The president of Mercian Corporation, a Japanese drinks company, has even taken his best vintage to America. A wine made wholly in Japan appeals to his richer customers. For the mass market, Mr Suzuki does the sensible thing and imports the grape juice, blending it with a little of the home-grown variety. Not all Japanese businessmen are able to respond to high costs as flexibly as Mr Suzuki. Sake brewers must use Japanese rice, which sells at five or six times the world price.
Transport is five times as expensive as in America.
The average rent on a warehouse is ten times that in Britain. Steel, paper, cement, glass, construction, financial services, electricity, telecommunications, gas and land all cost far more in Japan than in Europe or America. These burdensome prices are the product of Japan's dual economy. The quality of its engineering and the efficiency of this Japan's mass-production techniques are still second to none. Much of the rest of the economy is grossly inefficient.