In 1999, the collective work Japans Kultur der
Reformen was published, uniting the papers of the 6th gathering of
specialists on Japan of the German Society
for Nature Study and Ethnology (OAG) in Tokyo (March 1998). It is a testimony
of an existing culture of reforms in Japan, although the current LDP
leadership seems to do everything to prove the contrary.
Established in 1873, the OAG was founded not only by
scholars and diplomats, but also by merchants. Today, still an important
part of its members come from the economy.
The present volume not only deals with the current financial and economic
problems of Japan, but also with the political system, think tanks, security
policy, yakuza, the educational and university system, the evolution of the
father-image as well as reforms on the artistic and esthetic level. Already
the first motto of government in Japan in 645, in which the still used
year-counting after the Chinese model was introduced, was taika ("big
change"). However, the book by the OAG does not go behind
Meiji-reform-era.
Peter Baron deals with the reforms of the financial
system in the last decades. For him, deregulation as such is no recipe for the
solution of the Japanese problems since an efficient economy needs on the
contrary a certain degree of regulation; otherwise, economic chaos would be
the result. A "wrong"-handed deregulation could have negative
effects on the market. Baron stresses the fact that the social responsibility
of society and enterprises is higher in Japan than in the USA. Therefore, the
density of regulation in the banking sector is higher.
In no other developed economy are the financial
institutions in a comparable position of power and influence, according to
Baron. Japan early realized the necessity of a fundamental reform of its
financial system, but no measures and of course no real reform were
undertaken until the mid-1990s.
At the end of 1989, the Nikkei
reached its climax with 39,000 points. The end of the bubble economy was for
Baron not an event of destiny, but a wanted measure introduced by the Japanese
Central Bank which initiated a monetary policy of slowly becoming more expensive
money.
As a result, the prices for overpriced stocks and property sunk rapidly. A
movement which only towards the 1990s seemed to come to an end.
First, there was a sort of tacit understanding between
banks, supervising authority, employers' association, politics, etc. They all
seemed to agree to wait and hold out. Japanese were convinced to have found
the best way to handle the crisis. The banks sat on a huge pile of unsecured
credits but did nothing to bring them to light and made no risk provisions.
Only towards the mid-1990s, under the unchained pressure by foreign
press and banks, the supervising authority started reacting and catching up
with the problem. The Japanese people and public opinion only became sensitive
when the unsecured credits of the whole financial sector were estimated at
over $300 billion. As a consequence, the confidence in the banks and the
banking system faded.
In November 1996, a structural reform of the financial
market was introduced, which aimed to revive the Japanese stock market by
2001. According to Baron, the successful implementation of the program began
in 1997/98. Therefore, he concluded that (in 1998 when he presented his paper)
there had never before been such good conditions for foreign financial
companies to become active in Japan in the sectors of private banking, consumer
finance, asset management, ABS and real estate financing. Especially the
American side, where the harshest critics came from, started acquisitions of
Japanese companies. Baron's reservations to his optimistic outlook where that
the success of the reform program depended on the political will to implement
it rigorously. Today, he probably would agree that the crisis is not resolved
yet.
A few remarks on two other articles of the book: Richard A. Werner
examines the economic reforms of the 1990s which were the deepest since the
great depression of the 1930 and became necessary because of the Japanese
recession starting in 1992 and during six years (his paper was written in
1998/1999). Patrick Reinmöller has a look at the Japanese think tanks. In
contrast to the mostly non-profit-orientated institutes in the USA which are
strongly engaged in middle- and long-term research, the Japanese think tanks
are profit-oriented and specialized in short- and middle-term (commissioned
economic) research. Over 80% of researchers are concentrated in the Tokyo area
where of course also most of the money goes to.
______________
Referate des 6. Japanologentages der
OAG in Tokyo, Werner Schaumann, Hg., iudicium verlag, 1999, 276 S. Get it from
Amazon.de.
Another book in German, by Makiko
Hamaguchi-Klenner: Politischer Realismus in Japan, Verlag Peter Lang,
Frankfurt a.M., 2000, 376 S. Her analysis focuses on the development of new
international concepts in Japan. She examines the role of the government, LDP,
the bureaucracy and other actors and their impact on foreign and security
policy, development aid and other international policies.
