Deadline: September 09, 2016 12am (Japan Standard Time)
Online Submission

JFTC is sponsoring JFTC Essay Competition 2016 to encourage students, young researchers and business people to express their opinions on matters of national and international importance.

Essay Topic: “Searching for a New Initiative in Global Trade and the Role of Japanese Companies.”

The global economy has achieved a high rate of growth, due mainly to positive capital investment and the expansion of production capacity based on growing demand from emerging economies, along with the development of resource-producing economies and rising resource prices. The growth, however, has been sluggish for several years as a result of various factors including the structural slowdown of the Chinese economy. In fact, the slowdown of global trade, which has served as the driving force for the growth of the global economy, is notable, and even manifests itself today as a situation referred to as “slow trade,” in which the growth rate falls below that of the global economy itself.

Meanwhile, in recent years, the development of information and communication technologies utilizing the Internet has brought about a variety of innovations in production and marketing, application, and function of commodities, and is leading to the creation of increasingly more value including the advancement of services. Trade in services such as intellectual property, tourism, and services not previously presented has grown steadily, although the increase in commodity trade has slowed down in the current global economic climate. Thus, it is very important to reexamine the state of trade and grasp the global economy from a new viewpoint.

From this standpoint, Japan turns out to be no exception. The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan recently has increased significantly and trade in services including the travel balance has expanded rapidly, while commodity trade has been stagnant. For Japan as a trade-oriented country, facilitating trade not only in commodities but also in services could contribute to maintaining the global environment, developing technologies, and creating a market for new services. This is a policy challenge when considering the future growth of the Japanese economy.

In order to grow steadily trade in services such as intellectual property and achieve development of the global economies as well as that of Japan, what kinds of efforts and initiatives would be required of trading activities going forward, in addition to the expansion of conventional commodity trade? Moreover, under these circumstances, how can Japanese companies, in particular, shosha that develops businesses in various places around the world, adapt themselves to trade in services; and how can they play their part in trade expansion while working out innovation?

Please send us your constructive suggestions from a global viewpoint based on innovative ideas for a new meaning of “global trade and the role of Japanese companies” which would enable sustained prosperity in the world.

One Grand Prize of ¥1,000,000 (apprmx. $10,000 usd)
Three Prizes for Excellence of ¥200,000 each (apprmx. $2,000)

The award winners from abroad will be provided with a round-trip air ticket to Tokyo, Japan to attend the award ceremony to be held on January 5, 2017.

Qualification: Anyone can apply for the essay competition, regardless of nationality or age.

Language
English (4,000words) or Japanese (10,000characters). Each essay MUST BE accompanied by an essay summary of no more than 400words in English/ 1,000 Japanese characters.

* One diagram or chart is counted as 200 words. If the number of the words, including diagram or charts, is less than half of 4,000 words or more than the limitation, such work could be disqualified.

Deadline: September 9, 2016 at 24:00 (JST)

Contact Address
Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc., Public Relations & Research Group
6th Floor, World Trade Center Building, 2-4-1, Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-6106, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3435-5964 E-mail: kouhou@jftc.or.jp

For a complete application form and submission rules visit the official website: http://www.jftc.or.jp/english
Web site: www.jftc.or.jp