watershed moment for the international economic trend based on the principle of free trade. It might be inevitable considering the impact on Europe of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growing geopolitical risks in Northeast Asia. However, upon implementation, clear rules and process transparency are indispensable, as these are fundamental to democracy.

Verify the outcome of reforms and new measures

Those of you working in the Tokyo Head Office will be starting the new year at our temporary office, when this New Year’s edition of Inaho magazine will be published. While your hopes might be high in the new working environment, you might also be experiencing anxieties about the new workstyles, such as the free-address workplace. Within the last year or so, we took multiple further steps, such as changing the structure of corporate governance along with changes in standards for approval. Reforms were made in the human resources system, such as the extension of the retirement age, the introduction of an open career-application system, and the remote working system. We must pause and verify to see if all the employees understand the objective and the purpose of such reforms and whether the changes are producing results as expected. I also look forward to discussing with many of you—hopefully, in person—what it is to “continually evolve serving clients and society” but also about what makes us truly Inabata that shall not be changed.

Many of us realized during the last three years that the “ordinary” lives we took for granted until then were extraordinary and for which we must be grateful. While appreciating the gradual return of normalcy, let us come together and move ahead into the final year of NC2023.