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.
From 1992 to 1997, I was the founding director of the European Institute of Japanese Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics, where I defined our mission as seeking to contribute to a more robust, mature and dynamic relationship between Japan and Europe.
By the time I left Stockholm, I was disillusioned. After more than 20 years of being involved in seeking to foster closer ties and better understanding between Japan and Europe, it seemed pretty clear that the relationship was not going anywhere. It is not a particularly bad relationship -- certainly no risk of war -- but it is tepid, distant, shallow, platitudinous and opportunistic. Initially, I lay the fault emphatically at the European door. By the late '90s, however, I became convinced that the main obstacles were to be found in Japan.