A Happy New Year!

Last yearfs economic recovery seemed to show growth of 1-2% in GDP. The upward trend of the stock market, especially a rapid increase toward the end of last year, is said to be a sign of continued economic growth this year.

This growth trend, however, is not necessarily found when we look at small and medium size businesses in some industries. According to the survey of our member companies conducted last autumn, overall business was either flat or stagnant which was different from our expectation. As the survey results show, the future of our industry is not necessarily bright but I would like to hope at the New Year that real business recovery will be seen this year and in years to come.

Last year, the so-called greformh was a mainstream activity that was symbolized by the word gprivatizationh. On the other hand, at the year-end, a big issue was raised regarding confidence in building structural calculations and the system for checking building compliance. It became a major issue of how to keep economic efficiency while maintaining social ethics.

As you know, our neon-sign industry uses high-voltage electricity and in order to insure safety we continuously search for improvement in equipment and technology. Accordingly, examinations for licensing contractors and lectures are constantly implemented. We will continue to do so this year.

The new regulations for outdoor advertising signage in order to improve the urban visual environment came into effect last year and the registration of outdoor advertising agencies started all over Japan. Since outdoor advertising is an important factor for a cityfs appearance, our association will continue to fully support the new regulations.

As stated above, gSecuring Safetyh and gImproving the Urban Visual Environmenth will be two major public responsibilities to be pursued by our association.

In the past few years, we have been undertaking work for quality improvement researching the cause and solution of blackened neon tubes during winter time. Furthermore, we would like to take another look at the characteristics of gneonh as a lighting or lighting source for advertisements and to look for various usages of gneonh

On the other hand, utilization of LED and other new lighting sources as a means of expression have been rapidly growing, and many member companies utilize them as a part of their business. Under these circumstances, the reconsideration of the identity of our association, i.e. Neon-Sign, became an issue. In order to cope with this, we established a special committee at the beginning of the year. We will discuss input from member companies and study the situation.

I hope this will be a rewarding and prosperous year for each member. At the same time, I would like to ask your full support for the association.