In fact, the bigger problem comes from relations with China.
If we face the facts
1. The end of ‘rivals’: the gap is now shameful even for comparison
In the past, Japan viewed China as a huge market and potential competitor. But currently, no one considers Japan a rival to China.
As of 2025, China’s GDP size is well over four times that of Japan, a level that only major countries such as Japan, Germany, and India combined can compete with.
Now, for China, Japan is not a ‘mountain to climb’ but merely an ‘old milestone’ that has already been passed. No matter what diplomatic voices or protests Japan makes, China continues to ignore it without even turning its nose up. China’s cynical view appears to be that it no longer sees Japan as an equal diplomatic partner.
2. Japan’s core industries that have been thoroughly trampled
All major industries that Japan took pride in were tragically collapsed by China.
The sinking of the automobile industry: The automobile industry, once the heart of Japan, has succumbed to waves of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).
The Japanese car market share in China has been cut in half, and even the Southeast Asian market, which was considered Japan’s home, is quickly being taken over by Chinese brands such as BYD.
Extinction of home appliances and IT: Japan, the ‘home appliance kingdom’ represented by Sony and Panasonic, is now a thing of the past.
The TV industry is on the verge of extinction due to China’s Hisense and TCL, and the living rooms of Japanese homes have already been dominated by Made in China products.
Absence of future technology: Japan cannot even follow China’s shadow in future industries such as AI, robots, and quantum computing.
Even compared to Korea, the level is miserable.
While China was leading the world in cutting-edge technology, Japan was still caught up in stamps, faxes, and analog systems and missed the train of innovation.
3. “”I can’t survive a day without Chinese products.””
Japanese reality
Although Japanese people express anti-Chinese sentiments, paradoxically, they live in a humiliating structure where survival is impossible without Chinese products.
40% of imported goods are from China: According to the Japanese government’s white paper, Japan’s dependence on Chinese imports is
It is breaking new highs every year. More than 90% of everyday electronic products, such as laptops, air conditioners, and smartphones, depend on China, and if China stops exporting, Japan’s logistics and living systems will be immediately paralyzed.
Personal choice after becoming poor: It is clear why Japanese people are enthusiastic about the low-price household goods store ‘Daiso’ or the Chinese direct purchase platform ‘Temu’ and ‘Aliexpress’.
The growth of AliExpress and Temu in Japan is much faster and larger than in Korea.
Explosive number of users: The number of Temu users in Japan exceeded 30 million in less than a year after launch.
Compared to the approximately 8 million Temu users in Korea, the absorption rate among Japanese people is abnormally fast, even considering population differences.
App installation ranking
In the Japanese App Store, Temu and Ali have been dominating first and second places for a long time. Japanese people, who were once loyal to their own services (Rakuten, Amazon Japan), have now given up their pride and moved to Chinese apps in large numbers.
With real wages remaining stagnant for 30 years, low-priced Chinese products have become the only means of survival for poor Japanese individuals.
4. A painful reversal: a path you can never return to
Japan is nostalgic for the days when it threatened the United States, but the reality is harsh.
China is exercising ‘dominance’ over Japan beyond economic and technological ‘superiority’.
No matter how much Japan imposes restrictions or struggles, China can strangle the Japanese economy simply by weaponizing key resources such as rare earths or restricting the export of tourists.
Now Japan has become like a big old man who has lost the power to resist the huge trend called China.
Just as Korea has overtaken Japan in terms of individual quality of life, Japan is now predicting that it will remain a declining country that misses the past in front of the huge wall called China.
Japan would like to believe it is still a great country, but its industrial heart has stopped and its people’s wallets have become thinner.
We envy and criticize China’s growth, but the most painful reality in Japan today is that we cannot eat a meal or buy a smartphone without Chinese products.