Tetsushi Kajimoto - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

Tetsushi Kajimoto

For Tetsushi Kajimoto's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

BUSINESS

Jul 20, 2000

Regulating body recommended for NTT

To liberalize telecommunications and encourage competition through foreign direct investment here, Japan needs to develop an effective framework for regulating dominant carrier NTT Corp., according to Erkki Liikanen, European commissioner for enterprise and the information society.

JAPAN

Jul 13, 2000

Kono, Ivanov confirm goal of inking peace treaty this year

MIYAZAKI — Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, reconfirmed the two countries' commitment Wednesday to resolve their long-standing territorial row and strive to sign a peace treaty by year's end, a Foreign Ministry official said.

BUSINESS

Jul 12, 2000

Education key to closing IT gap: OECD

Developing countries should not use the digital divide as an excuse to relax efforts to catch up with the information technology revolution, according to a senior official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

BUSINESS

Jul 8, 2000

Tokyo to push new WTO talks

Japan will push initiatives in the international community to realize the early launch of a round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization, Minister of International Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma said.

BUSINESS

Jul 1, 2000

12 nations ink bilateral deals at Sapporo U.N. talks

In a bid to facilitate foreign direct investment, 12 developing nations signed 22 bilateral investment pacts during a fortnight of negotiations that wrapped up Friday in Sapporo under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI

Jun 24, 2000

Voters to blame for deadbeats, nepotism in Diet, says Totten

If citizens want a better Japan, they need to turn out for Sunday's election and vote against the old-school lawmakers and those who aim to inherit a parent's seat as if it were a birthright, according to American businessman Bill Totten.

JAPAN

Jun 19, 2000

Energy policy left to stagnate by 'ritual democracy': expert

The cure for a decade of economic stagnation may be the focal point of Sunday's general election, but Tetsunari Iida wants politicians to put energy and environment high on the political agenda as well.

BUSINESS

Jun 3, 2000

Alternatives to nuclear energy limited: OECD head

Japan must pursue a realistic approach toward nuclear power for the sake of energy security while simultaneously enhancing regulatory mechanisms to prevent accidents, according to a senior official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

BUSINESS

Jun 1, 2000

Large stores must try to fit in despite deregulation

With the abolishment of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law as of Wednesday, large retailers will no longer have to worry about harmonizing their commercial interests with local smaller businesses when establishing or expanding an outlet.

BUSINESS

May 15, 2000

Manufacturers dying for new blood

Japan's manufacturers have a staunch ally in Tokai University Professor Hajime Karatsu.

BUSINESS

Mar 21, 2000

Power industry to get a jolt of competition

Competition emerging from ongoing market reforms ranging from the financial "Big Bang" to telecommunications deregulation is taking many of Japan's industrial dinosaurs to the verge of extinction.

BUSINESS

Mar 16, 2000

Hong Kong still 'gateway to China'

With its accelerating economic recovery and shift toward a balanced budget, Hong Kong will continue to be "the gateway to China" for businesses from Japan and around the world in the coming century, according to the principal representative at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo.

JAPAN

Feb 28, 2000

National oil development strategy questioned

Staff writer The expiration Monday of the 40-year-old drilling rights of Japan's Arabian Oil Co. to a Saudi Arabian oil field dealt another blow to Tokyo's long-term policy of expanding Japanese-explored oil sources as a precaution against emergencies like the 1970s oil crises. The expiration was a long time coming, as Saudi Arabia proceeded to nationalize its oil fields in the 1970s amid a growing sense of nationalism, according to analysts. But it also raises the question of how rational is it for Japan to pursue costly development of crude oil -- a policy that has been publicly criticized because of quasi-governmental Japan National Oil Corp.'s high-risk financing of developers. Now that the rights to Khafji oil field have finally expired, Arabian Oil will lose half the 280,000 barrels of crude oil it produces each day. The concession with Kuwait in the remaining half of the site, which is located in the former neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, will expire in January 2003. Japan is again expected to face another uphill battle for renewal. Japan's imports of crude oil in the Khafji oil field reached 156,700 barrels per day in fiscal 1998. That may be a mere 3.5 percent of the nation's total imports, but the amount represents 23 percent of crude oil imports produced by 42 Japanese developers overseas. The expiration of the Saudi portion of the Khafji drilling rights may force Tokyo to change its import target to 1.2 million barrels of crude, or 30 percent of total imports, from oil fields developed by Japanese firms by 2010. The 30 percent target was originally set in 1967. A subcommittee of the Petroleum Council, an advisory panel to the minister of international trade and industry, will soon resume deliberations on the issue, which had been disrupted by negotiations over the concessions, and is expected to hammer out a report around April to revise the target. Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya said, "Securing an oil supply (by developing fields) has a lot of risks, a lot of hits-or-misses and is vulnerable to economic changes (such as oil prices and exchange rates). "But there is no change in our policy that the development of oil fields is desirable, and we'll continue to step up efforts to that end," he added. Some experts criticize this stance. "It'd be better for the government to give up on quantitative targeting of oil imports from Japanese-developed oil fields," said Kazuhiro Sakuma, senior analyst in charge of energy issues for Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. "The government must now reconsider on what grounds it aims at such a quantitative target now, when we can readily buy from the market and have diversified sources for oil." As long as the flow of oil continues, Japanese oil wholesalers will remain unworried. An affiliate of Saudi Arabia's state-run Saudi Aramco is expected to continue to supply crude oil after requisitioning local assets from Arabian Oil in the Khafji oil field. While the government stresses the need for securing oil fields developed by Japanese firms as a countermeasure against a potential energy crisis, Sakuma said Japan should acquire its oil from the market, promote friendly ties with oil-producing nations and further explore other resources like natural gas. "Developing oil fields is not likely to give Japan political pull with oil-producing countries. The United States maintains political influence with the presence of its military and vast investment strategies," Sakuma said. However, Tsutomu Toichi, a director of the Institute of Energy Economics Japan, still sees importance in securing oil-field access to ensure the nation's energy security. However, he also admits that development projects must be pursued in a more efficient manner to minimize the risk to taxpayers.

JAPAN

Feb 23, 2000

Talks on drilling rights go down to the wire

Staff writer If Arabian Oil Co.'s last-ditch negotiations with Saudi Arabia to renew its 40-year oil drilling rights fail, the pioneer Japanese driller will be hard hit, but officials don't fear a national crisis. With his firm's rights in the Khafji oil field in the former neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait due to expire Sunday, Arabian Oil President Keiichi Konaga is expected to fly soon to Riyadh for the final round of talks. He will try to win the renewal with an offer of up to 75 billion yen to help finance a controversial railway construction project, but the prospect for success seems to be diminishing. Should the talks fail, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-run oil firm, will take over operations upon the expiration of Arabian Oil's drilling rights, severely damaging the major Japanese oil developer. Despite the fuss over the issue, which has also involved government-to-government negotiations, the overall impact on Japan's energy security would be limited, at least for the time being. The government-level negotiations have already ended in a stalemate as Riyadh has stuck to its demand that the Japanese government grant 200 billion yen for the railway construction. It refused Japan's counteroffer of an 800 billion yen investment package, including a 140 billion yen preferential loan for the railway project. The Japanese government has said it sees little rationale for spending 200 billion yen in taxpayers' money in exchange for the renewal of a single firm's drilling rights. In the Khafji oil field, Arabian Oil produces some 280,000 barrels of crude oil per day, of which some 166,700 barrels are shipped to Japan, accounting for barely 5 percent of the nation's crude oil imports. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Konaga said his firm is committed to keeping alive a separate deal with Kuwait, which is due to expire in early 2003, to operate the remaining half of the oil field in question. "Even if the negotiations (with Riyadh) fall through, it wouldn't bring Arabian Oil's business to a standstill." But Konaga admitted that his firm's earnings -- 180 billion yen for the business year that ended in December -- would be halved and its 2,000-employee operation would have to be restructured under such circumstances. The firm's share price stood at 850 yen as of Wednesday, plunging sharply from 1,804 yen on Jan. 14, just before the breakdown of the government-level negotiations. As for Japan's long-term policy of developing oil fields, the expiration of Arabian Oil's drilling rights means that Japan would lose one-third of the oil produced from the overseas oil fields developed by Japanese firms. "The oil field represents our reminiscences of the late Taro Yamashita," said a senior official of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, referring to the founder of Arabian Oil, who drilled the Khafji oil field. -- the first feat of its kind for Noting that Japan is one of only two countries granted rights to an oil field by Riyadh, he added, "It also symbolizes the friendly relations between Japan and Saudi Arabia, and serves Japan's long-term energy security policy," the official added. Recalling the oil crises in the 1970s, some people underscore the importance for resource-poor Japan to pursue striking oil even at the cost of taxpayers. Another senior MITI official in charge of energy, who declined to be named, acknowledges that the development of oil fields of Japan's own is the second-surest way, next to stockpiling oil, to prepare for an emergency. Japan had reserves expected to last for 164 days as of the end of fiscal 1998. But there has been mounting criticism over inefficient Japanese developers -- including those affiliated with the quasi-governmental Japan National Oil Corp. -- vis-a-vis major international oil companies of the West. "The issue concerning Arabian Oil's concession is a major turning point for Japan in considering what its future development of oil fields ought to be," said a subcommittee member of MITI's Petroleum Council. The subcommittee's deliberations on MITI's basic policy on oil development have been delayed by the stalled negotiations on the oil concession, the subcommittee member said. By the early 21st century, Japan aims to almost double imports of oil developed by Japanese firms, which stood at 676,600 barrels a day and accounted for 15 percent of its total crude oil import at the end of fiscal 1998. "Failure of the concession negotiations would jeopardize that goal, which should work together with the stockpiling in case of an emergency," said Tsutomu Toichi, a director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. "It would be a great disadvantage to Japan, whose oil consumption depends 99.7 percent on imports and whose economy depends more than 50 percent on petroleum," he said. Both Saudi Arabia and Japan stress the continued importance of bilateral strategic relations, especially as Saudi Arabia is the world's largest exporter of oil and Japan the second-largest importer and consumer of oil. However, the recent concession negotiations, Toichi said, are bound to leave an unpleasant aftertaste for both sides. Saudi Arabia must, for example, be disappointed that the Japanese side once proposed to build the mining railway but later changed its stance after finding the result of the feasibility study unpromising, he said. While Europe and the United States have strong bargaining power as arms exporters, Japan has no choice but to resort solely to business cooperation, which cannot always win support from the private sector, he added. Meanwhile, the import of oil from the Middle East accounted for 82.1 percent of Japan's oil imports as of December. "Depending on oil from the Middle East is the most natural and reasonable way for Japan to cope with energy security in peacetime," said the senior MITI official in charge of energy.

BUSINESS

Jan 4, 2000

ACCJ chief aims to fortify bilateral bridge

While major elections are likely to consume Tokyo and Washington in 2000, trade disputes are simmering beneath the relatively calm surface of Japan-U.S. economic relations.

JAPAN

Dec 30, 1999

Japan urged to consider free-trade pacts

Mazda Motor Corp. plans to start producing passenger cars in Europe by 2002, company sources said Thursday. Mazda will use the European production facilities of U.S. auto giant Ford Motor Co., its largest shareholder, and purchase engines from PSA Peugeot-Citroen of France, they said. The company plans to procure 2,000cc fuel-efficient direct-injection diesel engines from Peugeot-Citroen. The firm is also considering buying 2,000cc aluminum diesel engines currently being developed by the French company and Ford, they said. Mazda is making the decision in hopes that the European auto market will expand. However, the scale of production has not yet been disclosed. Mazda is likely to produce the 626, which is known as the Capella in Japan, or the Familia, they said. The European production plan marks Mazda's latest effort to reduce its heavy dependence on exports, which stand at nearly 70 percent at present, and the effects of exchange rate fluctuations on earnings. It is expected to incur 80 billion yen in losses due to the foreign exchange rate in the current business year. The Hiroshima-based automaker had first planned to begin passenger car production in Europe in the early 1990s. However, it put off the plan after deciding to focus on establishing a strong foothold in the domestic market and on the company's restructuring efforts under Ford.

JAPAN

Dec 30, 1999

Japan urged to consider free-trade pacts

Staff writer Japan should keep its commitment to trade liberalization under the World Trade Organization, but this must not prevent it from seeking free-trade agreements with its trading partners, according to Noboru Hatakeyama, chairman of the Japan External Trade Organization. Earlier this month, Japan agreed with Singapore to launch a joint study on a bilateral free-trade pact, the first such a move by Japan, which has long advocated a multilateral approach. The decision, coming shortly after the failed WTO ministerial talks in Seattle, however, should not be deemed "exclusionary," said Hatakeyama, formerly the nation's top trade negotiator. Instead, he said, it is more reflective of global trends, pointing to the growth of regional trade blocs. "With or without the failure of the WTO Seattle summit, I have repeatedly said that Japan must seek a bilateral free-trade pact to avoid lapsing into isolation," Hatakeyama said in a recent interview. "This doesn't mean denial of the multilateral framework under the WTO. All I'm saying is that we should consider both bilateral and multilateral frameworks as parallel concepts (that can complement each other)." Some trade officials are voicing concern that the recent decision to seek a bilateral deal with Singapore may invoke the unintended impression among other trading partners that Japan is now leaning toward a narrower framework of free trade. Indeed, Japan has long held the view that bilateral arrangements run counter to the fundamental spirit of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the WTO's predecessor, which stipulates in its Article 1 that world trade should be liberalized in an open and nondiscriminatory manner. "We used to say we'd stick to that principle even if Japan was invited into some free-trade arrangements," Hatakeyama acknowledged. As vice minister for international affairs at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry between 1991 and 1993, he played a key role in the final stages of the Uruguay round of global trade liberalization talks under GATT. Asked why that rigid stance has been eased, he said Japan alone cannot afford to wait for the slow progress of the multilateral liberalization efforts. As it is, many of Japan's trading partners have been forming regional blocs. The temporary breakdown in the Uruguay Round, following the failed ministerial talks in Brussels in December 1990, spurred momentum for a more manageable free-trade agreement, Hatakeyama said. "All too soon, there emerged free-trade zones, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the ASEAN Free Trade Area," he said. "Along with China, South Korea and Taiwan, Japan is the only major economy left behind today."GATT's Article 24 allows for free-trade agreements, provided that such arrangements do not become barriers against outsiders and that a substantially broad range of sectors are subject to the elimination of customs or other liberalization measures. Thus, he said Japan, whose tariffs on industrial products are among the lowest in the world, can team up with just about any trade partner. Having said that, however, he added, it may be wise for Japan to start with nonagricultural countries, given the "cautious domestic stance" on cheap agricultural imports. Apart from Singapore, Japan is now holding working-level talks with South Korea and Mexico toward creating bilateral investment pacts. The nation's business community and other nongovernmental institutions are also studying the possibility of free-trade arrangements with those two nations. But how will these efforts complement global trade liberalization? "Ideally, world trade should be liberalized through multinational agreements. But it takes too much time for the 135 WTO members to reach an agreement in reality," Hatakeyama said. "If two or three of those countries boost free trade among themselves by concluding an agreement, it will help increase the degree of liberalization in the world as a whole." When those free-trade areas link up to facilitate cross-regional free trade, he said, it would further complement liberalization efforts under the WTO. As prime examples of such movement, Hatakeyama cites an agreement in October between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Australia and New Zealand to explore the possibility of integrating AFTA and the Closer Economic Relationship Treaty formed by the two Oceanic countries. Referring to the WTO Seattle meeting, which failed to launch the new round, he said, antitrade liberalization feelings are building up in both developing and developed countries. "Such a sense of backlash will undermine the world economy and run counter to Japan's interests," Hatakeyama said. With Japan's tariffs on industrial goods averaging 1.5 percent, the nation's industrial sector has been exposed to fierce competition, thereby generating a number of globally competitive players. Today, he said, Japan cannot afford to relax globalization efforts to rebuild its financial sector, to which exposure to greater competition is crucial. As for future development on the WTO talks, Hatakeyama voiced strong concerns over possible interference by antiliberalization activists, such as those belonging to the AFL-CIO. "They first succeeded in skewing negotiations (of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) on MAI (multilateral agreement on investment) and then the launch of the new WTO round in Seattle," Hatakeyama said. With the administration of President Bill Clinton deprived of the fast-track initiative in endorsing trade pacts with other governments, he said, "They must now want to prevent (Congress) from endorsing the agreement between Washington and Beijing on China's accession to the WTO." Under such circumstances, Hatakeyama said Japan must step up joint efforts with the European Union to pursue a broad-based agenda, including the problem of antidumping proceedings, in launching the new WTO round.

JAPAN

Nov 26, 1999

It's WTO vs. budget for Cabinet trio

JAPAN

Oct 28, 1999

Government plans shot in arm for small companies

JAPAN

Sep 15, 1999

Don Quijote sees itself as lord of discount 'jungle'

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports