Jean-pierre Lehmann - The Japan Times

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Aug 26, 2002

Emphasize the beauty for grand objectives

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The best book on the modern Japanese political economy is the late Shigeto Tsuru's "Japan's Capitalism: Creative Defeat and Beyond," published by Cambridge University Press in 1993. Tsuru holds to the great original tradition of economics as a sub-branch of moral philosophy, not of mathematics (to which it has degenerated in many economics faculties today). His book, apart from providing an incisive analysis of the Japanese economy's postwar development, raises some profound questions not only about Japan's political economy, but also about both macroeconomics and capitalism in general. Almost 10 years old, it remains highly relevant, indeed visionary. In upcoming installments of this series, I shall refer to his book and to his vision.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Aug 19, 2002

Raze the barriers to inward investment

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The 21st century has not gotten off to a particularly brilliant start. Greed, corruption and dishonesty are pervasive. Scandals are rocking the world of business and politics in America and Europe. The chances of the Bush/Cheney administration becoming paralyzed by investigations into skulduggery arising from the two's past business practices in the oil industry are quite high. Europe, France in particular, is wallowing in murky dealings. Even such an erstwhile icon as Percy Barnevik, former chairman of Sweden's ABB, has fallen into disgrace.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Aug 5, 2002

'Sick man' of the intellectual community

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In the 1980s and early '90s, there were efforts on the part of Europeans and Japanese to strengthen their bilateral relationship. Europeans were conscious that they had neglected Japan, while the Japanese were seeking to expand their international networks at a time when the U.S.-Japan relationship was particularly strained due to "trade friction." I participated in numerous colloquiums, forums, seminars and conferences aimed at bringing about this goal.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jul 22, 2002

'Domesticists' rule amid idea drought

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- I do not live in Japan, although I first set foot (a rather small foot at 4 years old) on Japanese soil in 1949 and knew the country throughout the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s, when I either lived there temporarily or commuted frequently. My visits this century have been far fewer -- not more than once or twice a year and usually only for a few days (I shall explain the reason for this in a future article). I have no pretense, therefore, to being an "insider."

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jul 8, 2002

Great country; pity about the institutions

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- My good friend Philippe Pons, the Japan correspondent for the leading French daily Le Monde, wrote an excellent article, "Au Japon, la crise n'est pas ce que l'on croit" (In Japan, the crisis is not what people think), for the newspaper's June 19 edition. Pons rectifies many stereotypes and misconceptions about Japan, and points out the many positive things about the Japanese people. I would endorse everything he says.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jul 1, 2002

Scapegoat seekers fuel nation's decline

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- It is natural when one has domestic problems to look for foreign scapegoats. The United States' paranoia over Japan's trade surplus and foreign-investment binge in the 1980s is a good example. While most nations reflect this general syndrome up to a point, the Japanese seem to be pretty much in a league of their own. What dispirits a lot of foreign observers of Japan as well as many disaffected Japanese is the absence of vigorous internal debate within establishment circles about the country's homegrown problems. Talk to officials and they are almost invariably on the defensive. Talk to lots of other people and they are almost invariably resigned and often defeatist.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jun 17, 2002

How to avert the risk of war with China

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In the rolling green countryside of West Sussex in South England, there is an estate called Wilton Park. Some readers of this column may be familiar with the place and the institution it has become: "Wilton Park conferences" occur throughout the year bringing together politicians, officials, business executives and academics for several days to discuss some of the key topics of the planet. It is an excellent environment for this kind of meeting; quite grand, yet intimate and comfortable, and "inspirational."

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jun 10, 2002

Going 'international' is a matter of trust

Fifteenth in a series

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jun 3, 2002

Can a nation learn from Nissan's success?

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The twin announcements that Nissan made a record profit of 372 billion yen last year and that Carlos Ghosn has been appointed chief executive officer of the parent company, Renault, as well as retaining the presidency of Nissan, are an extraordinary landmark.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start proposing solutions?" Some readers may be wondering the same thing. There are three answers to that question.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

May 6, 2002

Le Pen's philosophy is all too familiar

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The results in the first round of the French presidential elections on April 21 hit like a seismic shock. Veteran rightwing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen took second place. There are many reasons why. Some are statistical: Sixteen candidates across the spectrum split the votes of the mainstream parties. There are, however, far more profound and worrying reasons. Racism is a feature, especially in working-class areas where immigrants tend to congregate. Crime is rising, and there is a good deal of insecurity. The proportion of immigrants in France is high, and they have not been well assimilated.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Apr 22, 2002

Gerontocracy and its perks sap resources

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1999 I was invited to participate at a conference held in Tokyo under the title of "Management Challenges for the 21st Century." The first and keynote speaker was Jack Welch, former chief executive officer of General Electric, followed by about a dozen CEOs of major Japanese companies and, lastly, the president of IMD, Peter Lorange, and myself.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Apr 8, 2002

Absence from round table reflects prevalent pattern

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A number of readers of this column have been writing to me directly, mostly, I have to say, to agree and to complement what I am writing with illustrations of their own. Some readers, however, have told me they are upset. That is good! If revolutionary leaders of the mid-19th century such as Shoin Yoshida, Yukichi Fukuzawa, Toshimichi Okubo had not been upset, Japan would have remained a feudal backwater and today would probably be comparable to Myanmar.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Apr 1, 2002

Pundits part of the problem, not its solution

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For years the Japanese government has been arguing that, as one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, it should have a permanent seat on the Security Council. Japan does indeed bring lots of money to the U.N., but it does not bring much else. One of the greatest deficits of Japan in the global era has been that of leadership. And one of the primary reasons for the leadership deficit is the deficit in ideas.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Mar 18, 2002

'Gerontocrat' academicians with myopia

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- After Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel's famous book "Japan as Number One" appeared in 1979, the West experienced a "learning from Japan" boom. I fully participated in this movement in both of its manifestations: publications, seminars etc., and the establishment of university Japanese studies programs. My doctoral thesis at Oxford in the late 1960s had been on Japanese economic history (technology transfer and "modernization" in the late Edo and early Meiji eras (1840-1885).

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Mar 11, 2002

Business schools buck international trend

Seventh in a series

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Mar 4, 2002

'Inbred' universities dragging Japan down

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A former Japanese student of mine, now a member of the economics faculty of one of Tokyo's leading universities, remarked on an occasion when we were having lunch together that, "Larry Summers would not have been appointed professor in a Japanese university." Summers is quite an exceptional fellow by any standard. Now 47 and president of Harvard University, he was made a full tenured professor of economics at Harvard at the age of 28. In the early '90s he was chief economist to the World Bank and then served as secretary of the Treasury in the second Clinton administration.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Feb 18, 2002

No surprise investors shun 'homely' Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For a nation to be competitive in the global era, above all it has to be attractive. That, argues my colleague Stephane Garelli, author of the annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), is the ultimate criterion in determining how nations compete in the global era. Attractiveness is measured in terms of how successful nations are in attracting foreign (or retaining domestic) capital and talent, the two most vital economic resources.*

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Feb 11, 2002

Argentina's decline holds lessons for Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A J.P. Morgan analyst in Tokyo was quoted by The Globalist (Dec. 21) as saying, "Japan now faces the choice: either restructure its economy or become the Argentina of the 21st century -- a spent power." One would not have imagined even just a very few years ago that Japan and Argentina would be uttered in the same breath. The comparison, which of course must not be pushed too far, is nevertheless intriguing, for various reasons.

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Feb 4, 2002

English-language deficit handicaps Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1984 I was invited to give a public lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I began by apologizing for the fact that I would not be able to deliver my lecture in Dutch. I went on to remark that had I been alive at the time of Erasmus, I would have given my lecture in Latin. Many centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin was still the lingua franca (common language) of the intellectual elite across Europe.

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