Regional Economic and Industrial Research Results from October to December 2013 Reference 1

＜ Nationwide ＞Picking up

＜ Region ＞ Picking up moderately ＜ Tohoku Region ＞ ＜ ＞ Continuing to recover Hokuriku Region moderately from the Great Showing signs of East Earthquake improvement

＜ Okinawa Region ＞ ＜ Kanto Region ＞ Improving Picking up

＜ Tokai Region ＞ ＜ ＞ Chugoku Region Improving moderately Picking up ＜ Kinki Region ＞ Picking up steadily

Reference: ・Higher assessment ・No change ＜ Kyushu ・Lower assessment ＞ in compared to the economic assessment in the Region previous research Picking up Research period: November 21 – moderately ＜ Region ＞ December 20, 2013 Number of companies covered: Showing signs of picking up 816 in 10 areas Changes in assessment of economic conditions in the past one year October – December 2012 January – March 2013 April – June 2013 July – September 2013 October –December 2013

Nationwide Conditions have been Showing signs of picking up Picking up moderately Picking up moderately Picking up weakening

Hokkaido Stalling Showing signs of picking up Continuing to show signs of Picking up moderately Picking up moderately picking up

Showing some signs of Showing signs of bottoming out Tohoku weakness, though continuing from weakness in some sectors, Continuing to recover moderately Continuing to recover moderately Continuing to recover moderately recovery from the Great East and continues to recover from the from the Great East Japan from the Great East Japan from the Great East Japan Japan Earthquake Great East Japan Earthquake Earthquake Earthquake Earthquake

Kanto Showing signs of moderately Picking up Showing weakness Leveling off picking up Picking up moderately

Chubu Showing weakness, though (Tokai) production shows signs of Picking up moderately Improving moderately Improving moderately Improving moderately leveling off

Chubu (Hokuriku) Showing some signs of Picking up moderately Stalling picking up Picking up Showing signs of improvement

Kinki Showing weakness Showing signs of picking up Picking up Picking up Picking up steadily

Chugoku Showing weakness Showing some signs of Showing signs of moderately Showing signs of moderately Picking up picking up picking up picking up

Continuing stalling, though Shikoku Showing signs of moderately Showing signs of moderately Stalling showing some signs of Showing signs of picking up picking up picking up picking up

Kyushu Showing some signs of Showing signs of picking up Showing signs of picking up Picking up moderately Stalling picking up

Okinawa Improving moderately Improving Improving Improving Improving The arrow denotes a higher assessment, denotes no change, and denotes a lower assessment compared to the economic assessment in the previous research. ○ Trends of IIP (Production) *Source: METI Indices of Industrial Production; *2010=100: Okinawa

115.0 Nationwide Hokkaido 110.0 Tohoku 105.0 Kanto Tokai 100.0 Hokuriku 95.0 Kinki Chugoku 90.0 Shikoku Kyushu 85.0 December-12 January-13 February-13 March-13 April-13 May-13 June-13 July-13 August-13 September-13 October-13 November-13 Okinawa ○ Transition in effective ratio of job offers to applicants *Source: MHLW Report on Employment Service 1.40 Nationwide 1.30 Hokkaido

1.20 Tohoku 1.10 Kanto 1.00 Tokai 0.90 Hokuriku 0.80 Kinki 0.70 0.60 Chugoku 0.50 Shikoku 0.40 Kyushu December-12 January-13 February-13 March-13 April-13 May-13 June-13 July-13 August-13 September-13 October-13 November-13 Okinawa ○ Transition in large-scale retail store sales value as ratio to the same month of the previous year (all-store basis) *Source: METI Current Survey of Production

20.0 Nationwide 18.0 16.0 Hokkaido 14.0 Tohoku 12.0 Kanto 10.0 Tokai 8.0 6.0 Hokuriku 4.0 Kinki 2.0 Chugoku 0.0 Shikoku ▲ 2.0 ▲ 4.0 Kyushu ▲ 6.0 Okinawa December-12 January-13 February-13 March-13 April-13 May-13 June-13 July-13 August-13 September-13 October-13 November-13