As a member of Kansai Japan-China Peace and Friendship Delegation, I visited Zhejiang in September, 2009. Though nearly twenty years had elapsed since my first visit to China in 1991, it was my very first visit to Zhejiang Province. I came with fifteen fellow Japanese entrepreneurs.
　　The road from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport to the hotel was very wide and traffic was light. Along the road were farmlands and brand-new rural houses. I was surprised to learn that the roadside houses would be dismantled pretty soon to make room for a road expansion project. These houses were only three years old. Three years before, the city planners had not expected to widen the road so soon. In other words, the province was developing at a rate that exceeded the development forecast.
　　I was profoundly impressed by Alibaba and Yiwu Small Commodity Marketplace which we visited. We visited Alibaba’s new office building, which had just been completed a month before. I had never heard of Alibaba. I was astonished to see the spectacular office building. I was all the more amazed to learn that it is a young business and the average age of its thousands of employees is 23 years. Created by 18 entrepreneurs ten years ago, Alibaba is now a business that attracts the attention of the world. An Alibaba official spoke Japanese well and briefed us on Alibaba. His talk was detailed and easy to understand. People like me who knew nothing about the power of Internet could understand him perfectly. I felt that he was highly versed in the policies and rules of Alibaba and he was very proud of being a member of Alibaba.
　　Without seeing the Small Commodity Marketplace in Yiwu, you would not understand how it came about and what it forecasts about future. We could not see all of the gigantic market; nor did we come to see it for any concrete purposes. But I do feel that the market will become a major trend of the world as quality further improves and purchasing power further increases. When it comes to Alibaba and the Small Commodity Marketplace in Yiwu, the key to prosperity is a huge number of commodities produced by small and midsize manufacturers. There is a difference between online information and commodities on display in this gigantic market, but if you visit the marketplace and get what you want to buy at a reasonably cheap price, it is the best satisfaction and purchasing experience a customer can get.
　　The marketplace and Alibaba boast a huge variety and a huge number of commodities. It would be great if one can easily search the information on commodities and prices offered by the two giant businesses in an integrated information system. One thing the two businesses have in common is that each has created a new business mode and created a huge market. I am fully aware of the fact that China’s economic growth is based on its export power as a world factory and gigantic demand on the domestic market and I feel that Zhejiang as a manufacturing powerhouse with explosive momentum will probably play a central role in China’s economic growth.
　　It goes without saying that building a high-quality social environment requires a solid infrastructure and above all requires the improvement of software such as ethics and concepts. Technology introduction and improvement in overall infrastructure can be instantly effective, but it takes endeavors of several generations to improve software. Problems may pop up in the process of growth. When efforts are made to confront reality and solve problems, I think Japan’s experiences and skills accumulated over a long period of time may be helpful.