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TIMES OF INDIA
Rising from the ashes
Jean-Pierre Lehmann and Dominique Turpin
Mar 19, 2011, 12.00am IST
We sadly mourn the many deaths and suffering arising from the earthquake and tsunami that remorselessly pummelled Japan. While there will be much analysis of what happened, this tragedy also provides an opportunity to draw broader lessons and look forward.
During the 1980s, leading Japanese companies were dauntingly innovative. But it was not just the world of industry - this was also a time when the Japanese came to master many culinary arts, including the French. Fashion, architecture and classical music were among other areas where an atmosphere of creativity prevailed.
During this period, Japan's global soft power spread. Japanese study centres opened up in numerous universities in the West. Many of Japan's Asian neighbours felt impelled to publicly express their desire to learn from Japan. Sushi restaurants and other forms of Japanese culinary arts spread throughout the planet. Manga defined a new artistic genre. Japanese overseas travellers multiplied. While Tokyo was the world's biggest stock market, Japan became the world's largest donor of overseas aid and many Japanese brands became synonymous with excellent quality and innovation. In 1989, when IMD first published its ranking on competitiveness, Japan was firmly in the number one position, while the US was third.
Then something happened and Japan took quite a different, radical and unexpected turn. The asset bubble burst in the early 1990s, with both the Nikkei index and property prices plunging precipitately. However, it was more than just that. Japan seemed to have failed to understand, let alone anticipate, the profound transformations driven by several key driving forces of the turn of the century: demographics, the IT revolution, the rise of China and globalisation.
As a Swiss demographer once said: "The only thing sure about tomorrow is that we will be older than today." Japan, with one of the fastest ageing societies in the world, has not been able to meet the challenge to truly find growth opportunities outside of home. Many Japanese companies are stuck in their domestic market and find it more and more difficult to globalise. Also in the 1980s, Japanese companies retained their lead in many 'hard' electronic products, but the playing field was rapidly shifting to the internet. Attempts by new entrepreneurs to create venture business "a la Steve Jobs" were quickly crushed by the large traditional Japanese companies. Today, there is no Japanese Microsoft, Google or Apple.
The Japanese attitude towards China was interesting. In spite of physical and cultural proximity, it prevented the Japanese from responding appropriately to rising Chinese competition. As to globalisation, the Japanese were not ready in many ways, including concerning the basic but fundamental imperative of mastering the English language. In a 2009 comparative survey by TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), Japan scored even worse than North Korea and Myanmar!
For the last couple of decades, not only has the economy been sluggish, but so has the spirit. Whereas Japan was the talk of the town in the 1980s, for much of the last couple of decades it has been conspicuously absent from global attention and discourse. The Japanese have been closing themselves off from the world. Whereas, for example, the number of students from many countries to the US and other overseas universities has been booming, in Japan it has been decreasing. Japanese companies have been finding it increasingly difficult to post executives abroad or even to recruit new staff with basic global skills.
Japan seems to have entered a phase of deep depression and sense of isolation from the outside world. Japanese speak increasingly of the "Galapagonisation" (garapagosuka) of the country, in reference to those isolated islands situated in the Pacific 1,000 km from Ecuador. Japan's own anomie has resulted in either global indifference or criticism.
Yet this terrible tragedy shows the Japanese in many ways at their finest. It is, needless to say, dramatic that the world should be turning its attention to Japan because of the catastrophes it is experiencing. But all will concur that, in the face of this tragedy, the Japanese people have displayed awesome courage, dignity and perseverance. Many foreign commentators have remarked on the amazing stoicism of the people and the order that they managed to retain in the carnage. In how many countries in the world could one imagine such a scenario even vis-a-vis lesser tragedies?
As the world watches Japan with anguish and admiration, one is reminded of the great resilience of the Japanese people and how much, in fact, they have to offer. The dead will tragically need to be buried and mourned, those who suffer will need to be consoled and the damage will need to be repaired. But we also hope that Japan's incredible phoenix-like capacity to rise from the ashes will manifest itself again. And that having shown themselves so dignified and courageous in the face of great tragedy, the Japanese will "leave the Galapagos" and rejoin the global mainland, from which it stands to benefit and to which it can bring so much.
March 11, 2011 may mark a new phase in Japanese history, with the Japanese regaining self-confidence and the intellectual openness vis-a-vis the outside world for which they were known and respected for many decades. In this new phase, Japan will catch the next globalisation train and provide the forceful influence required to meet tomorrow's global challenges.
Lehmann is professor of international political economy, IMD; Turpin is president, IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Good op-ed. Explains a lot of how things have come to pass. Asia needs Japan to re-engage.
