Competitiveness of Japanese agriculture from the long-term aspect: Its individual dispositions and the possibility of non-price competition

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the individual dispositions of Japanese agriculture from the viewpoint of competitiveness. It is common knowledge that most sectors in Japanese agriculture cannot be competitive in price competition. But in regard to non-price competition, it is unclear whether Japanese agriculture takes the advantage or the disadvantage. In this study, the following three points are found. First, there is an asymmetric relationship in competitiveness between domestic food and imported food. Most domestic products are perceived to be of high quality because people are accustomed to these tastes. Similarly, these products are perceived to be safe because troubles of food-borne risks can easily be handled through internal laws. Thus domestic food takes advantage through the consumer's perception of quality and safety; however, it should be noticed that tasty and reliable does not necessarily mean high quality and safety. The superiority of domestic products people perceive might be vulnerable. Second, in the world food market product differentiation has been widely spreading. Intra-industry trade has been extended under the spreading and deepening of product differentiation. However, product differentiations in food markets are mostly vertical Therefore it may be difficult to form a strong brand loyalty through which a product with extreme inferiority in price competitiveness has the possibility to take strong advantage, overly compensated by non-price factors. Besides, with respect to non-price factors the eating culture can play an important role through strengthening the competitiveness by a country s own brand. Third rainy and humid climate conditions as a specific factor of Japanese agriculture must unavoidably influence its competitiveness. They must also impose a heavy burden on it because it requires huge amounts of pesticides to control the proliferation of insects and weeds, which easily grow in this kind of climate.