While supporting wealthy individuals with overseas migration and helping Japanese companies expand and advance overseas, I am often asked, "Which country do you recommend?"

The answer depends on "that person's lifestyle" and "that company's strengths," so I can't give a blanket statement, but as a so-called "fact," comparisons with other countries are useful.

Among them, the statistical indicator known as "GDP per capita" serves as a useful reference for things like "the economic power of a country's citizens" and "price levels (which tend to be relatively proportional)," so I definitely encourage you to take a close look at it at least once.

For your reference regarding individual overseas migration, as well as corporate global expansion and entering overseas markets.

1. US-Japan comparison

We can see that the United States, the world's number one in GDP, and Japan, the third (which was second until being surpassed by China in 2011), have undergone economic evolution at a similar growth rate. (As a side note, an American CPA in Boston affiliated with our firm is in his 50s as of 2015, and he always says, "My youth was all about Yamaha and Honda bikes." When I first heard that, I was personally quite thrilled as a Japanese person; it just shows how cool Japan's manufacturing industry was in the post-war economy despite being a defeated nation, serving as the driving force behind incredible growth, and I truly respect it. In other words, the chart above is also proof of what those Japanese people accomplished.)

Comparison of Japan, the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong

Murakami Fund scandal Around that time, I often remember Mr. Murakami saying, "Japan's GDP per capita is lower than Singapore's," and this is also a fact. However, one thing I personally want to point out is that "both Singapore and Hong Kong are city-states." For example, if you compare them only with a city like "Tokyo," Japan is not losing to Singapore or Hong Kong.

To summarize up to this point,Roughly speaking, Japan, the US, plus Singapore and Hong Kong are "almost the same."It is.

Next, let's also look at Europe. By the way, the four economic powerhouses of Europe (by GDP: total GDP, not GDP per capita) are Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, followed by Spain.

Japan, US + Singapore, Hong Kong + Europe's Big Four Comparison

To put it roughly, this is also "almost the same."
It falls into the category of so-called "developed countries."

Next, let's also look at the BRICS.

Japan + BRICs Comparison

Wikipedia According to it, the term BRICS was "first used and spread worldwide in an investor report titled 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs' written on November 30, 2001, by Jim O'Neill, an economist at the investment bank Goldman Sachs," and is "a collective term for the four countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China that have achieved remarkable economic development since the 2000s," but to put it very broadly,The relationship between the US and Brazil (Latin American emerging countries), Europe and Russia (European emerging countries), and Japan and China/India (Asian emerging countries) each share geographic proximity and the framework of developed countries versus emerging countries.They are similar in that sense.

Next, regarding the relationship between Japan and Asian countries.

Comparison of Japan and Emerging Asian Countries

As I often say, compared to Japan, Asian countries as of 2015 are like this:

Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong are about the same
◯ South Korea and Taiwan are about half of that.
Malaysia is about half of that (or 1/4 from Japan's perspective)
China and Thailand account for about half of that (1/8 from Japan's perspective).
about half that (1/16th from Japan's perspective) for Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Mongolia
India, Vietnam, and Laos are about half that (or 1/32 from Japan's perspective)
Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar are about half that (1/64th from Japan's perspective)

To make it easier to understand, let's compare countries below Malaysia.

It is often said that every country undergoes demographic structures and economic growth similar to Japan's period from around 1960 to 1980 (the so-called period of high economic growth). Strictly speaking, it is similar to "the 19 years from December 1954 (Showa 29) to November 1973 (Showa 48)." From there, the Japanese economy entered the so-called "period of stable economic growth and dramatically increased their economic power, but will the same thing happen in Asian countries, Latin American countries, and emerging European countries?

To make such predictions, we should also compare each country's "demographic structure," "educational capacity," and "country risk" at the same time. However, simply put, I personally think that "since there is still room for the country to mature, it should naturally grow," and "it is harder to find a reason why it wouldn't grow."