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A Great Achiever
The fabulous development of Japan is testimony to the great potentials of humankind
By SANJAYA DHAKAL in Tokyo and Hawaii
As I enjoyed the barbecued pork served on a stick called Yakitori along with sips of Sake with my friends, the ground shook. First we mistook it for the sounds of trains crossing above in the bridge in this busy Ginja district of Tokyo. Then, we thought it was the effect of Sake. Suddenly, we realized we had just felt a strong earthquake. The tremors were gone and people were nonchalantly busy as if they didn’t even notice it. There was no panic and no rush. Just calm and quiet. The next day, Japan Times (October 20) reported a quake of magnitude over 6.3 richter scale and no damages.
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Tokyo city : Height of Development |
It was amazing how the Japanese people have been able to withstand even quakes of such big magnitudes. If similar intensity of quake was to hit our part of the world, it could have triggered emergency situation. This indicates the technological progress that Japanese people have made.
“Human resource is the only natural resource that Japan has,” said Donald Westmore, of American Chamber of Commerce, Japan. Indeed, he could not be truer.
And yet this country of 128 million people, which imports every single drop of oil that it uses to run the economy, is the largest Asian economy and the second largest – after the United States – in the world. In 2003, Japan’s total GDP stood at US$ 4302 billion. Japan alone contributes to 70% of the total Asian GDP. The US and Japan together contribute to 40% of world economy.
Last one decade and a half had not been particularly good for Japanese economy as it headed into recession in the early 1990s. Fortunately for the world economy, Japan is slowly but surely picking up in the last two years.
A country where the people live for the longest period and in most healthy manner, Japan also has one of the most egalitarian societies in the world. It is a model of development.
Problems of Ageing Population
Japan currently is witnessing new kinds of problems that are the result of its development. The country’s fertility rate has fallen from 4.54 births per woman in the immediate aftermath of World War II to 1.29 in 2003. Experts predict that Japan’s population will begin to decline from next year. As the average life expectancies is 78.4 years for men and 85.3 years for women, Japan is a fast graying society.
Japanese men and women are marrying very late in their lives – average marrying age for men is 30.8 years and 28.5 years for women.
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People in Tokyo streets : Work is worship |
The declining population is posing serious risks to Japanese economy as the working manpower is expected to fall even as the number of retired pensioners rise who need to be supported by fewer taxpayers.
“There are already 25 million people of over 65 years of age. In future, there will be less number of young people, which would affect social insurance,” said Taro Nakayama, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and a current member of Japanese House of Representatives. Talking to a group of US and Asian journalists who toured Tokyo as a part of Jefferson Fellowship Study Tour organized by Hawaii-based East West Center, Nakayama – who is also the chairman of the Research Commission on Foreign Affairs, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – said that they are even considering allowing immigrants – good human resources – from South East Asia and all over the world to fill the gap.
Sino-Japan Relations
The relations between China and Japan are peculiar. “We have hot economic relations but cold political relations,” summarized Sakutaro Tanino, Director of Toshiba Corporation and a former diplomat.
Japan has high stakes in the current rapid development of China. In fact, its exports to China have contributed in the export growth of 12% this year. There is a huge Japanese investment in China. In 2004, China, including Hong Kong, replaced the US as Japan’s largest trading partner for the first time. The volume of trade with China in 2004 touched whopping $ 211 billion. There is growing dependence of Japanese manufacturers on China for the production of their export. In fact, rise of Chinese economy is one factor that helped Japan to overcome recession.
Despite the rapidly growing economic interdependence, the two countries are not on best of political terms. For the last four years, there have been no high-level exchanges between the heads of governments of the two countries. As a former Japanese ambassador to China noted, there are 4 Ts – textbooks, Taiwan, territory and temple – that have marred the bilateral relations.
The Japanese textbooks, which are said to have selectively glorified Japan’s role in World War II, have drawn scathing reactions from neighbors China and Korea. Likewise, the issue of frequent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to controversial Yasukuni shrine has also been hurting the relations. China and Korea allege that by visiting the shrine (which is a memorial for Japanese war dead) – which also has spirits of some war criminals – Koizumi is hurting their sentiments and re-opening the wounds of WW II. Earlier, this year the events took ugly turn when demonstrators attacked Japanese business interests in Shanghai expressing anger over the textbook issue.
“Even in economic front, there are some nagging problems like intellectual property rights issues; right to trade and distribute within China; and in service industries there,” said an official at the Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation).
However, despite these odds, there is growing feeling of interdependence that is sure to expand in the years to come. “Till two years ago, many people feared that the rise of China could threaten Japan’s economy. But recently Japanese companies have recognized that business in China is profitable. Still, the Research & Development remains within Japan for efficient economy. So, now overall Japanese companies are not afraid of rising China,” added the official at the Nippon Keidanren, which is the largest business federation of Japan.
The expansion of economic relations between Japan and China and their growing confidence upon each other will have a lasting impact on the Asia-Pacific region and also the world.
Japan-US Relations
As the two largest economies of the world, the US and Japan relations count a lot not only to them but the whole world. Since the end of WW II, US and Japan have been strong allies working together in different areas.
“The US-Japan relations have been significantly strengthened in the last five years,” said Raymond Burghardt, director of East West Center (EWC) – a think-tank founded by US Congress in 1960 to act as bridge between the US and the Asia Pacific.
Of late, US has been positively viewing the efforts in Japan to adopt “security mechanism appropriate to their economic status.”
The US and Japan have been closely coordinating not only in economic growth of the region but also contributing to the stability and peace. The cooperation of Japan, US as well as China in the six party talks over North Korea issue has heralded a new era of opportunity in the whole region.
Implications for Nepal
All three countries - Japan, the US and China - are important for Nepal. Japan is the biggest bilateral donor to Nepal helping it in sectors like infrastructure development, health, education, transport and so on. Japan provided over Rs. 176,000 million (or US$ 2200 million) in total assistance since 1969 out of the total foreign aid of Rs 202588.3 million (or US$ 5215.68 million), which Nepal received in foreign aid from 1950/51 till 2000/01 (according to figures quoted in the second edition of Eugene Bramer Mihaly’s Foreign Aid and Politics in Nepal). Since 1980 Japan became the largest bilateral donor to Nepal helping the latter in every sphere of its development efforts.
In recent years, Japan has cut down its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries because of its recession (although not to Nepal). However, owing to recent improvement in its economy, there are chances that Japan will increase its assistance. “We will increase ODA in coming years and continue to help Nepal,” said Tomohiko Taniguchi, deputy press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The US has been the long-standing development partner of Nepal since the latter opened up to outside world in 1950s. It has helped in all aspects of Nepalese life most notably in the eradication of malaria in 50s and 60s – which helped clear vast areas of Terai land for settlement. Terai is still the most economically active and food-belt of Nepal.
China, on the other hand, is a close neighbor and a rising power. There are immense opportunities for Nepal to derive benefits from growing China. Perhaps, it is for the same reason that Nepali government is trying to get duty free access to Chinese markets and also trying to make Nepal a transit point between China and India.
As such, progress and development of these countries will have a big bearing on how the world will evolve in the coming years. Positive development in their political and economic relations is certain to have positive spillover effects to every nook and corner of the world including Nepal.
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