"Is Japan changing?" This is the question asked by virtually every recent visitor to Japan. The question reveals both the long-standing desire by many non-Japanese to see Japan change in fundamental ways and the heightened expectations fostered by years of hope-inducing Japanese rhetoric that the country is experiencing a "Third Opening," comparable to that following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the end of World War II in 1945.

In evaluating change in Japan, one always needs to ask, "Compared to what?" If the comparison is chronological -- i.e., between Japan of the past and Japan of the present -- there is no question that this country is constantly undergoing change. If, however, the comparison is cross-national -- i.e., between Japan and other industrialized countries -- the extent of change may be much more modest.

Take, for instance, mergers and acquisitions in Japan. Although M&As here have been rare, there has been a growing recognition recently of the positive role they can play in a firm's corporate strategy and a nation's structural adjustment. Accordingly, there was a 38 percent surge in the number of M&As in Japan between 1997 and 1998. This is an impressive number, until one realizes that the actual number of M&As, grew from merely 671 to 929 cases. Britain, with a GDP roughly one-third of Japan's, had in 1998 over 2,200 cases of M&As, totaling more than 50 times the value of the M&As in Japan. And the United States in 1998 had 11,400 cases of M&As with a total value 564 times those in Japan. So a huge change viewed chronologically is often only a modest change cross-nationally.