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Let me express the greetings of the season, and we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your extraordinary support throughout last year. Also, I look forward to working with you in 2021．
We had exhibited at 32nd International Jewelry Tokyo, held at Tokyo Big Sight Aomi Exhibition Halls, for 4 days from 13/01/2021 to 16/01/2021．
Last year, we went through hardship which no one had expected due to the global pandemic of the new coronavirus (COVID-19)． The spread of the new coronavirus has dramatically changed people’s lifestyles and the social structure of the world. It had caused the stagnation of economic activities and the tightness of medical facilities, and this situation is still highly unpredictable. The year 2021 began with no prospect of the end of the pandemic．
Many problems have come to the surface due to the corona disaster, and it is likely to be an issue that how to deal with and improve them in the future． In Japan, digitization, employment, and reform of industrial structure are lagging behind the rest of the world. In the world, problems such as the US-China conflict, widening gap between rich and poor, irregularities in globalization, fluctuations in democracy and capitalism, and international relations have revealed．
A new era, so called new normal, has arrived due to the corona disaster, and the future is beginning to be dependent on whether you can change in accordance with it or not． Japan lags behind the rest of the world in R & D, patents, copyrights, designs, software, algorithms, business models, etc．I believe that we should learn from them．
In addition, to bring about innovation and to recover our position, we should aim to be a company that stands up against the Corona disaster, a company that serves society and a company that promotes globalization． I believe that only this company would be chosen by the market. The “new normal” society has destroyed the time axis, the life philosophy, and the opinion on life and death, and is urging companies to change. Now, I feel that we need to rethink our marketing strategy more quickly than ever before．
Regarding the US-China conflict, the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law during the Corona Disaster has caused the United States to strongly oppose China’s forcible measures. This has expanded not only to trade wars and technological hegemony, but also to military security issues, and U.S. – China relations have reached their worst state since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979. This issue is likely to have a significant impact on our industry, and it seems to influence on our business in Hong Kong in the future, also．
Globalization, which has continued for more than 30 years since the 1990s, is on the verge of collapse due to the corona disaster. Because the structure of free movement of people and goods around the world has collapsed, the global supply chain is being disrupted. Under the situation where the logic of security is prioritized, flexibility of physical distribution is restricted, and each country is heading for heartless transactions using goods, and even medical supplies have become strategic supplies．
As you know, the lifestyles of people around the world have changed drastically due to the corona disaster. Even if it would be contained, lifestyles and international affairs would be far from its original state; on the contrary, change of circumstances around the people would accelerate. I think that 2021 is the year to prepare for the “new normal” which will be born from these circumstances．
The situation of this jewelry show held under such circumstances was quite bad and thought be almost impossible to hold as the number of people infected with corona in Japan increased even before the show, and a state of emergency was issued in 1 capital area and 3 prefectures. There were quite a few companies that declined to exhibit, and the venue was a little quiet with many unmanned booths．
The number of visitors was unprecedentedly small, and it seemed that there were almost no buyers from overseas. Since the acceptance of foreign travelers was completely banned during the session, it seems that overseas buyers will not be able to enter Japan for a while. All the foreigners who were seen at the venue this time were people living in Japan．
Jewelry shows, in recent years, have largely relied on overseas buyers, and these companies which handle products mostly for overseas buyers were affected． As the second, third days of the exhibition passed, some companies started to close their booths． But not everyone was in the bad situation, and most of the people who came to our booth were very energetic．
Those who were unable to purchase as expected due to the Corona disaster and those who thought it was a turning point, were all enthusiastic about purchasing． Even looking at the people who came to our booth, the probability of purchasing seemed the highest ever this time． Foreign people living in Japan looked very busy looking for orders from overseas and negotiating business using live commerce like WeChat Live
In foreign countries, the Internet environment is considerably more advanced than in Japan, and sales in the Internet environment seem to be strong even in Corona disaster. China is leading the world in cutting-edge technologies such as 5G and electric vehicle storage batteries, and it seems that the middle class will increase at a pace of 100 million people in the next 10 years． Although the attractiveness of China as a production base has faded due to political risks, but its potential as consumption market is still large．
Even in the “new normal” of the Corona disaster, the digital field is attracting attention as a new market, and many of them, such as online events, education, and online shopping, are still producing results． The ability of corporate employees to work from home can be said to be a benefit of digital technology． Although the form of digital technology differs for all industries, digitization is a pressing issue．
A lot of things have changed due to the Corona disaster. I think that our industry will change dramatically, also. We would like to work with you together to overcome major changes this year as well. Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who came to our booth in spite of such circumstances．Just for your information, after the jewelry show, we performed a PCR test on all of our staff who had participated in this jewelry show and received report that all of them were negative．
