FROM THE EDITOR (SHIRAISHI Takashi)

CHRONOLOGY (March – April 2009)

ANOTHER LOST DECADE? (NARIAI Osamu)

Writing on the Wall for Japanese Manufacturing (MIZUNO Kazuo)

Though the current financial crisis is affecting countries around the world, for Japan it may be the worst downturn in well over a century. The biggest problem is the structural dependence on exports to the West among large manufacturers. In order to keep growing, Japanese firms must embark on a structural shift aimed at meeting the demand of final consumers elsewhere in Asia. (Chûô Kôron, April 2009)

What Has Happened to Toyota? (INOUE Hisao)

Toyota is about to report its first operating loss since 1938. This is due in part to external factors, notably, the global economic downturn and the appreciation of the yen. But the company also seems to be suffering from problems of its own making, such as rigid adherence to its “Global Master Plan.” The automaking giant’s ability to recover will depend on the aptitude of its incoming president, Toyoda Akio, grandson of the company’s founder. (Bungei Shunjû, March 2009)

AGRICULTURE

Paving the Way to Large-Scale Farming (HOMMA Masayoshi)

Last year’s international food crisis and worries over the safety of imported foods have made Japanese consumers more concerned about the state of domestic agriculture. Given the ongoing trend toward liberalization of agricultural trade, Japan must overhaul its farm policy and make Japanese agriculture internationally viable. The key is to give highly skilled farmers more opportunity to make use of their talents by easing regulations and promoting the creation of large-scale farms. (Chûô Kôron, April 2009)

Playing Tricks with the Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio (ASAKAWA Yoshihiro)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has been conducting a large-scale campaign to publicize Japan’s supposedly low ratio of food self-sufficiency. But MAFF’s metrics are bogus and designed to serve the interests of the ministry itself. Japan is actually a country that can take pride as one of the world’s major farming nations, and over recent decades its farmers have succeeded at increasing food production. The real need is to develop food products and market them effectively, so that everything that is produced gets sold. (Bungei Shunjû, January 2009)

FOCUS ON ASIA (TANAKA Toshirô)

Beyond the Spell of “Asianism” (SHIRAISHI Takashi, Caroline Sy HAU)

Now that people in East Asia are talking about building a regional community, some critics are trying to connect these moves to the Asianism of the past, which in Japan’s case had links to the expansionist agenda pursued in the early decades of the twentieth century. But the Eurocentric world order that the Asianism of the past took as its opponent is long gone, and the dichotomy between “modern” Europe and “backward” Asia no longer holds water. The East Asian community-building project is not in fact based on Asianism. (Chûô Kôron, March 2009)

Building an East Asian Community (TANIGUCHI Makoto)

The concept of an East Asian community arose in the wake of the 1997–98 Asian currency crisis, which drove the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to form ASEAN+3, a cooperative framework including China, Japan, and South Korea. Unfortunately, the persistent differences among the latter three have hindered the community-building initiative. And the Japanese government’s approach to negotiations makes one wonder if it was ever seriously interested in this undertaking. The current economic crisis should encourage countries in the region to resume serious efforts to construct a community. (Sekai, extra issue no.790, April 2009)

USING CRISIS TO ROLL BACK REFORM (TAKENAKA Harukata)

A Natural Death for the LDP? (MIKURIYA Takashi)

The administration of Prime Minister Asô Tarô inaugurated last September seemed to be a mere caretaker government put in place to dissolve the lower house and call a general election. But Asô has put off calling an election, and he has rendered the situation virtually impossible with his contradictory statements. And nobody in the Liberal Democratic Party that he heads seems capable of setting him straight. The LDP seems to be bereft of options and fast approaching the end of the line. Its best hope is to redeem itself by showing its value as a sound opposition party. (Chûô Kôron, April 2009)

Rebutting the Critics of Koizumi’s Reforms (INOSE Naoki)

Recently, the structural reforms implemented by Prime Minister Jun’ichirô Koizumi (2001-6) have been coming under attack. This is the outgrowth of an information war being waged by bureaucrats who have misused public funds to set up superfluous facilities and foundations to provide their own post-retirement jobs. Some blame Koizumi for the inadequacy of Japan’s social safety nets, but here too the main culprits are bureaucrats who bungled the design of the social security system. (Voice, April 2009)

MUSIC

The World Is His Concert Hall (HIROKAMI Jun’ichi, interviewed by MATSUMOTO Ryôichi)

For Hirokami Jun’ichi the members of the orchestras he conducts are colleagues to be treated with respect. Winning the chance to guest-conduct a dozen top-flight Western orchestras at age twenty-six, he found that his limited English ability did not stop him from showing what he wanted by means of movements and gestures. Over the years since then he has demonstrated the ability to get polished performances from ensembles in Japan and around the world with his outgoing personality and total commitment. (Voice, April 2009)

VOICES OF JAPAN

Manga Go Global (FUJIMOTO Yukari, interviewed by KÔNO Michikazu)

WAR RESPONSIBILITY

Midway Debacle: Lessons Not Learned (Yomiuri Shimbun War Responsibility Reexamination Committee)

Chapter 8 of the book From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: Who Was Responsible? (The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2006). Based on a series of articles in the daily Yomiuri Shimbun, this book examines the responsibility for Japan’s taking the path to war first with China and then with the United States.