Japan Echo Web

Can Japan Export Its Water Business?

Supporting Those Who Stand Out

The third issue to which Asakura referred was a question that is an undercurrent to the previously mentioned issues: Can the national government and businesses truly recognize that infrastructure industry exports are in Japan’s national interest? He put it this way: “It may be easier to understand if we use the analogy of the Olympics. The Korean approach is to sharply limit the number of athletes who can participate in the Olympics and to have the government and other organizations back them up vigorously so that they can win gold medals without fail. The Japanese approach is to send more athletes to the Olympics and be happy if they place, even if they don’t get medals. That’s the sort of difference I’m talking about.”

Will the Japanese people accept the idea of having the government concentrate all its support on a single industry? Can the government make up its mind and pick a single corporation as a target for its support? And within corporations, can management resolve to focus the entire company’s energies on a challenge being undertaken by a single division? Japan has a tradition of imposing conformity, as seen in the so-called convoy system long applied to the regulation of banks and other institutions; this tendency is seen throughout society in general and also within corporations, where to this day those who excel outstandingly get pulled down. Will it be possible for Japan to break away from this culture of conformity and switch to rooting for those who stand out?

Since last year’s change of government we have been hearing even greater emphasis than before on words like fairness and equality. At the same time we hear incipient talk of infrastructure business exports. In a sense these involve accepting inequality over the short term so as to gain fairness, an economic return, over the long term. Support will not be provided to all: Some industries, companies, and local governments will get it, while others will not. Without such differentiated treatment, it will not be possible for Japan’s infrastructure industries to win international business.

The government’s decisions are, broadly viewed, a mirror image of the will of the people. I believe it is extremely important at this point to understand that it is in Japan’s national interest to promote infrastructure business exports, which can lead to economic revival and to additional revenue for local governments, and to encourage the formation of a culture that focuses on long-term fairness.

Translated from “Infura yushutsu no mirai o hiraku ‘mizu bijinesu’ saizensen,” Voice, June 2010, pp. 68–75. (Courtesy of PHP Institute) [June 2010]