It is the general consensus that the economy has been recovering this past year. In fact, GDP, Consumer Spending, Investment in Plant and Equipment, and other economic indicators all show a positive trend. At the same time, this trend of recovery is expressed as “recovery without real feelings” especially among small and medium size businesses that have not yet been blessed with growth. Outdoor advertising and the neon-sign industry is not an exception. Both advertising expenses reported by Dentsu and the shipment of neon transformers were stagnant or showed a slight decline versus the previous year.

In spite of these circumstances, many on-going and new activities were implemented at each branch and at each committee. Also, members were active in promoting registration of outdoor advertising agencies in line with the revised outdoor signage regulations that, I believe, will contribute to the future growth of this industry.

As you are well aware, our industry is focused on outdoor advertising and signs. Member companies consist of general contractors, construction companies, material suppliers and other related businesses. This is a group of companies that creates outdoor advertising and signs. These signs can be categorized into many groups. First is the neon sign. Our effort has been focused on neon-signs using neon tubes. Next are electronic signs using other than neon such as fluorescent light or mercury light. Recently LED has been added to this category as a strong newcomer. The usage of LED has been expanding rapidly because of its brightness, low-electricity consumption and ease in handling. LED is used not only in conventional areas such as large screen signs and Christmas decorations but also in new areas such as the lighting of buildings and the light source for channel letters.

Another sign often used is the sheet sign (mostly printed on marking film.) Owing to the improvement in sheet materials and in printing technologies, it became possible to express precise graphic designs. Since it is easy to place and replace, sheet signs are often utilized as posters on a rooftop or on a wall surface. Also, because they are economical, sheet signs are dominant when financial institutions change their “visual identity”. The common characteristics of LED and sheet signs are “mobility” and “light- weight”.

As mentioned above, various new technologies and materials have been introduced in the neon-sign industry. We fully utilize them for our business. Under these circumstances, we face the problem of defining the word “neon-sign”. It is important to continuously improve the merit of neon signs. At the same time, it is necessary that we should consider that the word “neon signs” covers not only signs with neon tubes but also ones without neon tubes such as LED signs. Without this consideration, I believe, our industry would not develop. The proposed words “Exceeding neon-signs” actually mean “Expanding the world of neon signs.”

I believe that we should re-think the meaning of neon signs and at the same time we should re-consider the activities of our association for future development of member companies. I think now is the time to start discussing the identity of the association. I would like to ask for your continuous support. Thank you.