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Idiom: Pick up steam
Here we are in Japan, waiting for the economy to pick up steam.
The Japanese economic bubble, which lasted from 1986 to 1991, burst in ’92.
Although the economy has been chugging along and most people have been working, it has never boomed like in the ’80s.
The problem is, in my opinion, the bubble was an anomaly, not the norm.
It’s also ancient history.
It seems that the people who experienced Japan’s economic miracle after World War Two and who were flying high during the bubble have been trying to relive those days.
I should say here that when something picks up steam, it grows or expands at an increasing rate.
It isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Sure, the American and Chinese economies can pick up steam and expand at astonishing rates.
Japan, however, is an ageing society, and other countries have caught up to it.
No longer is Japan the production powerhouse of the world.
Manufacturing quality has dramatically improved in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
As a result, the manufacturing that used to be done here has picked up steam over there.
I may be starting to sound like a broken record by now, but not everything is as sad as melted ice cream.
Japan has a fantastic opportunity for value-added service industries such as medical tourism and the high-tech sector.
I’ve heard that medical tourism from China is beginning to pick up steam here in Wakayama.
Wealthy Chinese who can pay for high-quality healthcare come here now.
Why shouldn’t they?
Japanese doctors are among the best trained in the world, and Japanese medical technology and techniques are second to none.
So, while Japan may never return to the heady days of economic growth during the 1980s, there’s plenty of opportunity for expansion in new areas and development in those nontraditional areas is beginning to pick up steam.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 60.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.