The Japan That Can Say No
Ishihara, Shintaro
S hortly after this book appeared in Japan, the US. Department of Defense, alarmed by its rhetoric, ordered a translation. Although the translation was a poor one and sections were omitted, it soon...
...More than a few American policy-makers have, in recent years, called on Japan to take on a greater share of the world's burdens, as befits a great economic power...
...18.95 Peter Hannaford THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MARCH 1991 39...
...THE JAPAN THAT CAN SAY NO Shintaro Ishihara/Simon and Schuster/158 pp...
...When the Rockefeller Group sold Rockefeller Center to Mitsubishi, they had already put the property on the market to seventeen Japanese firms...
...Washington's deliberate policy of reducing the dollar against the yen in 1985—intended to reduce the trade deficit by making U.S...
...companies, but he also lists remedies in the form of two American studies: "Made in America: Regaining the Productive Edge," by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(1989...
...delegation either turned down or responded vaguely to the Japanese ones...
...He calls former Premier Yasuhiro Nakasone a "yes-man" in his relations with the U.S...
...industry to regain its competitive edge" developed a list of suggestions he thinks should have been on the agenda for the bilateral Structural Impediments Initiatives (SID talks...
...One can argue that it is suspicion about a very different culture, rather than racism, that fuels some American criticism of Japan...
...initiated SII, presumably to get at the underlying causes of the trade barrier...
...He concedes that he is thought "a bull in the china shop" by many in Japan...
...Ishihara complains that, while Japan accepted a number of the major American proposals (such as a massive increase in public works spending), the U.S...
...Critics often describe Ishihara as "nationalistic,"-raising the specter of past Japanese militarism...
...And, while Ishihara does not take note of Japan's notorious ethnocentrism, he does say, "I'm not suggesting Japanese are without fault...
...He does, however, draw the threads together as he reaches his conclusion that the destinies of Japan and the United States are linked, that his country must get used to the fact that it is a world power and act accordingly, and that Americans must heed the old Chinese proverb, "When things go wrong, look in the mirror...
...It bothers Ishihara greatly that, nearly half a century after the end of World War II, Japan is still playing yes-man to the United States, particularly on defense and foreign policy...
...He also thinks Japan should cast aside all of its arguments for preventing entry of U.S...
...He sees the future of Japan and the U.S...
...A one-time cabinet minister and candidate for his party's presidency (which would have made him premier), he has long believed in speaking his mind, and prizes this quality in Americans...
...To sweeten the mix, Ishihara says that he and "fifteen like-minded politicians who want U.S...
...insisted on "co-production" and one-sided technology transfer arrangements, which Ishihara regards as lingering symptoms of Japan's post-World War II subservience...
...Customary Japanese circumspection is absent from Ishihara's criticisms...
...Instead, the U.S...
...Discrimination is still widespread in Japan...
...Its delegation produced over 200 recommendations, while the Japanese countered with only a handful...
...exports more competitive—led to the increased Japanese interest in U.S...
...as closely linked, with each drawing upon the strengths of the other (provided Japan learns when to say no and when -to say yes) to pull the less-developed parts of the world forward...
...He says that "American racism stems from pride in cultural superiority," and has raised this point with a number of Americans, all of whom were uncomfortable talking about it...
...The same goes for his assertion that we Americans single out Japan for criticism—just as we dropped atom bombs on it—because of our inherent racism...
...It deserves serious consideration...
...properties...
...The US...
...Ishihara is like the legendary fellow who hit the mule with a two-by-four "to get his attention...
...Time and time again Ishihara returns to the controversy surrounding the FSX fighter aircraft, which could have demonstrated Japan's ability to stand on its own while applying its advanced technology to an aircraft uniquely designed for homeland defense...
...He is really speaking to an underlying concern that young Japanese are in danger of losing their culture, heritage, and values if they mistake the superficial allure of Western music, fashion, and so on for a substitute...
...He proposes we form a Group of Tivo, making use of the American lead in basic research and Japan's knack for management...
...Although the translation was a poor one and sections were omitted, it soon found its way through many a Washington photocopier and produced an outcry from assorted politicians...
...Ishihara's list of recommendations includes tightening the use of credit cards and reducing corporate dividend payments from quarterly to semi-annually...
...shihara cites familiar cause-and1 effect arguments for the declining competitiveness of U.S...
...and "Global Competition: The New Reality," by the President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness...
...Despite its advanced billing as an "America-bashing" book, The Japan That Can Say No reflects the outlook of a man who admires such American characteristics as directness, initiative, loyalty, and innovation...
...He hits his American readers with several two-by-fours, then discusses his supporting arguments reasonably and, in the final analysis, sympathetically...
...When he speculates about the possibility of Japan using its prodigious microchip output to supply not the U.S., but, say, the USSR, he is hitting us with the two-by-four...
...He reserves special ire for what he sees as an obsequious and pusillanimous Japanese foreign ministry, calling for half of Japan's embassy staffs to be drawn from the private sector...
...Ishihara is a popular novelist, ocean-racing yachtsman, and member of the Diet...
...Meanwhile, Japan's cat's cradle of product distribution needs to be untangled (the Tokyo resident pays 40 percent more for goods than the New Yorker...
...A careful reading of his views yields a different picture...
...rice into its mar-_ ket—a position viewed as heresy in Japan...
...It took two to tango...
...Nonetheless, his Peter Hannaford, a frequent visitor to Japan, is head of a Washington-based public affairs firm urging that we frankly confront and discuss the basis of our differences is beyond argument...
...The author skips back and forth among his topics, with some duplication...
...That, of course, is what Ishihara is urging his country to do...
...He recognizes that "Americans are upset, frustrated and worried about their country," but he cautions us not to use Japan as a scapegoat for our own problems...
...Author Shintaro Ishihara has given us an updated English-language edition, minus a section written by Sony chairman Akio Morita...
...He says, "Without nationalism—a strong sense of roots and identity—there cannot be internationalism, only a shallow cosmopolitanism...
Vol. 24 • March 1991 • No. 3
