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Let me express the greetings of the New Year．Thanks to everyone’s support and kindness, we have been in business for 21 years now． We will continue to devote ourselves to meet everyone’s expectations with new feeling． We look forward to working with you again this year．
We had exhibited at 33rd International Jewelry Tokyo, held at Tokyo Big Sight, for 4 days from 01/12/2022 to 01/15/2022．
The onslaught of the new coronavirus, which exploded worldwide in 2020, has not abated in two years, and the economy has not returned to pre-coronavirus levels． Just as a new variant (Omicron strain) was discovered in Africa, there is a possibility that more variants may emerge, and it seems that the situation will continue to be influenced by the infection trend of the new coronavirus as in the previous year． I believe how to deal with the situation of with corona will be very important．
Other than the new coronavirus, inflation is another concern this year． While the supply of grains and other crops has become unstable due to a series of abnormal weather conditions and the spread of a new coronavirus infection, the progress of de-carbonization has pushed up production costs and causing food prices to soar worldwide． In addition, consumption trends have changed due to the coronavirus, and the consumption target has shifted from services to goods, and prices continue to rise as supply cannot keep up with this shift．
Some say that once the risk of coronavirus infection subsides, labor supply will increase and inflation will gradually subside, but there are no signs of convergence at this time． As the FRB is expected to raise interest rates this year, long-term interest rates will rise and the interest rate gap with the U.S. will widen, then leading to continued outflow of funds from emerging countries and other regions, which may slow down the economy． It is also feared that the worst-case scenario will be stagflation, a rise in prices during a recession．
Speculative funding is flowing into the grain markets around the world in anticipation of even higher food prices． Many countries have begun to regulate speculative buying and selling in order to control soaring prices. If food prices continue to rise, it is expected that public dissatisfaction will explode in emerging countries and democratization movements will occur, leading to civil war and political instability．
There are also concerns about the bursting of the bubble in real estate and financial markets in the future．When interest rates are raised due to inflation control, it may trigger a sharp drop in the real estate and financial markets where the easing money has flowed in． In China, the real estate bubble has begun to burst, with the financial crisis of Evergrande Group came to the surface． And the FRB has begun to normalize interest rates, with long-term interest rates gradually rising．
Until now, Japan’s ultra-low interest rate policy has led the yen to depreciate by holding down debt costs and supporting the fiscal deficit． However, if the supply chain breaks down and the global economy slows down, the benefits of a weaker yen will disappear and the traditional export-led recovery pattern will no longer work, which might only lead to further increases in import prices．
This year is expected to be a year in which we will face many issues, including the coronavirus, conflicts and frictions between countries such as the United States and China, political turmoil, and disparities． It seems that our industry is also in urgent need of structural reform to keep up with the changing times． The 33rd IJT had started under such circumstances．
We have been exhibiting at the IJT for the past 20 years． It makes us realize that the faces of the exhibitors, visitors, and atmosphere of the exhibition have changed dramatically with the passage of the times． In the past, it was more like a trade show, and there were many business meetings where people looked for samples, made plans, and tried to make repeat orders． But now, probably because of the overflow of goods, there are many business negotiations for unique, rare, and value-for-money products．
Also, this time, many Chinese and Filipino social buyers came to the IJT to conduct live commerce, and they had enthusiastic business negotiations． They say that the quality of made-in-Japan products is high and reliable． And among them, value-for-money good were sold well, and they were fighting to find something similar.
1 RMB was 15.78 yen in January of 2021, but 1 RMB became 18.27 yen in January of 2022． In addition, 1 US dollar became 103 yen to 116 yen in one year． The yen has been depreciating considerably． In other emerging countries, the size of their economies is expected to increase along with the demographic dividend, and the middle-income class is expected to increase． If the depreciation of the yen and overseas’ economic growth overlap, the products made in Japan may be exported more and more．
It seems that the number of Japanese visitors this time has decreased considerably due to the re-expansion of the new coronavirus infection from the beginning of the year． According to the stories of the visitors, most of them said that the current situation is quite bad． The spread of infection is still ongoing, and the situation in Japan is expected to deteriorate considerably in the future．
Looking at this jewelry show, which is said to reveal this year’s business, I believe that it will be important to face the situation of the corona disaster again this year, how to cope with it and how we can transform our business． It seems that we will face many difficulties this year as well, but we would like to overcome them together with you． I sincerely thank you to everyone who came this time．After the jewelry show, we had conducted a PCR test on all the staff who participated at IJT and I would like to report that all of them were negative．
