Japanese TV? Not Anymore They Don't!

This story makes me go, "Hmmmm?" Several Japanese TV manufacturers have stopped making TVs in Japan. This is truly the decline and fall of Japanese civilization!

I have already written about how high energy costs are going to force many factories to close especially if TEPCO is forced to raise electricity charges for these factories. For more on that, please refer to Japan's Collapse Will be Absolute and it Cannot be Stopped - Here's Why:

All one needs to do to see what that hollowing out has done to the middle class in America is to get on an airplane and fly to, say, Detroit to see what is left of industry there. It's not rocket science, but where's there's no industry, there are no jobs.

That is the future we are heading for in this country and I see no way out. Zerohedge writes in: A New Beginning in Japan: Glimmers of False Hope:

TEPCO, the bailed out owner of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is trying to shove rate increases of 17% down the throats of its commercial customers—while rationing power at the same time. Power shortages will spread across most of Japan this summer as the last of 54 nuclear power plants will be taken off line in a few weeks. 

... Hitachi, a major Japanese TV manufacturer has already closed doors on TV production in Japan. Now this?

Toshiba drops Japan TV operations amid falling prices, global competition

Toshiba said Thursday it has stopped making televisions in Japan, citing slow domestic demand as falling prices, fierce global competition and a strong yen pressure the country’s electronics makers.

The IT-and-engineering conglomerate shuttered production lines at its last remaining domestic TV plant in Fukaya, near Tokyo, at the end of March, a company spokesman told AFP.

Toshiba, the maker of the Regza brand of televisions, has shifted all of its television production to factories in China, Indonesia, Egypt and Poland, he said, adding: “The fall in domestic demand is the reason.”

The move is the latest development highlighting the plunging fortunes of Japan’s once world-beating electronics firms.

A strong yen, intense global competition—particularly from South Korean firms—and falling retail prices of televisions have left Japanese manufacturers swimming in red ink for the financial year that ended in March.

The industry received a temporary boost from a now-ended government stimulus program aimed at encouraging the purchase of energy-efficient appliances, but demand has slackened in an economy that has been limping along for many years.

Domestic television demand also surged when the nation stopped analogue broadcasting last July, by which time nearly all households and corporations had bought new televisions capable of receiving digital broadcasts.

On top of low demand, I'm absolutely sure that the higher electricity costs played a major role in Toshiba's decision. 


There are two issues at play here. The problem of high energy costs in Japan (and they are going to go higher) and the collapse of the TV viewing audience in Japan. For more on that please refer to "Why the Digital Conversion Will Destroy TV Tokyo and TBS."


TV as a hardware industry and as entertainment vehicle have a poor future in Japan. The other two TV manufacturers in Japan, Sony and Panasonic, haven't thrown in the towel, but are attempting to tie up with South Korean manufacturers...


The time's they are a changing! If you had told people 20 years ago that the Japanese would not be manufacturing TVs today, everyone would have thought you were nuts.... What is Japan? Geisha, samurai, sushi... and TV sets.