日本再発見 2006年3月29日在ヒューストン日本国総領事 加茂佳彦
President Mabry, Mayor Toyoda of Yachiyo, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to be here to speak to you today.Thank you all for coming to hear my presentation.I have never had such a large crowd.You make me feel great, as well as nervous.I am not sure if I can survive for the next hour or so, but this beautiful hall is awesome and has incredible acoustics, and so I also feel greatly encouraged.
Roger Williams, the Secretary of State of Texas, proclaimed at the consular gala held last Saturday in Austin that business makes the world safer.This being the case, he continued, one of the most important jobs for a consul general is to promote business.Secretary Williams wants to promote Texas business with foreign countries.Well, he is a very good salesman for both his family’s business and for Texas.So today I will try to follow his advice and be a good salesman for Japan.
You might ask me what I want to sell.To start with, I want to sell you on Japan.I want to tell you about four Texas tourist destinations that have Japanese connections.
The first visit is the Alamo.One hundred seven years ago, Juko Shiga, a Japanese geologist, visited the Alamo in San Antonio and was deeply touched by the story of the 150 brave soldiers who fought at the Alamo.He read a poem honoring their valor and patriotism that echoed the Samurai spirit.Later he presented a stone monument with that poem engraved on it to the city of San Antonio and that monument is still standing in a corner of the Alamo.
Shiga continued his journey and on his way to El Paso, stopped at the town of Alpine, where he visited a local teachers’ school.He suggested to the school principal that an astronomical observatory should be built in this area because of its ideal atmospheric conditions and high altitude.In later years his suggestion was brought to realization when the MacDonald Observatory was built at FortDavis.
Your next visit would be to NASA in Houston.About 100 years ago, the first Japanese immigrants to Texas settled in what was practically a tropical swamp near what is now the city of Webster, just south of Houston.There were rice farmers from Japan led by Seito Saibara, a prominent Japanese parliamentarian and president of a Christian university in Kyoto.The city of Houston had invited them to come and they developed a huge rice colony there.Their success caused rice farming to spread to other parts of Texas.
Coincidentally, this rice colony is the site on which NASA and the JohnsonSpaceCenter sit today.It is also a happy coincidence that Japanese astronauts are vigorously engaged in the NASA space programs at the very site where their fellow countrymen tilled, toiled and pioneered the rice farming industry in Texas.
The next destination to be visited is not so far away from here in Fort Worth.The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was designed by internationally acclaimed Japanese architect, Tadao Ando.It is said that this is his most important work outside of Japan.Featuring bare, but smooth concrete, glass and steel against a man-made shallow, reflection pool, it catches the light and wind and gives a sense of serene tranquility, blending itself with a distant view of downtown Fort Worth.It is no wonder that the museum has become one of the most popular photo-taking spots.
Fort Worth also has arguably the best Japanese garden in Texas; so if you go to Fort Worth, be sure to visit the garden too.The Japanese are traditionally strong in the art form of design, including landscape architecture and architecture.Another example is that Asia House, a cultural center for Asian communities in Houston will be a dream come true in a few years and is being designed by another renowned Japanese architect, Yoshio Taniguchi, who also designed New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Your final tourist destination is Fredericksburg.As a mater of fact, I went to this Texas Hill Country town with old German heritage and charm to visit the AdmiralNimitzMuseum just last Saturday.This Pacific War museum has a lot of exhibits from Japan, actually.Perhaps the most comprehensive museum of the sort, it serves as a history classroom where visitors from the U.S., Japan and other countries can visit one of the most important phases of 20th century history and have access to firsthand material and artifacts.
Being a Japanese consul general, I was a bit nervous on entering the museum featuring the war that we had fought and lost.To my relief and pleasant surprise, animosity did not reign inside the museum.It permeated a sense of tolerance, magnanimity and reconciliation.Although we may not hold exactly the same perceptions of the war or interpretations of history, the U.S. and Japan have somehow overcome our differences for a greater cause.There is a Japanese garden attached to the museum and a replica of Admiral Togo’s study can be found there.I was told that this Japanese garden has served many times as a place of reconciliation for visiting Japanese war veterans and their American counterparts.
By the time you have explored all four destinations in Texas that I have just mentioned, and experienced the Japanese presence that I have described, perhaps you will feel like visiting Japan.Yes, please do.Come to my country.Japan should not be missed and deserves to be discovered and rediscovered.
One way to do this, especially for young people, is through the Japanese government’s most popular exchange program called the “Japan Exchange and Teaching program” or “JET” program.JET puts young college graduates into Japanese schools throughout the country to be assistant teachers of English language skills for periods of two to three years.The pay and benefits are good.Above all, it is an excellent way to get to know Japan and the Japanese people.
Continuing my sales talk about Japan, I would like to tell you three hidden facts about Japan that you should remember.The first two secrets are tourism and the opportunity for foreign investment.
In recent years, due to a simultaneous downturn in the Japanese economy and a boom in the Chinese economy, China rather than Japan has come to be considered the dominant Asian player in the world economy.However, the facts do not support this perception.Japan is still very much a major player in the world’s economy and to ensure that it will maintain that status, its government has recently set new goals for actively increasing tourism and foreign investment.
Japanese people love to travel, and approximately seventeen million travel outside of Japan every year.Until recently, however, Japan has not explored its own potential for becoming a major tourist destination.People are usually discouraged from visiting Japan because of three myths that exist about Japanese tourism:that it is too expensive, that it is too remote, and that the people there do not speak English.But I have good news:MacDonald’s hamburgers are cheaper there than they are here; the flying time from Dallas to Tokyo is almost the same as to Paris or London, and the younger generation in Japan does speak English.Japan offers its visitors from the western world the rare opportunity, while in a safe and friendly setting, to become exposed to or immersed in a unique and different society culturally alien to their own.
Japan has everything from modern cities and beautiful countryside to distinctive cuisine and friendly people.Like Texans, we are a very hospitable people.The Japanese government is now very interested in exploiting Japan’s full potential as a tourist destination.In 2001, Japan had 4,770,000 tourists, and in 2005 it had a total of 6,700,000 visitors with 800,000 coming from the U.S.The Japanese government would like to nearly double that total to 10 million tourists by the year 2010.
Despite current perceptions to the contrary, Japan has not been marginalized by the emerging Asian economies.Japan’s huge economic output is larger than all the other Asian economies combined.The Japanese and U.S. economic outputs combined equal 40% of all the world’s GDP.Outside of NAFTA, Japan ranks as the largest export market for the U.S. with the fifty-four billion dollars generated in export to Japan accounting for 6.7% of all U.S. exports in 2004.After the U.K., Japan is the second largest foreign investor in the U.S. with an investment of one hundred and seventy-seven billion dollars or 11.6% of all foreign investment in the U.S. in 2004.Japanese businesses have also created over 600,000 jobs in the U.S. making Japan the third largest foreign employer in the U.S. after the U.K. and Germany.
Twenty years ago there was a trade war between the U.S. and Japan, but that war ended as economic relations shifted from trade to investment, and our countries now share an important and mutually beneficial economic relationship.Forty-one percent of all foreign investment in Japan comes from the U.S., making the U.S., by far, the largest investor in Japan.The U.S. also greatly benefits from receiving 41% of all Japanese overseas investment.For Japan, the U.S. is the number one foreign investor and the number one foreign investment market.
It is safe to say that the U.S. will continue to be the number one choice for Japanese foreign investment particularly in the area of high tech research and development.Japan has experienced great success in the past with such investment and expects to continue to do so in the years to come.
Today’s friendly economic relations between the U.S. and Japan are also evident in the major role Japan has played in helping to finance the U.S.’s current account deficit.For instance, in 2004, Japan invested 689.9 billion dollars in U.S. Treasury bills--that is equivalent to 36.6% of all the money that the U.S. borrowed from overseas by selling T-bills.This made Japan the number one buyer of U.S. T-bills while China was the number two buyer.As a result, Japan has enabled U.S. interest rates to remain low and the continued growth of the U.S. economy.
Traditionally, Japan has avoided dependence on foreign money to create new businesses.Even in 2006, foreign investment in Japan accounts for only 2.5% of its total GDP.However, Japan now realizes it can boost its economy by attracting more investment from outside its borders.In an attempt to be more responsive to any economic stimulant available, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced plans in 2001 and 2006 to double foreign investment in Japan by the end of 2006 and to have foreign investment account for 5% of its GDP by 2010.
Although Japan has sometimes been regarded primarily as a trade nation, only 20% of its GDP actually comes from trade.Since Japan has no natural resources of its own, trade is certainly an important component of its economy.However, when compared to China where trade accounts for 70% of their GDP, Japan’s dependence on foreign trade is relatively minimal.Japan’s current government realizes that it must aggressively seek to entice more foreign investment and tourism and use them as the tools with which it can stimulate its economy.
Japan has a strong economic relationship with Texas.There are 230 Japanese companies in Texas, most of which are manufacturing companies and a total of 76 factories.Japanese ranks as the fifth largest foreign investor in Texas after the U.K., France, Germany, and the Netherlands, with its investments in Texas totaling 8.37 billion dollars or 7.8% of all foreign investment in Texas.Japan also helped create 40,000 jobs in Texas making it the third largest foreign employer after the U.K. and France.These figures do not include the Toyota Truck factory that will be built soon in San Antonio.
Another example of Japan’s strong economic ties with Texas can be seen in the success of Tokyo Electron America, which has become one of Austin’s foremost companies.Although it has an American CEO, Tokyo Electron America has successfully utilized some elements of the typical Japanese model of management in its business proving that the Japanese business management style has not necessarily become obsolete.In fact, astute American companies, such as Tokyo Electron America, are recognizing its advantages and vigorously utilizing it.The more typical bottom up decision-making process where business decisions begin with proposals made by those in the lower echelons of company certainly has some merits.Many companies in Japan use this decision making process, and although it is more time consuming, once the decision is made, it can then be executed very quickly.Another strong point of the Japanese business management style that you may find useful is information sharing.Japanese companies hold frequent staff meetings so that their employees are well-informed regarding business operations.This is a highly motivational process, which results in much greater company productivity.
In addition to its effective management methods, Japan has much to offer to foreign businesses that base their operations there.It has a free and democratic society with a long history of highly developed civic maturity.Businesses can flourish in Japan because it is a safe and highly ethical society, which provides many safeguards for conducting business there.This is the third hidden fact about Japan that I want to emphasize.
Democracy was established in Japan in almost 120 years ago with the opening of its parliament in 1890, and in 1925, universal suffrage was introduced.So although our democratic history is not as old as the U.S.’s, it is by far the oldest democracy in Asia.Japan’s change to an open society began in 1853 with the first visit of U.S. Commodore Perry.In the subsequent years, the bilateral treaties of amity and friendship and of trade and commerce were concluded between our two countries.However, these treaties were very disadvantageous for Japan.Japan was given no jurisdiction over any crimes committed by Americans on her shores and no right to impose custom duties freely.Similar discriminatory treaties were also concluded with other western powers at that time.Japan had no choice but to accept the unfavorable terms of these treaties since she faced such a powerful military threat from the West.It took more than sixty years for Japan to achieve equal treatment under these treaties.After World War II, and the era of U.S. occupation, Japan joined international systems such as GATT and the United Nations, and as a defeated nation, Japan again experienced unequal and unfavorable treatment.However, Japan has consistently followed its policy to honor the existing rules and to attain what it feels it deserves by becoming an exemplary member of the international community.In fact, as one of the most committed and generous members of the United Nations, Japan is still patiently aspiring to attain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
So as you can see, we have a long history of using negotiation, and working within the existing rules rather than resorting to rebellion or violence to improve our international standing.In the post war era, Japan has always been an observer of the status quo, and has continuously exercised accountability and humility in its dealings as a nation.
Japan’s historically rule-abiding character, highly developed civic maturity, and established legal system offer businesses a secure base for operations not typical of the rest of Asia.Unlike China, where a lack of respect for intellectual property rights in particular is a growing problem, such business rights are strictly honored in Japan.Reportedly, as a result, some western companies whose Asian operations were previously based in other Asian cities are now moving their headquarters to Tokyo.
Japan has managed to survive despite a 15-year stagnation of its economy.However, while I feel confident that Japan will continue to recover from its economic doldrums, I will not say that a bright future for Japan is automatically assured.Japan is facing many challenges that it first must overcome.
In 2005, the Japanese economy grew by 2.8% in real terms.Since deflation has nearly halted, in early March, the Bank of Japan stopped the quantitative easing money policy.Under this policy, the Bank of Japan provided excessive amounts of money to the Japanese money market and assured the continuance of this ultra loose money policy enabling the stimulation of the Japanese business sector, while fighting deflation.
In the recent economic recovery, the private business sector, manufacturing in particular, has successfully done their homework of managing the three major excesses--namely, excesses in machinery and production facilities, labor force, and in product inventories.These three excesses were weakening Japan’s companies, but the private sector has now made the necessary adjustments, and as a result, businesses have become stronger and their profitability has improved.
The next challenge Japan must face is to restore our fiscal health.Currently, Japanese public debt is 160% of Japan’s GDP which is by far the worst amongst all the advanced industrial economies of the world.However, we are also the number one creditor.As a result, the net debt we suffer is 80% of our GDP, which is tolerable.However, 160% in debt cannot be maintained, and something must be done soon to rectify this public debt issue.
Our aging society critically compounds this problem.The birth rate in Japan is on the decline, so the challenge has become how a shrinking workforce will be able to support a growing demand for social services by the elderly.This challenge will be most acute in pension reform, and it is an urgent matter that must be tackled.We simply don’t have enough funds being generated by the young, and therefore the issue of whether and/or how much to raise taxes is going to be much debated.Our consumption tax is 5%, which is relatively low, so some feel it should be raised to, say, 10%, which is still low in comparison to the Nordic states’ rate.Raising taxes, and in particular the consumption tax, in order to generate more funds perhaps will be necessary, but nobody likes tax hikes, so this is going to be a hotly contested issue.
Japan is undergoing an economic and social awakening as well as a political one.Economically, Japan is realizing the value of foreign investment and the need for reforms.Socially Japan is realizing the desirability of more women and foreign workers in the workplace, and politically, we Japanese are experiencing a changing attitude toward how much of a role we want to take in world affairs.A growing majority of Japanese is feeling that we should take on a much more active role.That is why Japan is getting more assertive on some of the important issues these days.This change is the result of recent developments in the strategic environment of East Asia.
What has happened in the past?While Japan has suffered from economic stagnation, China has experienced a spectacular economic rise.For the first time, a very real nuclear threat from North Korea has arisen.Japan has seen a decline in the influence of its liberal left resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union.Many feel that the country must now undertake a more active and responsible role in international affairs in order to exert more diplomatic influence on the issues of vital interest.
This change in the Japanese national consciousness should not be misunderstood as change driven by xenophobic nationalism.We are simply realizing that as a responsible member of the international community, we should make a greater contribution to international peace and prosperity by assuming a larger and more active role commensurate with our economic power and might.
Our commitment to bear responsibility for noble causes has been well demonstrated by how we have contributed to the fight against terrorism in Iraq and by the aid we have given to the Indian Ocean tsunami victims.
As a more active participant in world affairs, Japan will continue to be a dependable and loyal ally of the U.S.We will also continue to be involved in the fight against terrorism and other global undertakings.We very much need the United States, and we think we can be a great partner to her. To some degree, the United States also needs Japan to help secure its global interests.The U.S. and Japan share common economic interests as well as the common values of democracy, free markets, and human rights.The U.S.-Japan partnership has been good for both countries, and this has been beneficial for our mutual prospects in Asia and surely will continue to be so.