一九八五年廣場協定(Plaza Accord)後，日本企業對外直接投資一直陷於因應匯 率變動的困境。其投資金額雖於一九八九年剩下六七五億美元的歷史新高，之後，由於日本 經濟持續不景氣以及日圓兌美元的再次大幅升值，其對外直接投資連續三年呈衰退局面，一 九九二年度達到谷底，金額降為三四一億美元。然而，同期間，面對歐、美兩個區域經濟體 的建立與加強，日本對亞洲(尤其是東亞)直接投資的情況卻有突破性的發展，至一九九四年 度，進入空前活躍新階段，出現亞洲取代歐洲的新趨勢，此新階段的形成，對東亞各國經濟 發展，乃至與日本的經濟技術合作均是一個新的挑戰。 儘管近兩年來日圓大幅貶值，提高不少日本國內製品的競爭力，但先進各國本身市場成 長相對有限，將來亞洲新興市場必為歐美日本等企業的主要戰場，因此任何將生產線移回日 本的舉動應屬輕微。

　　　　　After the 1985 Plaza Accord, the direct foreign investment of Japanese entrepreneurs faced difficulties in the changing exchange rate. Although their investments reached a historic high of 675 billion US dollars in 1989, Japan's direct investment decreased continuously for three years because of Japan's sustained economic recession and the substantially raised exchange rate of Japanese yen. Japanese investment subsequently hit a low of 341 billion US dollars. Although it has faced pressure from the development of European and American economic bodies, Japanese investment to Asia (particularly East Asia) has had a more recent breakthrough. Since 1994, Japan's policy has concentrated in Asia, bringing new challenges to all East Asia countries in terms of economic development as well as their economic-technical cooperation with Japan. Although the Yen has been substantially depressed in the last two years, raising the competitiveness of Japanese-made products, market growth in developed nations has been limited. The Asia market will become the new war zone among European, American and Japanese entrepreneurs, with the possibility of bringing prodution lines back to Japan being limited.