The Foreign Chambers in Japan (FCIJ) has been conducting Business Confidence surveys online twice a year since 2002 among foreign-affiliated companies in Japan. This survey shows that all indexes, from views on the Japanese economy to the performance of the companies, as well as their forecasts for the future, declined about 15-25% from the Spring 2012 survey conducted in April. But apart from the views on the Japanese economy in the short term, all indices were still positive. The Japanese economy for the next 6 months is expected remain flat and looking 12 months ahead, the companies see a slight turn for the better. The concerns regarding the economy and lower reported and forecasted growth in the companies performance, could now, based on the comments the respondents made, be to a fairly large extent attributed to external factors, such as the European debt crises, the troubled Japan-China relations and uncertainties regarding the US economy.
Source: Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan
