January 13, 2000
by Jim Hurley, Director, Office of International Education, Pikes Peak Community College
It is a genuine privilege to introduce the honorable Kiyohiko Nanao to
you. To us as a term of respect we say Mr. or Ms. or Mrs. In Japan and in
Japanese we say at the end of the name of the person "San" and so that's
the way I will address Mr. Nanao as I make these introductions.
Nanao-san has devoted his entire professional career to the Diplomatic
Service. From his first assignment as a Diplomatic Officer at the Treaty
Bureau in Tokyo, he has crossed the globe over 32 years promoting
understanding and cooperation for the people of Japan. Nanao-san's final
two posts best illustrate the high esteem and respect his country placed
upon him. In 1994 he was named Minister of Economic Affairs at the Embassy
of Japan in Washington DC, and in 1995 until his retirement in 1998, Consulate General in San Francisco.
Nanao-san and his wife have spent the last year on sabbatical here in
Colorado Springs, getting better acquainted with our community.
The reason for his visit with us today fits perfectly with the efforts of
the Business Division and the mission of Pikes Peak Community College. One
of the goals of our Title VIB grant speaks directly to his work in the
Diplomatic Service--cross cultural communication skills training in the
business and college community. This is especially noteworthy since we
are
using this model in the Asian Pacific area. We are fortunate to have
expert
perspectives and viewpoints from someone who knows so well that geography.
It is therefore, with gratitude, that I present you Kiyohiko Nanao-san.
-------------Applause-------------
by Kiyohiko Nanao
Well, thank you very much Jim-san. I am very much honored and a little bit tense in facing the teaching staff of Pikes Peak Community College. I almost feel like this is a graduation test. I think Jim-san is limiting the time of my presentation to 30 minutes.
My ideas were originally stated in this book [gesturing to his book, "Great Power Shift in Japan"] which a Japanese newspaper company kindly published the year before last in Japan. The book was written in Japanese but the publisher wanted a title in English, so I casually called it "The Great Power Shift in Japan." So today, based on suggestion from Rieko-san [Rieko McAdams, Program Manager of international Education and Japanese Language/Culture Instructor of PPCC] and others, I'll try to do a quick overview of what's contained in this book, with some adding or updating of what has happened over the past year.
The main theme I'd like to project to you today, distinguished listeners, is that current great Japanese power shift can be defined as the process of regaining power by the original power holders, namely individual citizens and corporate citizens , being either taxpayers, voters, consumers, producers or whatever others , from those what we call in Japan, the "iron triangle." The iron triangle being defined in Japan as an integrated leadership triangle composed of bureaucrats, LDP [Liberal Democratic Party], and major corporations. This iron triangle is in the process of disintegration. And this I call the "great power shift in Japan." A primary thesis that I want to pass on to you is that this power shift is both inevitable and already, in fact, is going on. The other side of the coin is that this shift is taking place only gradually and in the Japanese way -- the Japanese fashion. So I repeat, the key words are "inevitable power shift", "already going on, probably to about one-third way up the mountain", "the shift is gradual " and "in the Japanese fashion".
Why inevitable? I perceive that there are a couple of reasons. The reason number one is the Gulf War. Japan, under the US provided constitution underwent 30 or 40 years of a totally pacifist approach. No arms, at all, in any event. The Cold War was gone, but the Gulf War started. Iraq invaded, in an overt way, Kuwait. All leading countries took arms, but the Japanese tried to hide behind this pacifism, just piling up dollars in support of others. Even the medical supply ship service well behind the front line was rejected by the Japanese opposition parties. When the war was over and the turmoil settled, the Japanese reassessed how they behaved. And Japanese realized that world opinion has changed. Japanese, taking up arms under qualified situations, is now required. That was quite a shock to the average Japanese--dimensional shock. We all felt we need to change, we can not stick to what we were taught over the past three or four decades as sacrosanct.
Second, the economic bubble burst and the ensuing seven or eight years of struggle proved amply that the system which we once believed in--this iron triangle--doesn't work. It couldn't address burning issues in a timely and effective way. Tremendous degree of distrust was generated. This is probably the second reason.
The third reason, why I think the power shift is inevitable, lies in the
changes of the individuals. Economically self-reliant, not dependent on
something big, nor hiding under the big umbrella, and politically conscious
individuals are emerging. Can the Great Shift transforms the average
Japanese into this economically self-reliant and politically conscious
mode?
That is with a big question mark, but I am counting on it. I am not a
pure
academic analyst, half politician, so I am counting on the Japanese to
change.
Look at the case like newly created corporation called Hikari Tsushin
in
Japan. It was just put to public offer(IPO) June last year. The corporate
president or CEO is Mr. Shigemitsu who is only 34 years old. He launched
the company for IPO and his assets are now valued at 34 billion dollars.
The fifth richest man in the world after Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet.
This
is a concrete case that, if one takes entrepreneurial risks, works hard
and
fights against the existing establishment, one can cultivate a new field.
This is quite a model generating a most inspirational impact on Japanese
youngsters who are now studying at elementary, secondary, high schools, and
so on. I am hoping these role-models will show up, one after another.
Already cream of Japanese bests and brightests are dispersing to
localities, and not sticking to Tokyo. There is not much opportunity in
Tokyo. They find it more attractive to become mayor, prefectural governor,
local community volunteer workers and so on. New venture companies are
often located not in Tokyo anymore where structural barriers and operating
costs are too high. They now locate their headquarters in the remote
countryside where you can also enjoy green.
Of course, at the same time, I need to be careful not to give you an
entirely rosy picture. For instance, the other day I was talking to a
Chinese guy who spent two or three years in Japan. We use, in the Oriental
world, what we call a "seal," for signatures. Whatever you sign, unless
you
stamp a seal on it, is not regarded as authentic or legal. The Chinese
abolished this practice bit by bit, except on i.e. paintings--they still
use
a seal as an artistic signature. However, the Japanese still stick to
this
seal practice, and Chinese laugh at the Japanese. " You Japanese imported
this Chinese seal culture may be 1,500 years ago. Chinese now getting out
of it and entering the cyber-world. On a computer screen you cannot use
seal. But the Japanese still stick to it."
For instance, I am now going back to Japan and I am anxious to find some
old, traditional, Japanese house. A farmhouse, or maybe a local winery
("Sake" brewery) master's house. Some are well preserved and some are
decayed. The population in those agrarian societies has dwindled
radically,
because of Japanese farming has almost disappeared with Japan now dependant
on California agricultural imports, mostly. So the rural population is
quite small, but there are still some farmers out there. And some of the
houses that are available and vacant are beautifully maintained. So I
propose to the owner-- won't you let me buy or lease your farmhouse? He is
willing. At least one generation, his generation, and his father's
generation, for example, have lived in urban area such as Osaka. They
never
go back to countryside, or maybe only occasionally go back to pray at their
ancestors' tombs, as a societal obligation. Why can't he sell or lease?
Because a small number of people are still staying in those villages where
his ancestors used to live. If he sells the house or leases it to me, the
villagers will say, "Oh, he sold it because he lost his fortune in the
township and it's a disgrace." For whatever the reason, the villagers may
start rumors if the owner leases a farmhouse to someone like me who is a
stranger to the traditional residents. "Oh, that guy brought in an unknown
stranger who doesn't speak the local dialect."
That's why I am saying this shift is going only slowly. But still the trend is clear. So please try to have that balanced view when you see any reporting from Japan .
Now let me touch on major areas which are to be reformed. There are a
couple of things, but the first and most important issue is "tax".
Japanese
tax structure is 70% direct tax and 30% indirect tax such as consumption
tax. We need to shift it back in a reverse way, instead of 7 to 3 ratio we
need to reverse it to 3 to 7. Japanese corporate tax, which is direct tax,
has an effective rate of 40 - 50% but it just started to be reduced over
several years to the 30% level, comparable to U.S. or European corporate
tax. Income can be taxed up to 70%, aggregate of national income tax plus
local resident tax. This is all income tax. Altogether amounting to 65%
or
sometimes 70% of income. The government is trying to reduce this to 50%,
maximum. Temporarily there are an increased number of people who are
exempted from taxation because of this economic difficulty. The government
has introduced some special temporary relief measures. But still, the
system as a whole can tax to such an extent that over three to four
generations, family fortune can be lost.
There is grumbling and resistance--"Why must we pay so much money to an
inefficient government?" Like you did in California with Proposition 13 and
other legislation. This direct/indirect tax ratio and resultant heavy
direct taxation needs to be reversed.
Second, there is irregularity in central government/local government tax
revenue and expenditure. It's something like this. In total nation-wide
tax revenue, national tax authorities collect two-thirds and local
government collects one-third. But actual expenditures are two-thirds local
and one-third national. So this portion [the remaining one-third] needs to
be transferred back to local authorities. Here lies the classic secret of
Japanese post- war economic recovery with central control systems and
reason
why almost everything was managed by Tokyo. Under this mechanism, the
Finance Ministry has to transfer money back to local authorities. Local
authorities had to cling to the central government officials or members of
parliament to get more money in the form of subsidies and transfers.
Local road works and social infrastructure building was dependent
on this mechanism. "I'll give you this money and you must obey.". " You
must consume your appropriation in this fiscal year otherwise you will not
get it next year." and so on.
This was a necessary evil, in a way, for wartime economy. All resources
had to be concentrated and this system stayed on in the post-war days. The
American occupation authorities also found it convenient to use this
mechanism. So it existed overly long. It was originally a temporary
measure or emergency measure for Japanese imperial war efforts or post-war
economic reconstruction efforts. When the situation got back to normal,
these measures should have been normalized in 70s and 80s. But this
control
or "obedience mechanism" stayed on. That is why we took eight years groping
for the way following the bursting of the economic bubble. And change is
still on the way.
The third element regarding local tax relates to --"central control". The local tax code clearly stipulates that local parliament or local voters have no right or say as far as local tax is concerned. You may not believe it but this is stipulated in the law. The local people vote for the election of members of local parliament who have no voice in matters of local taxation. They must go to Tokyo to appeal for money. This law needs to be changed.
There are issues other than taxation that are important but I will just
name them due to lack of time. We need more of a direct democracy. In the
post-war days, Japanese were taught that indirect democracy was the best.
So-called "representational democracy". So we only had the right of
recalling mayors or members of parliament who did something wrong,
politically or ethically, but no right of referendum, no right for people
to
draft a law and present it to the local assembly for approval. There has
been no effective direct democracy. The failure of Greeks was often cited.
The notorious Ostracism. I think there should be a good combination of
direct and indirect democracy.
There is a famous book, California's "Paradise Lost" (written by editor of
Sacrament Bee). Some of you may know of it. In it, the author talks about
Proposition 13, property tax, and so on. There were good achievements but
at the same time many excesses and failures. You cannot depend on either
one of them exclusively. At any rate, this revival of direct democracy in
California revealed the value of direct democracy where it is appropriate.
This is also an important reform area that the Japanese need to go through.
The third, of course, is education. Too much of central control of education produces uniform quality or standard quality of pupils and even university students; it happened to have been the requirement of Japanese society. It has been the case in wartime efforts or post-war reconstruction efforts, but not anymore. Tokyo or Kyoto University graduates can go to the Ministry of Finance or the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. But now this elite-course doesn't guarantee lifetime security and happiness anymore. Even giant companies can go bankrupt. That is the reality that mothers and children are witnessing .
The aging of the society is another big issue. We have now more than 2.5 million senior citizens who need home care, home medical care, and nursing. A government scheme to address this begins this April. By 2025, these 2.5 million senior citizens rapidly increases to 5.3 million. Japanese couples produce on average only 1.37 children, so the younger generation's population goes down, tax bearing capacity of the society goes down, while demandeurs of tax based service (including myself probably) go up.
There have been some lines of thinking which are prevalent, not only in
Japan, but also internationally, with the interesting perception that Japan
will never change. These thinkers believe that Japan has long been a
regulated society since the time of the 6th to 7th century when the Shotoku
Prince and the Tenchi Emperor ruled the nation. These rulers started a
regulated society ("Ritsu-ryo" society) by imitating Chinese method of
governance by rigorous codes. I don't think so.
It is still my hypothetical proposition and I need to rely on academics
to
prove. However, I think Japan has been going through the cycles of
stabilization by codification and regulations, then breaking out in
turmoil,
introducing new order and creativeness.
The era of the Shotoku Prince is the case in point. Buddhism came in,
and
introduced the high technology of those days--- rice cultivation,
irrigation, all were brought in by the peoples fleeing from the Korean
Peninsula. The Tenchi, still he was Prince, converted all Japanese into
subjects of the emperor. Before, the people had been the property of
several famous clans, like the Soga or the Mononobe. People had been
private property of influential clans. They were made farmers whom the
emperor gave units of land to cultivate in exchange for tax. These land was
not the property of the clan anymore, it belonged to the emperor. It
should
have involved quite a turmoil and revolutionary changes in thoughts. I
think this as a period of radical change --- 6th Century Shotoku Prince up
to may be Nara Dynasty. Then the culture prospered but at the same time
started decaying. It is a human world. Then soldiers class rose to power.
The "soldiers age" came in the 13th century with the Kamakura Shogunate.
It
was a fresh revolt, the nobility lost their power to soldiers.
Another round of new soldiers upsurge came in 16th century. Nobunaga Oda
who utilized very wisely variety of imported ideas and things : Portuguese
guns, gun powder--everything--even Christianity, to suffocate the Japanese
Buddhist influence--his was a "hidden Roman Empire" in those days.
Nobunaga
crushed the Buddhist empire which prevailed in an indirect, informal way
all
over Japan. He utilized the imported things like Christianity
effectively.
Then Japan was stabilized during the Tokugawa Period . It prospered at
first, but then decayed with the rise of the Meiji Restoration movements,
which does not require explanation to you.
Another change of similar magnitude came after our defeat in the last
war. American culture flew in. Sony, Matshushita, all mushroomed up --all
these were just like bicycle motor manufacturers. They were not the giants
like the traditional Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Current power shift now taking place in Japan is another round of change
of similar magnitude. It started when Japanese Economic bubble burst took
place in December 1991. It has been almost 8 or 9 years and the process is
still togo.
Now on politics, let me add a few words. It is often very difficult
for Americans or foreigners to comprehend what's happening politically in
Japan.
With respect to the economy, there is still some measure of understanding.
But even for myself it is very difficult to comprehend Japanese politics,
because it is in turmoil. This is just one attempt of analysis. Please
verify it academically. [Goes to whiteboard] Let's look at this diagram.
The vertical line is foreign policy. The horizontal line is domestic
internal policy. If you go high up, it means politically active
involvement
in international security affairs, namely, "Let's use our Self Defense
Forces" to help stabilization of say Cambodia. Or should there be a Taiwan
Straits instability, "Let's help Americans." This would take you high up
the vertical line. Contrasted position is that "we should never use arms
overseas, we should only help foreign countries with economic or technical
assistance". That approach is lower [down the line]. Horizontal axis
represents internal policies. Think about your Republican
Party --- self-help, attitude of don't expect much on the government. This
is
to the right of the horizontal line. This way to the left is the Democrats,
perhaps. They think government should have certain legitimate areas to
take
care for society.
Japanese political party-map currently looks like this. At a lower
point
along vertical axis comes Mr. Koichi Kato who was the LDP Party Secretary General during Hashimoto Cabinet
days, now relieved from Party's official
duties and the central figure in the opposition circle within the LDP.
Mr. Obuchi, the current Prime Minister, is located somewhere in the north-east
corner of the diagram. I think he has no disciplines or consistencies. He
is by now just a mouthpiece of those big guns behind the scenes, including
Nakasone and Takeshita, former Prime Ministers. The most hawkish and
self-help approach guy, is Mr. Ozawa, who is at the far end of north
eastern
corner. You might have heard a lot about Ozawa. He spanned off from LDP,
but
he is now in coalition with the LDP to help the LDP form a majority. The
opposition party, the Democratic Party is now led by Yukio Hatoyama [Japanese only], a
grandson of famous late Prime Minister, Ichiro Hatoyama. I think Y.
Hatoyama, a grandson, locate himself at a upper point along the vertical
line. So Hatoyama and Kato are resting on the same vertical axis, implying
they have not much of difference so far as domestic policies are concerned.
The only basic difference between them is on foreign policy. Socialist Party
residual, Kan [Japanese only] who is currently with Hatoyama, is at the left along
horizontal axis.
Another coalition partner, the Komeito, is somewhere in south-west corner. Current coalition--Obuchi, Ozawa and Komei-Party, therefore, you could easily see, demonstrates how strange matrimonial relationship they are in terms of policy orientation . To my mind, Obuchi's coalition is a kind of crisis management cabinet to tide over the immediate crisis like the one on banking. Now that this crisis is getting over and the Japanese stock market is coming back. Suppose world economy would not crash, and if there should be no strategic crisis such as the one around the Taiwan Straits, then one could count on a grand centrist coalition or de-facto cooperation between Hatoyama and Kato.
This would amounts to an invitation to a further splitting of the remaining LDP into two : the central Kato elements and the conservatives like Nakasone in the north-east corner. This would constitutes the second stage of political reform in Japan. The first stage already took place. That was the demise of socialist camp. The Social Democrats had virtually disintegrated. Only relevant residue is Kan, who is participating in the newly created Democrats' Party. That was the first stage. That phase was over with Murayama's resignation, followed by Hashimoto's failure in trying to increase consumption tax. So the Japanese political picture is now coming into this second stage. Given the international conditions, I think there is a good chance of realignment along policy lines, otherwise political reform will take more time to muddle through.
I have talked about politics, economics, and also changing individuals in Japan, namely the self-reliant individual. Main thrust of my conclusion is that for Japan to change as expeditiously as possible depends on how quickly we can awaken Japanese individuals to become economically self-reliant and politically autonomous. Up till now the majority of the people are only conscious of the need to change themselves. They have been hesitant to move. Now that they are increasingly obliged to move because their most important question, their own survival and wellbeing are at stake. Not only on the national level, but also on an individual and local community levels, burning issues come up one after another, obliging individuals to change.
My stay here in Colorado Springs has been very productive and rewarding one both for me and my wife. Community people have been very kind in meeting me, teaching me cases of success and failure in community management issues, education and so on. I was able to learn a lot and I was able to concretize the thesis I stipulated in my original book.
Let me try to conclude my presentation by noting that the U.S. West Coast
trade with Pacific nations is now three times bigger than that along East
Coast with Atlantic partners. 20 years ago when I was Director for North
American Affairs back in Tokyo, the West coast superceded over East coast.
In the coming 20 years, some academics forecast that West Coast trading
with
the Pacific will probably triple. Other academics say that Charleston,
being
a very good Atlantic port, handling cargoes, up till now, mainly in
between
Europe and US, will be handling bigger portions of cargoes with Pacific
nations thanks to possible development of transportation technology
(voyaging not through Suez nor Panama Canals but by round trips around the
Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn).
Things are relatively clear economically, but mind you that we have a big
question mark, that is the politico-social question of China. With 1.2
billion of population, China is groping. It is a serious game of cat and
mouse. How to relax safely the politically very rigid indoctrination in
view of the growing pressure for democratization, while at the same time
how
to improve the economic conditions of average Chinese . These are two
wheels
of a cart. And if either wheel derails, the nation will be in turmoil.
Japan attempted to deal with the Chinese and Manchurian questions before
and
during the last war, but we failed like Germany failed to deal with
Russians. This implies that China should be dealt by China's own
self-help.
Still, China needs conducive international environments to succeed. What
we, the outsiders, can do at best is to provide a kind of environment
conducive for them to keep playing golf along the fair-way, not be pushed
into rough. They need follow wind. Japan alone can not sustain
international environments. US/European participation and pro-active
multilateral efforts in the Pacific community is essential. To keep
China's behavior well checked and to provide greater chance for China's
success in achieving often conflicting two targets--- economic development
and political democratization. Inherent risks of China are one side of a
coin. On the other side of coin, there is more promising potential.
Should
China succeeds in achieving the two objectives, others can prosper as well
at a lower cost.
This is why it is meaningful that Pikes Peak Community College succeeded
in obtaining grants from the US Department of Education for the research to
expand the consciousness of American people toward the Pacific Rim. It is a
solid start. Pacific activities do not end at one time exchange of goods,
but
involve investments, high tech exposure and placement of brains overseas.
These activities augur well for lasting relationships. The project your
College is launching is a very, very -- I feel -- important movement.
Talking of Japan once more in conclusion, and please understand that I am
not talking about the western part of Japan (Kansai) because I am from that
region, the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area, I would like to throw to you another
hypothetical proposition. I think Tokyo is too much entangled with the
established post-war system. While being conscious of the need to get out
of
this straitjacketing, Tokyo find it extremely hard to get away from the
established order and practices. The Kansai area instead in a wider sense
possibly including Nagoya and even Kyushu, could be the most promising
region to play pioneering role in national reform. Tradition of merchant
culture, venture taking attitude to nurture new corporations, self-reliant
culture and so on. The region is close to Korea, China, Taiwan. It has its
own shortcomings of course. But recently in last December, the Kansai
Economic Federation(Kankei-ren) launched a kind of new strategy for
Kansai's
renaissance, locomotive being the private sector, not the traditional
government-led one. That is a fresh thrust.
The strategy also talks explicitly about the need of effective citizenry
participation. The Japanese reform may well adopt "participatory" approach
. The people do not like confrontational approach American or European
often take. The resolution at the judicial court is the last resort for
Japanese. Japanese will collaborate to forge reforms in a participatory
way, but probably not with established politicians or giant corporations,
but more among smaller and newer "entrepreneur-type" corporations,
reform-minded civilians and progressive local governments. These new
triangles may mushroom up in many places in accordance with the inevitable
emergence of urgent problems in each community.
Now let me stop here to secure time for Q and A. It has been really my
pleasure to share my thinking with you today.
[Followed by question and answer which was not transcribed]