Several years ago, at the Kansai Economic Seminar, an annual snoozefest of pompous platitudes and pretentious, paternalistic pontificating by the old men who run Kansai's major corporations, one senior leader called for entering the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Reflecting the conventional wisdom on PowerPoint slides, the gentleman dismissed concerns from critics — naive, greedy farmers, silly university professors, anti-capitalist union leaders — about what the TPP free trade deal could mean for Japan's agricultural sector. What's important, the gentleman told his audience to approving nods, is not where the food comes from or what possibly banned chemicals were used to grow it, but how many calories it provides.
Given its history of backing financial failures, notably Kansai airport, massive public works projects, and the Osaka 2008 Olympic bid, one should treat any advice from the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) with suspicion. But the body, composed of Kansai's largest firms, has predicted joining the TPP will increase regional industrial output by ¥223 billion, raise exports by more than 3 percent and create 110,000 new jobs.