Abstract
The present paper discusses factors that may mislead judgements on the international competitiveness of Japanese companies. While the overestimated yen value exaggerates the value added and productivity of Japanese industry, estimations based on the purchasing power parity reveals that the labor productivity, per capita GDP and labor cost of Japan are all inferior to those of the U.S.. Analysis of the Japanese industry in terms of patents, research publications and technology trade balance shows that excessive competition squeezes the profitability of the chemical industry, although its technology level is comparable to that of American and European counterparts, while the competitiveness of the electronic industry lags behind that of the U.S. in spite of the highly estimated competitiveness. Japan cannot maintain the "catch-up-oriented" innovation in the next generation; instead, originality should be pursued in cooperation with academic research activities.
