A Case of Mistaken Identity

Robert Hsu, April 15, 2008

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Osaka, Japan, which is Japan's second largest city. You would think that it would be a main tourist attraction in the country, but foreigners aren't greeted with open arms, which I learned firsthand during my visit there.

As part of our time in Osaka, we had planned a show excursion in the city. But we were disappointed to learn that our excursion had been cancelled. The reason: time consuming Japanese immigration entry proceedings.

This morning, it took nearly three hours for my family and other ship passengers to pass through Japanese immigration. By the time we were done with the immigration entry process, we only had four hours to spend in Osaka before our ship was set to depart for our final port of call in Hong Kong. To me, it seems a bit crazy to spend three hours dealing with Japanese immigration and custom officials just for a four-hour stay in the country. Yet, that is exactly what took place.

Clearly, the Japanese government is less friendly to foreign visitors than their counterparts in China. During our visits to numerous Chinese cities, especially Beijing, we were warmly welcomed. Based on my recent experience in both China and Japan, let's compare the two countries and see why China continues to offer a better investment environment than Japan.

Sometimes it seems like China and Japan are like two brothers switched at birth with mistaken identities. To better understand the differences between the two countries, let's look at their views on globalization.

Continued on next page.

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