LOS ANGELES -- History is full of irony for former empires. Historians of East Asia have maintained for some time that it was the Japanese war of aggression in China in the 1930s and 1940s that eventually drove the Chinese people into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party. After that, the equally forceful CCP leadership brought China into the 21st century as an example of developmental economics equal in performance to that of Japan in the 20th century.
Now, some 50 years after the revolution and 30 years after the normalization of relations between Tokyo and Beijing, Japanese business seems poised for another invasion of China. The difference this time is that in order to turn China into a platform for Japanese manufacturing and exports the Japanese are armed with yen for investment, Chinese language books, tourist information guides and a seeming endless series of volumes on how to be successful in the Chinese market. This interest in China is most evident in Japanese bookstores, where every third book seems to offer up the secrets for business success in China.
The big question is can the Japanese, given their reluctant entry into China, now crack the Chinese market as one way to salvage their economy at home? Or will the clever Chinese, working with overseas Chinese, Taiwanese and Americans, try to limit Japan's success on their turf? Whatever the answer is, the Japanese seem determined to give doing business in China their best shot.