Japan is paying firms to make things at home. But China's pull is strong

The pandemic - and Beijing's increasingly combative behavior during it - has driven home the risks of overreliance on China for the production of a broad range of goods

Until July, the Japanese household goods company Iris Ohyama had always made its line of masks at its two factories in China.

But early this year, as the coronavirus was spreading around the world, the Japanese authorities approached the company with an urgent problem. In China, the government had locked down factories that produce most of the planet’s masks and commandeered supplies. With global demand soaring, stocks in Japan were dangerously low.

Could Iris Ohyama start production at home?

Nearly $23 million in government subsidies later, the company is at the leading edge of a push to encourage Japan’s manufacturers to diversify their