Newsgroups: alt.feminism,alt.forsale,rec.autos
Subject: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? PART II
From: Louis Pagan <LAPBH@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Date: Wednesday, 23 Dec 1992 15:07:12 EST
Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center

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(JAPANYES; From Internet FTP: monu6.cc.monash.edu.au   in:pub/nihongo)
(Part 2 of 2)

INNOVATION:

     A serious problem, which the Japanese themselves have acknowledged, is the
lack of originality and innovation. This is quite notable when you look at
their companies' histories. The Toshiba company in Tokyo has a big science
center with a time line of its history on a wall.  On it were its achievements.
It read something like 'transistor imported into Japan 1950, manufactured here
in 1953', 'teletype imported 1931, manufactured here 1935'...etc. There were
no inventions, only refinements. Hitachi, NTT (the telephone company), Nissan
and Matsushita had similar 'timelines' in their centers with quotes like above.

     This happens because inventing means failure (for a time at least) and no
guarantee of success. Because the Japanese cannot be seen to fail (this is
shameful and very bad in Japan), they do not invent. As their companies become
more powerful, I wondered who would be around to make the discoveries like
xerography, the transistor and LCD TV (all invented in USA). I found two
Japanese government sponsored organizations in Japan with the task of short
circuiting this problem.

     One, the Technology Transfer Institute, specializes in finding small
companies around the world with new technology and helping Japanese firms buy
the technology. If the Japanese firm wants it but can't buy it, they sometimes
steal it by patenting similar items copied from the foreign company's original
and then intimidating/bankrupting the small company through a blizzard of legal
action. If the company is publicly traded, or the owner wants to sell, the
company is bought outright by the Japanese. America, unlike Japan, makes no
effort to protect its strategic companies from foreign takeover. Imagine your
small company and its patents versus the attorney war chest of Mitsubishi
Industrial Company.

     This is actually what happened to Fusion Systems, a small American firm
which invented and patented a new way to get spray paint to stick on pop cans
(PBS Frontline, "American Game, Japanese Rules"). Mitsubishi bought one of this
firm's machines and came out a few months later with one of their own. The
small firm sued. Mitsubishi then made many small modifications to the machine
(not improvements, just voluminous iterative changes), patented all of them and
sued the US company many times over (for each patent). Mitsubishi just waited
for Fusion Systems to run out of money defending them all (and offered to drop
the cases if the small company sold them the rights to the machine).

     If Japan can't get technology this way, they get it free from public
foreign research. A Japanese institution exists which is called the 'Japan
Research Foundation'. It actually does no research, but translates foreign
research papers into Japanese for the Japanese companies to use.

     A major reason for getting foreign research this way is that Japanese
universities themselves don't do much research. Their equipment is extremely
outdated (in contrast to corporate labs). These schools are literally straight
out of the third world (possibly the last physical part of the third world
still in Japan). University is a place for students to drink and party before
joining a company, often for life. At the University of Tokyo, the most
prestigious university in all of Japan, the buildings are in extreme state of
disrepair. Stench of raw sewage permeates and leaks down the hallways of the
buildings and the (often drunk) students live in extreme squalor. Academics did
not seem to be taken seriously by the students who were too busy drinking or
playing sports. The libraries were almost devoid of students. Some buildings
like the Library for American Studies were very nice, but many others were in
shambles. Half of all the windows in many of the buildings were broken and
glass was strewn about the floors. There were no working safety/fire control
systems. Electricity wires were hanging exposed in hallways and lighting was
not functioning (for many years it seemed) in parts of buildings. Old gas
stoves were running unattended in kitchens with cardboard covering broken
windows. Piles of garbage and wrecked cars were strewn about the campus and
behind buildings. Nothing had been painted or cleaned in about 20 years. The
grass hadn't been cut in a very long time and had reached full height. Cats and
other creatures lived in some of the buildings. The school swimming pool was
a filthy algead mess. If this seems unbelievable, one can get off at
Todai-komaba station in Tokyo and go see for themselves. This is all the more
surprising as the rest of the country is so rich and modern, more so than most
parts of America today.

     There is an important reason for all of this. In the world, universities
typically do research to advance learning and science for the world. This is
extremely expensive to fund, and is a lousy way for a country to get the most
value for its money, so Japan does not do this. The Japanese government makes
no effort to seriously support its universities. Furthermore, unlike their US
counterparts, Japanese companies give no money to universities. This does not
mean that Japan does not value basic university research. Quite to the
contrary. It is far cheaper to let the other countries' schools and governments
do and pay for basic research (which is published openly to the world) and to
simply translate and read their papers.

     Japanese research money and results stays in the corporate and government
labs, where it may be kept secret from the foreign countries, which are the
enemy in the economic war. Japan does do research (lots of it actually), but
not for public dissemination and world advancement. Research is done to gain
advantage over their rivals. Last year, the Toshiba Company alone spent more
on research than was spent (privately and publicly) in all the country of
Canada. This is the fundamental reason why Japan refuses to fund universities
and diverts it to corporate research instead. It is something we must
understand.

     Ironically, it may not be a weakness of theirs that their universities are
so awful. If they know that they can get research from America for free, they
are smart to put their money in their private and company labs instead; where
they can use it against US companies in order to defeat them.

     In spite of all this, Japanese workers still get an excellent education.
This is because education up to (but not including) university is very good and
extremely well funded. In great contrast to the universities, the elementary,
secondary and tertiary schools are very well stocked with the best of
equipment, facilities and teachers. They are as nice as anything in America.
Furthermore, highly specialized training programs are provided to newly hired
workers when they join their companies. This makes up for the weakness of the
Japanese university system.

     A further point to this, companies do not to give grants to charities (nor
universities). Corporate citizenry doesn't not exist in Japan in the way we
know it here. This is why it is extremely rare to find Japanese corporate run
foundations in Japan or America. This is also why it is extremely unusual to
see for example, a PBS program sponsored by a Japanese company (though
recently, this is changing for the US branches of Japanese firms as they learn
how important Americans relate charity to a company's image).

JAPANESE PEOPLE AND THE MARKET:

     The Japanese people are extremely kind and polite, don't go stealing
things out of each other's houses nor do they go shooting each other as much
as Americans do. They are however naive about the forces in their world around
them (a point which probably can also be made about America's own citizens).
There is little individual thought nor questioning of the government and
companies, which is very dangerous. This is compounded by the fact that 1
political party (the LDP) has ruled the country ever since it has had a
democratic constitution. Results of this include the fact that many cartels
operate in the country yet no one seems to notice this occurs. Many Japanese
aren't even aware that foreign countries make the same products that Japanese
companies make. Formally, Japan has laws against cartels, but they are not
enforced. Only one major cartel group has been prosecuted in the last 15 years
(plastic wrap companies), and this was only after a lot of pressure from the
United States. As America's power in the world diminishes, so will its ability
to exert such pressure.

     Ordinary Japanese don't have much idea of why they can't buy foreign goods
at reasonable prices in their stores. When I asked Japanese people why they
don't buy American (or other foreign goods), they often say because they can't
find them, or they are much too expensive. This is true.

     Foreign goods are often impossible to buy at any price and are usually
very expensive when found. For example, I looked for, but found no Korean
products at all in Japan even though this country is very close to Japan on the
map (1000 miles max distance). Because Korea has little political influence,
it cannot pressure Japan to allow their products in. As a consequence Korea
cannot sell their products in Japan even though they make many of the same
types of high quality electronics and automotive goods the Japanese make, but
at a lower price. US (and other foreign products) which must face a Japanese
domestic maker are also extremely hard to find in Japan. Even the American
flags in the Tokyo-Shinjuku Mitsukoshi department store were made in Japan.

    I realized that Japanese people would buy American goods if they could when
I told them the prices of US and Japanese goods in America. I used some of the
examples in this paper to try to explain why there was 'Japan bashing' in
America. I also happened to have a US newspaper, so I showed them product
prices of US and Japanese goods in America. I took them out into their shops
and proved the differences to them.  When I finished, they were shocked at what
I had just shown them. Japanese goods are sometimes cheaper in America than in
Japan and non Japanese goods are much more expensive in Japan than they should
be, especially if the goods are in an industry targeted by the Japanese
companies and government.

     For example, the major Japanese appliance manufacturers are planning to
enter the US market for appliances (refrigerators, stoves, vacuums) in the
1990's. In a major Hiroshima appliance store (the only store I could find any
foreign appliances), I saw a GE refrigerator selling for $3000 (US). This was
a very low end model you could buy here in America for about $600. The Toshiba
right next to it was a high end model and sold for $2500. It is these Japanese
cartel tactics which lead ordinary Japanese people to believe that US goods are
inferior and overpriced. In America, Japanese made Sears brand refrigerators
similar to the Toshiba sold for about $1000. This didn't seem right to me. The
government and more elite business people I spoke with already knew about these
points and acknowledged that they could see it was a 'problem' for America.

ESCALATOR DOLLS AND OFFICE LADIES:

     An escalator doll is a young women in her 20's who stands by the escalator
all day and welcomes you to the floor of the store or office building. She says
goodbye and thank you when you leave. You find these at Mitsukoshi (the
classiest department store I've ever walked into), the Toyota main showroom in
Tokyo, the government offices and the corporation offices (Sony, Toshiba,
Nissan..). Other women serve as temporary labor to bear the bumps generated by
the economic cycle. It is these people (and foreigners) who get laid off in
order to permit a system of lifetime employment for the Japanese males.
Escalator dolls (and their counterparts within corporate offices, 'Office
Ladies') must often sign a contract with the employer stating that they will
quit when they reach the age of 25. The true purpose of these girls (besides
serving tea and welcoming guests) is to be marriage material for the men, who
are at work for such long hours that they have difficulty to find women on
their own.

     Young women in Japan are typically expected to marry by 25 years old. A
well known quote in Japan makes the point bluntly: "Single women are like
Christmas cake, after the 25th, useless, so they go for 1/2 price." Marrying
by 25 is important. If a women is nearing 25 and can't find a mate, chances are
she will have a pre-arranged wedding to an eligible bachelor set up by the
parents.

     I sometimes wonder how much of a willingness to change the system exists
in Japan, even among the women themselves. While there, I met one Japanese
woman who went to university in America and studied Political Science. I asked
her what she thought of the way Japan treated their women. She didn't see a
problem. In her opinion, women should stay at home as it leads to family
stability and enables the husband to concentrate on his work and not family
affairs. I asked her where she was working. She works at a Japanese company as
a tea server (office lady). 'What would you like to do at your job in the
future', I asked. She replied 'they told me that if I did a good job now, I
could be a secretary in a few years and file things'. This person has a
university degree.

     In Japan, the percentage of women who are managers of men is much lower
than in America. Furthermore, women typically don't hold any positions of
importance. They are more like office decoration or marriage material for the
men. It may also surprise you, but almost all women in Japanese companies,
regardless of professional status or level in the organization are required to
prepare and serve tea daily for the men as part of their daily chores.

"BUSINESS IS WAR":

     This is a well known quote in Japan. It may be surprising, but this has
more meaning to the Japanese than you may first think. The word 'business man'
in Japanese translates literally into English as 'Company Soldier'. Japanese
businessmen do not have pictures of their family or loved ones at the office
because they 'do not mix family with battle'. When a Japanese man joins a
company, he usually does so for life. His first allegiance and loyalty is to
this company and his team. His family, if he has one, is secondary in
importance. It should be noted that this philosophy does not begin when one
joins a Japanese company. It begins much earlier in life; in elementary school:

     While I was in Japan, I went to an elementary school to see Japanese
students participate in their 'Olympic Sports Day'. This event though, was
quite unusual. There were no individual activities, and the theme of the day
was extremely militaristic in nature. There were two main teams, the red and
white teams symbolizing the country's national colors. They had big banners,
taiko (battle) drums which the team leader beat on while chanting the team
slogan. Contests were set up such that if one person made an error in the
competition, the whole team would suffer. Rewards, and failure were shared
among all members of the team. Stress and peer pressure were very high, as they
are for most Japanese throughout their lifetimes. Before the competition,
everyone on the teams sang the school anthem louder and more clearly than I
ever heard any anthem sung here in America. Their diligence and effort were
quite remarkable.

     What we call individuality in America is called deviation (be it in
school, or at work) in Japan. It is not tolerated nor tried very much. (In
fact, kids who's hair is not black enough get it dyed so as not to get in
trouble at school by the teacher). Anyone with an 'outsider's' mind is rejected
by the others, even by the teacher. A consequence resulting from this fact
appears when families who have lived outside Japan for a few years return to
the country. These people have a lot of trouble being accepted and integrating
back into Japanese society.

     'Peer stresses' in Japan are very strong. Many kids can't take it and
commit suicide before reaching university age. Many Japanese suffer from a wide
variety of stress related nervous ticks and twitches (if you ride the subway
in Tokyo and look at the other riders, you will notice this very readily).

MILITARISM:

     In the book 'Japan that can say no! (to America)', by Akio Morita (CEO of
SONY) and Shintaro Ishihara (an influential parliament member), the authors
state that Japan has under development the world's most advanced military jet
because American made planes are not suitable for Japanese terrain, which is
'different' because it has mountains. I also learned about one Japanese who
quit the Fujitsu company partially because they were working on a nuclear
weapons research project and didn't feel a Japanese company should be involved
in such work. In Japan, Fujitsu has built at least 2 nuclear breeder reactors
(such reactors often are used to enrich plutonium for nuclear weapons). The
Japanese claim however, that they are for peaceful purposes. Hopefully this is
so.

     The military mindset even extends to city planning. Most streets in Tokyo
have no names in order to 'confuse the enemy' in the event Japan was ever to
be invaded again. The US Army did name many of the streets during the
occupation, but these were removed by the Japanese shortly after US occupying
forces left the country.

     There also exists a well funded extremist nationalist movement in Japan
which posts large posters at most major intersections and subway stations in
Tokyo calling for restoration of the emperor as ruler and re-militarization of
the country. Every day in the business and shopping areas of the city, vans
drive around with huge loudspeakers blaring nationalistic music and making the
above demands. Apparently, the older Japanese ignore this, aware of the west's
generosity after the war, but feelings of the younger people who don't have the
memories of Japan's dark past are more uncertain. What is happening today in
Germany may be a foreshadowing of things to come.

     This may seem implausible at first, but not after one looks at Japanese
elementary students' textbooks. In the texts, the sections about World War II
are extremely distorted. In these books, Japan is played out as the victim to
world aggression and the atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army are not
mentioned anywhere. The massive US aid to rebuild Japan after the war is
mentioned on only one line which went "America provided Japan with some help".
Japan's postwar success is credited only to the hardworking values of its
people (partially true), and not to US aid for reconstruction of its industries
(paid for by American tax payers), free access to the US market, and US
tolerance of Japan's closed market. After reading these books, one is lead to
believe that WWII was America's fault. It is hoped that the younger Japanese
learn what really happened before their parents grow old and die, or America
and Japan may face new misunderstanding and confrontation in the future.

EFFICIENCY:

     Japan is perceived by the outside world to be an efficient country. In
actuality, Japan is a very inefficient country. The subway people count change
out of tin plates. The valuable intellectual resource of women is wasted by
giving them only the most menial jobs such as 'escalator dolls' and tea
servers. The farming system is one of the most inefficient you will find in the
modern world. Because of this inefficiency, there are a lot of people employed
on the farms who otherwise may not have a job. Although this is an inefficient
use of people and resources, it helps maintain a low unemployment rate. The
protected domestic market keeps all this from collapsing. As a result Japan can
be inefficient, yet still be rich. It is now per-capita, the richest
industrialized country in the world (and is expected to be the richest
absolutely by the year 2000, surpassing America). It may surprise many people,
but the most efficient country in the world is the United States, not Japan.
Japan ranks a bit of the way down. In manufacturing though, they are best in
the world.

TRUE, BUT ONLY ON THE SURFACE:

     it is claimed that Japanese transplant factories in the USA are good for
America and create jobs. Although a Japanese transplant factory may be good for
the town which gets it, its bad for the country as a whole. Japanese factories
opened here tend to be only assembly plants. This is important because most of
the value of manufactured products resides in the research and development of
machine tools, plastics, technology as well as the manufacture of parts which
make up that product. There is little value in assembling pre-made parts
together to make a final product. Parts machining and manufacturing (and those
jobs) is typically done in Japan, with the finished parts being shipped to the
US for final assembly. This is true even for Japanese products 'made in USA'
like the famous 'US made Honda Accord'. As a result, when a Japanese auto plant
opens in the US; for every 1 job created, an other 4 are lost (in the parts and
high tech sectors of US industry). Hence, the true consequences are bad for
America as we lose the technology on how to make advanced manufactured
components. Final assembly of Japanese auto parts is pretty low tech and also
doesn't keep money in America. Final assembly only adds about $700 to the price
of a car. This is the only money which stays here when you buy a 'US made'
Japanese car. The costs of paying for welfare and unemployment for unemployed
US engineers and parts maker employees are much much higher and later wind up
on American's tax bills.

     An other claim goes that "America is successful in Japan and one only has
to look at Mcdonald's, Disneyland and others to see America's success". These
are not 'American successes' in Japan because in reality, these are Japanese
owned franchise companies. Their appearance is American, but their ownership,
production and management is Japanese. A very small token number of foreign
companies are allowed to have a presence in Japan (ie. Toys-R-Us, P&G, BMW,
Kodak, IBM), but their overall market share is kept quite small via the means
described in this paper.

EXAMPLE, HOW ALL THIS WORKS TOGETHER:

     Buying a Japanese product, even in an industry unrelated to yours can
cause you to lose your job! This is much more likely than one may think. Many
otherwise smart people do not understand this so I will explain it with the
following true example:

     AT&T is a large US telecommunications manufacturer that is well placed in
the world market and hence pays its employees very well. Many of them like to
buy Hondas, Acuras, Mitsubishis and Toyotas. Most of these Japanese companies
are in one of the 6 or so keiretsus in Japan.

     MITI and Japanese industry have publicly declared the world
telecommunications manufacturing industry to be a Japanese national priority
(target). As a result, they have planned and are starting to execute a strategy
to enter and to become the major player (today, they are a very minor force)
in the telecommunications industry during the 1990s. In fact, they have a plan
to wire every house in Japan with fiber optic cable within the next 10-15 years
in order to perfect making fiber and its associated communications hardware.

     Japan will have to spend money to research and develop their new
telecommunications equipment. This will be very expensive and they will need
the help of the keiretsu banks to do it. Where do the banks get this money?
From their biggest export of course, automobile sales. This means that although
AT&T managers and engineers only bought cars, they are helping fund Toshiba's,
NEC's, Hitachi's and Matsushita's effort to put them out of a job.

     Imagine one of AT&T's engineers recently bought a new Honda automobile.
One day, that engineer loses his job due to fierce Japanese competition in the
telecommunications industry, get into his Honda, go home, yet never ever equate
the two events!

     Let's continue this example a little further to summarize this paper The
Japanese want to enter a new industry, telecommunications. Based on previous
experience, this is how they are likely to do it.

     Firstly, telecommunications in the future will be based on something
called digital technology. This will enable those picture-phones you used to
see on Star-Trek to be a reality. Fiber optic cable and data transmission are
very important to do this too. This is why they want to get good at making
fiber optic cable by making and putting fiber cable all over their entire
country.

    Today, the Japanese are lousy at making high quality major
telecommunications equipment that your telephone company would buy. In the
world market though, there is lots of money to be made in this, which right now
AT&T mostly gets. Because Japan doesn't know how to make good telecom
equipment, they will need to do three things:

>1) get some good telecom equipment so they can copy it and improve it.

>2) pick a very strategic but simple niche market in the industry and take it
over completely (ie. dumping) to get a foothold so they can use it as an anchor
to increase the market share in telecommunications (same strategy as the LCD
screens example above).

>3) start small.

     It turns out they have already started to do these things. For (1), they
promised some US big name telecom makers that they might get a piece of the
Japanese telecommunications market in return for a small sale of their best
equipment to the Japanese national telephone company. AT&T and other North
American firms fell for this scheme (maybe the laid off TV maker executives
went to work for AT&T). AT&T sold them one copy of their most advanced
equipment for a promise from the Japanese to 'possibly' buy many more. This is
foolish as AT&T has just let a country which has made a public declaration to
be the world leader in telecommunications get a copy of their best equipment.
AT&T's equipment will get copied and show up as Japanese brands a few years
from now. Perhaps AT&T doesn't understand that Japanese phone companies and
Japanese manufacturers work together to defeat foreign firms like AT&T. Hence,
selling equipment to a Japanese phone company is not much different from
selling it to a competing Japanese manufacturer.

     For (2), Japan already has acquired two main strategic industries.
Firstly, as you know they have 100% market share in the small LCD screens that
the new picture phones and tele-computers/tele-bank machines will use. If AT&T
wants to make a picturephone, they have to get the screen from their
competition who also makes these phones (which I saw when I was Japan). Imagine
the laptop computer example above all over again. This is an other reason why
these small LCD screens are so strategic. Secondly, Japan has made an effort
to be the best and cheapest (via dumping) at making a highly specialized
component of fiber optic transmission systems which America uses in its
network. Now Japan's salesmen talk to almost every phone company in the world
to sell them this part. Now on his future visits, he can use his existing
contacts to sell them other things Japan will soon be making.

     For (3), you probably have already seen what's going on when you go
shopping. Panasonic, Murata, Fujitsu and others all make very fancy electronic
phones. They also make small telephone switching equipment (like AT&T's smaller
products). Eventually, these will get bigger and bigger until they make the
bread and butter items of AT&T. This is the same strategy they used to enter
the car market too. They started with motorcycles, moved to cheap cars, then
to trucks, then to sports cars, then to luxury cars. Today we know the results.
Again, this is also true with TVs, first they made black and whites, then color
TVs. Today the TV in your house is most likely Japanese (even if its a store
brand). This was an industry which America had 100% market share about 25 years
ago. This is what is likely to happen to telecommunications too.

ITS NOT ALL JAPAN'S FAULT:

     American's behavior when trying to do business in Japan is not what it
should be. After seeing how some American firms operate there, it is little
wonder our success rate is often so poor. For example, something of an
annoyance (and also advantage) to the Japanese is American business people
working in Japan who don't speak Japanese, or know nothing about the country
they are dealing with. These included some trade representatives from an Oregon
company, some people from Boeing whom I met at a Nissan factory, and some from
the Government of Wisconsin at a machine tools fair trying to attract Japanese
industry to their state.

     The group of businessmen I met from the Oregon company I met in Roppongi
(an entertainment district in Tokyo). These people were a disgrace to American
industry and opened my eyes to why the Japanese are able to take advantage of
us in business. Firstly, these men spoke no Japanese at all (so they couldn't
understand what their opponents at the negotiating table were saying) and knew
nothing about the culture. They asked me what it was like to be a 'gringo' in
Japan. It seemed that they thought the business adversaries they were
negotiating against in Japan were running some 2 peso Mexican hot dog factory.
My conversation with them was a real eye opener to many of America's problems
when dealing with the Japanese in business.

     At least their company didn't send a women to do their negotiating. This
would have been a mistake of huge proportions. Japanese corporations and
businessmen typically treat any company who sends a woman with ridicule. Its
one of the best ways to lose a contract. Although Americans may dislike
Japanese sexism, Japan is fast becoming the world's economic power which means
they get to make the rules, not us. This is part of the price Americans pay for
buying all those Toyotas and Sonys for so many years. As Japanese industrial
influence spreads throughout the world, more of this type of treatment of women
by Japanese companies will take place (as many women working in Japanese
transplant companies in the US can attest).

     The very presence of the trade group from Wisconsin at machine tools fair
is the result of a very foolish, self destructive and shortsighted US practice
which will now be explained. With so many jobs leaving America (due to many of
the above Japanese tactics), some states have decided to go to Japan to try to
attract Japanese companies to their state. Because America (unlike almost all
other industrialized countries) doesn't co-ordinate or regulate this in any
way, what happens is that states get played off against each other by Japanese
companies and the Japanese government. The state which gives the most tax
breaks or contributes the most money to build the plant gets the plant. This
is probably good for the winning state in the short run, but is much worse for
the country as a whole (and that state) in the long run.

     Here's why: What this leads to is Japanese companies opening US branch
plants paid for by the US taxpayer and which pay little or no taxes themselves.
With many states doing this to each other to 'win' a few jobs, everyone winds
up losing. This is because after each state has 'won' a plant from some other
state, the final tally shows that no one state has gained any jobs from any
other state (or very little anyways), yet every state is short lots of tax
money which must be made up by placing more taxes on individuals, or US
businesses (who must now compete against the American state subsidized Japanese
businesses). The only winner in all of this is Japan who gets property tax free
factories and in worse cases plants which we the taxpayer, sometimes pay to
partially build through government grants. The Honda Accord plant in
Marysville, Ohio was a result of this practice. Japanese companies producing
out of tax free plants are also at an advantage to defeat US companies, who
must pay taxes. Ultimately, this practice makes America lose, not gain, jobs
(see above section 'assembly plants') and pay more taxes. This very topic is
the subject of many sick jokes in Tokyo about America's greed and foolishness
today.

     An other problem (and the subject of other good jokes in Tokyo) lies
within our federal government. There has been much talk recently about 'foreign
agents'. These are very high level Federal public servants and elected members
Americans sent to Washington to represent them, who go work in the U.S. Federal
government for a short time, make contacts in the government or trade
department, then betray the country by selling themselves out as
representatives to foreign interests. These people were our front line trade
negotiators, staff members, trade attorneys, elected officials and have the
inside knowledge the foreign interests need to circumvent our trade laws,
defeat our companies and find out what our confidential future trade laws are
likely to be. These people sell themselves to the other side in order that they
may personally get rich through the resulting huge amounts of 'blood money' as
they use their contacts they made while serving the public, in order to betray
America. The amount of money involved is in the millions of dollars per person.
Some are delayed bribes which are paid after public service is completed for
favors done while in public office. Often, these people start representing
foreign interests within weeks of quitting their government job. The book
'Agents of Influence' (1991) by Pat Choate, contains the foreign agents list,
a thorough explanation of how this scam works, and how this is obliterating our
status as a rich industrial country. The book also explains very well the point
made on the Nov 27, 1992 edition of ABC's 20/20 (which did a segment on this
problem) about how the Japanese are way way ahead of everyone else in paying
bribe money and how we have lost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands
of jobs as a result of this small handful of people willing to sell out their
country and their kids for cash.

     As can be seen, America has many problems which are not the fault of the
Japanese, but are of our own doing. Japanese work as a team much better than
we do. They struggle together to save their companies when in need (versus
jumping ship, staging strikes like the recent ones at GM, or selling out to
foreign interests). They don't pay their CEO's millions while driving their
companies into the ground. They also realize that management and workers are
not each other's enemy. The competition is the enemy. No war was ever won with
internal conflict and the same goes for this one. Labor strikes (no matter how
justified) and management selfishness and shortsightedness are not the answer
to our problems. Co-operation and a common vision is the only solution.

     One only has to look at the social and economic troubles today in
countries like Britain (which years ago in its time, was also the richest and
most powerful in the world) to see our destiny if we continue in our erroneous
and divisive ways. They failed to take action in time and suffered the
consequences. They were once the world's most powerful economy. They too
thought that any damage to their economy would have profound impact to the
world, and hence, thought they were safe as the rest of world would not let
anything bad happen to the British economy. They were wrong. People saying this
today about the US economy are also wrong. Britain's economic power diminished
gradually and unnoticeably, such that today, what happens in the Britain is not
so important to the world global economy. They are now a minor player and now
have a much lower standard of living. Our economic power is now in decline,
following the 'British pattern' which occured many years ago. We will suffer
their fate if we don't change.

CONCLUSION:

     The article is not meant as an affront to the ordinary Japanese people (to
whom nothing is held against). Like most conflicts, it is the ordinary people
who get caught in the middle and wind up suffering. The same, unfortunately,
is true for this conflict. This paper is not about them, but is about their
companies and their government policies.

     America's citizens have failed to realize that Japan practices a different
kind of trade than America does. Japan practices adversarial trade, where the
goal is to wipe out the foreign countries' industries in order to dominate them
entirely. For the Japanese, business is in every sense of the word, like war.
Americans who buy Japanese goods, unknowingly help them reach this goal. The
Japanese (and other countries such as Korea and Taiwan who have adopted
Japanese style business practices) are not our economic allies, they are our
competitors and they are dangerous to us.

     America often complains that Japan must change its ways to become more
like us. This is not true as America is not number one anymore. It is not a
request we can make. Today, the tables are turned. This time, America will have
to change its ways to become more like the Japanese. Japan will likely surpass
the United States to become the world's leading economic, technological and
manufacturing nation by the end of this decade, even though it has only 1/2 the
population of America. History has pointed out every time, that the richest and
most economically powerful country in the world, ultimately becomes the
strongest militarily. We have to realize this and be prepared to accept it, or
we have to do something about it. Japan will not have to change their ways to
become like us, as tomorrow they will wield the power, not us.

This article by:

lleclerc@nyx.cs.du.edu

Louis Leclerc
P.O. Box 453
Jackman, Maine 04945-0453
USA

Please send me any corrections or omissions and this article will be updated.
The most recent version of this article (JAPANYES) is kept at FTP site:
monu6.cc.monash.edu.au  (login: anonymous), in directory pub/nihongo

This article is copyright (1992) under the laws of the United States of
America. However, I hereby give permission that it be distributed widely and
freely over any media. This article cannot be sold or licensed.



               A    P    P    E    N    D    I    X



-->List of companies:

This is a list of some Japanese (or Japanese owned and controlled)
companies. Some of the names that make this list may surprise you,
depicted by '*':

* 7/11 Convenience Stores (US operations) (Ito-Yokado, Japanese Investor)
  Acura (Honda Motor Company, cars)
  Aiwa (consumer electronics, stereos)
* B.F. Goodrich Tire (owned by Toyo Rubber)
* Brother (electronic typewriters)
* Bridgestone Tire Company (tires)
* Bruce Springsteen (works for SONY)
  C. Itoh (computer printers)
  Canon (laser printers, cameras, photocopiers, consumer electronics)
* CBS Records/Columbia House Records (owned by SONY)
  Citizen (watch company)
* Columbia Pictures (owned by SONY)
  Denon (cassette tapes, consumer electronics, stereos)
* Dunlop Tire and Rubber (Sumitomo keiretsu)
  Epson (computer company)
* Firestone Tire and Rubber (Bridgestone Tire Company, Japan)
  Fisher Electronics (Stereo Maker)
  Fuji Film (film and chemical products)
  Fujitsu (nuclear and breeder reactors, consumer electronics, heavy
           industry)
  Geisha Foods (tuna and canned food products in the USA)
  Hino (heavy truck maker)
  Hitachi Industries (heavy industry, railroad, appliances & electronics)
  Honda (autos, motorcycles, small trucks)
* IBM World Headquarters Bldg, Atlanta GA
  Infiniti cars (Nissan Motor)
  Isuzu (autos)
* JVC (Japan Victor Company; owned by Matsushita Industrial Electric)
  Kao (computer disks and supplies)
  Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Motorcycles, trains, industrial steel)
  Kikkomann Foods
  Kenwood Electronics (Stereo Maker)
  Komatsu (A heavy Equipment maker)
  Konica (photocopiers, cameras)
  Kubota (heavy equipment, backhoes, tractors, bulldozers)
  Kyocera (computer and electronics maker)
  Lexus Automobile (Toyota Motor Company)
  Makita (power tools)
* Maxell (cassette tapes)
  Mazda (autos)
* MCA Home Entertainment (Home videos, tv shows;ie. Dragnet..etc)  (Matsushita)
  Michael Jackson (works for SONY)
  Minolta (copiers, fax machines, electronics)
  Mita (photocopiers)
  Mitsubishi (a huge keiretsu;...banking, steel, autos, trucks, lead pencils,
              electronics, electricity generation, bicycles...and on and on)
  Mitsui (an other huge keiretsu, similar to Mitsubishi)
  Miyata (bicycles)
  Murata (fax machines and electronics)
  NEC  (Nippon Electric Company; computers, cash registers, TV's,
        electronics)
  Nikko (consumer electronics, stereos)
  Nintendo Electronics (video games)
  Nishiki (bicycles)
  Nissan (autos, power boats, trucking and heavy transport vehicles)
* Nomura Securities (financial firm)
  Okidata (computer printers and accessories)
  Olympus (cameras)
  Onkyo (electronics and stereo maker)
  Panasonic (Matsushita Industrial Electric Company)
* Pebble Beach Golf Course California (Japanese Investors)
  Pentax (cameras)
* Pentel (lead pencil company...Japanese have a huge share of the lead
          pencil market, look at your lead pencil, its probably
          Japanese)
* Pilot (lead pencil company)
* Pioneer (Stereo and electronics maker)
* Quasar (Matsushita Industrial Electric Company) (Televisions, VCR's)
* Raven (computer printers, faxes and accessories) (Matsushita Industrial)
  Ricoh (they make computer printers)
* Roland (musical instruments)
* Rockafeller Center (a Japanese holding company)
  Sanyo (electronics)
* Seattle Mariners Pro Baseball Team (Owned by Nintendo)
  Sega (video games)
  Seiko (Watches)
  Sharp (copiers, faxes, TV's, electronics)
* Shiseido (perfumes, cosmetics)
  Sony (electronics, movie production)
* Star Electronics (they make computer printers)
  Subaru (autos)
  Sumitomo (banks, heavy industry, trains, shipbuilding, steel, electronics)
  Suzuki (autos, motor bikes)
  TDK (cassette tapes)
  Taito (video arcade games)
* Tokyo Disneyland (it belongs to a Japanese holding company)
  Tomy (toy company)
  Toshiba (electronics, eletrical, home appliances, heavy industry,
           nuclear reactors)
  Toyota (autos, heavy transport trucks, industrial machinery)
* Universal Pictures (Matsushita Industrial Electric Company)
  Yamaha (motorcycles, musical instruments)
  Yokohama Tire and Rubber (tire and rubber goods)
* YKK (zipper company (look at the zipper on your clothes, its
       probably YKK as this company has an over 50% market share
       in the world))



-->Some US products which are really Japanese (or other)

Chevy Nova car (Toyota)
Chevy Sprint/Pontiac Firefly (Suzuki)
Dodge Colt (Mitsubishi)
Dodge Stealth (Mitsubishi)
Eagle Talon (Mitsubishi)
Ford Mercury Villager (Nissan)
Ford Mercury Tracer (Mazda)
GM's Geo cars (mostly Japanese)
HP printers (some of them are Japanese)
Macintosh Powerbook Computer (some are SONYs)
Some Sears major appliances, TVs, and electronics (Matsushita and others)


'Strategic markets' the Japanese have entered (or are doing so now) include:

>machine tools and robotics: The world is now dependant on Japan for much of
the most modern robotic manufacturing equipment and machine making equipment
in the world (imagine the importance of this if a real war broke out somewhere
in the world where the US and Japan each supported the opposing parties).
Originally attacked in the 1980's, today Japan dominates the world machine tool
and robotics industries. Japan has also made a strong effort in the area of
power tools (Makita, Hitachi), again with some dumping.

>computer memory chips and semiconductors: (Akio Morita (SONY CEO) and
Ishihara, in their famous book "Japan that can say no! (to America)" stated
that Japan was powerful because they could alter the balance of power by
selling its critical Japanese-made-only microchips to the Russians instead of
the USA). They also claim that we dropped the A-bomb on Japan because we are
racists. Today, Japan dominates the semiconductor industry, having first
attacked it in the 1980s.

>high performance telecommunications equipment: They don't dominate this yet,
but they may by the end of the decade.

>automotive: US auto plants were used in WWII to make bombers...today many of
these plants don't exist anymore.

>automotive parts: (Japanese cars made in USA are really assembled from parts
which are usually MADE in Japan). These are the cars' critical components. The
high precision equipment and technology to make these parts reside in Japan,
not here. That's why high precision machining and advanced manufacturing is
usually done in Japan (and why they also targeted that industry), and only
final assembly is done here.

--------

-->The following articles referred to in the above paper are available via the
Internet Computer Network at FTP Site: monu6.cc.monash.edu.au
in directory:  pub/nihongo

You login with name: anonymous
Use your first name as the password

(Also available at public access bbs: 516-473-6351)

JAPANNO:
An unauthorized translation of a best selling book in Japan "A Japan that can
say no (to America)!" about why Japan is now number one and should take the
place of the US as world leader. By Shintaro Ishihara (Japanese Parliament
Member "Americans are lazy, ignorant and stupid") and Akio Morita (SONY CEO).
This is actually a good analysis of many of America's problems. Note the
version of this book sold in stores is a phony. 1/2 of the original version is
missing (Akio Morita removed his part fearing it would hurt SONY's sales in the
U.S.) and there is a new appendix specifically written for American
consumption, much of which seems to be false).

MATSUSHITA.PBS:
Transcript of a shocking PBS Frontline special about how a Japanese cartel
wiped out the US TV industry and went on to take over the rest of world
consumer electronics.

LOSEWAR.PBS:
Transcript of an other excellent PBS Frontline special about how yet an other
Japanese cartel conspired and took over the world supply of small computer
displays. Good segments on how Honda used unethical (and possibly illegal)
measures to drive U.S. auto parts makers out of business.

-->The following article referred to in the above paper is available via the
Internet Computer Network at FTP Site: slopoke.mlb.semi.harris.com
in directory: pub/doc/misc

(Also available at public access bbs: 516-473-6351)

AGNTLIST:
The list of 'foreign agents' (with figures): former high level U.S. government
public officials who later used their inside government contacts to work as
agents for foreign interests in order to make quick money while betraying
America. Many of them made over a million dollars doing this.

--------------
Here are a few good books to read on the topic:

-->"The Enigma of Japanese Power"; by Karl Van Wolferen, 1989, Alfred A. Knopf
Press (this book used to be given away whenever your bought a subscription to
Fortune Magazine. It may still be.)

-->"Trading Places, How we are giving our future to the Japanese and how
to reclaim it", Clyde Prestowitz, New York: Basic Books 1989

-->"Agents of Influence", The list of 'foreign agents': former U.S. government
public officials who later used their inside government contacts to work as
agents for foreign interests in order to make quick money, Pat Choate, 1991

-->"Unequal Equities, Power and Risk in Japan's Stock Market"; Zielinski,
Kodansha International, 1991

-->"The Japanese Company", Rodney Clark, Charles E. Tuttle Company 1979
(Yale University)

-->"The Reckoning", by David Halberstam, William Morrow & Co., 1986.
An historical novel about Ford and Nissan from founding to the present.

-->"Head to Head - The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and
America", by Lester Thurow, William Morrow & Co., 1992.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEBT, AMERICA'S SUPERWEAPON OF SELF DESTRUCTION:

First, some definitions:

National Deficit: The amount of new money America borrows this year only
                  ($400,000,000 this year)

National Debt: The total amount of money the government owes (a result
               national deficits adding onto each other year after year
               + interest)
                  (The government has now borrowed a total of
                   $4,000,000,000,000. Each American's share is $16,000)


     It should be noted that a lot of America's problems today are its own
fault; a poor educational system, poor corporate management, lack of
loyalty to our own country and its products as well as politicians who do
exactly what we want them to in the short term. Perhaps America though it was
so rich it could afford to be careless about its future. This all lead to the
big issue, the national debt.

     For the last 10 years, our standard of living has been maintained by
borrowing when it should have declined drastically as our imports shot up
much faster than exports. This resulted in significant erosion of our national
industries. Unfortunately, because of the massive borrowing, the cracks
forming in America's national economy were not so visible.

     Today, America is a much weaker player in automobiles (the motor
capital of the world is now in Toyota City, Japan, not Detroit), machine
tools, motorcycles, consumer electronics, display technology, banking (in
1970, 9 of the 10 largest banks in the world were American, today 9 of the
10 largest banks in the world are Japanese), robotics and materials. All of
these industries today are dominated by the Japanese. All were dominated by
America only a short time ago. Americans could not see the effects of
losing industry after industry on their national strength and standard of
living because of the borrowing... until now.

     Today about 1/3 of every American's taxes go to pay interest on the
national debt. Much of this debt is held by the Japanese, who have many
dollars to loan (from their huge trade surplus with us). If the US didn't
have this debt, everyone in America would be working 4 days instead of 5
and still have the same living standards, as this is the part of each
person's taxes which go to the debt. Conversely, Every American's standard
of living would be higher by 25% with 5 day workweeks but no debt. At the
current rate, in 10 years, all Federal taxes collected will go to the debt.
This all points to extremely bad things which will happen to the US economy
in a few years. Already, America is in the longest and severest recession
since the depression with no sign of an end. If America tries to balance the
budget now, it will likely trigger a much more severe recession or a
depression, as the US economy is extremely dependant on this borrowed money
flowing in (1/3 of this year's federal spending was borrowed) to keep
everything going.

     Balancing the budget now isn't so bad though, because depressions are
temporary and things would start to get better about 10 years later. After
that, several decades of lower standard of living would take place as Americans
pay down the debt back to a reasonable level (every American's debt share
right now is $16,000). Balancing the budget is of course political suicide.
Many of the politicians today prefer to commit national economic suicide as
it lets them save their jobs for now.

Sadly, the (more likely) alternative is much worse:

     If America doesn't balance the budget now, but waits, then the debt
and interest costs will get much higher than they are today. The
government will start raising taxes and cutting services more rapidly than
ever before, but will be unable to raise taxes so high to pay such
interest. They will then resort to printing more money to pay the
interest. This will lead to hyper inflation rates and rapid decline of the
standard of living in the country. This results in a depression that won't
go away. If it sounds unbelievable, one may read one of the many books on
Latin American economic history in the 20th century. You'll see a play by
play description of what is happening now in America. This is what
happened to all those latin American countries who right now are wondering
why America is so foolishly making the same mistakes they did in the 60s
and 70s. This is why the debt has people like Paul Tsongas and Ross Perot
so afraid right now.

     Fixing the debt problem will require (for a short time) lots of pain
that American's haven't experienced since the depression and tax hikes
with the likes that have never been seen before. Americans will have to
expect this and be tolerant. Gas will sell for $2.50, social security will
be taxed and many loopholes will have to dissappear. For a time,
American's living standards will plummet drastically.

     On the other hand, not taking these measures will yield the same
consequences a little later, but they will be permanent instead. America
will be a very different place in 25 years should this happen. Its the
choice of every American about what happens. We will have to face our
future grandkids about it one day if we decide to do nothing about it now.
There is still time, it would be wise for us not to waste it.

Organization:

"The Concord Coalition", a grass roots organization, lead by Paul Tsongas
and Senator Rudman (of Graham-Rudman fame), is dedicated to forcing your
U.S. government to get the national debt under control via grass roots
pressure from American citizens. It is non partisan and you can join or
inquire about it by calling 1-800-231-6800.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTERWARD, by Andre Robotewskyj; ar12@midway.uchicago.edu

     Japan's government and companies have organized to fight an economic war
against us which we are losing badly. What the ordinary Japanese people allow
their government and companies to do is not acceptable. Outright discrimination
against foreigners and treating women as 'non-people' is not tolerable in the
modern world. The Japanese government and industries have treated the America
that helped them so much after World War II with contempt and insolence. We had
accepted their closed market and opened ours to them so they could rebuild
their country and become full members of the peaceful world. Instead, their
government and their industries chose to use this generosity as weapons against
us in order to destroy our companies, our jobs, and our nation.

     I used to buy lots of Japanese products, probably for the same reasons you
might now. Others may not know the full consequences of their decisions like
you do now. Telling them is important. If you know an effective way to get this
message out to people, then it would be wise to do so, don't wait for someone
else to do it for you.

     America belongs to you and you have to do something for it once in a
while. This is one of those times. She needs your help. If you have questions,
please ask. Use this network and fax machines to organize yourselves to get
this message out. Put copies of this article in lounges or on the
company/school computer network. Send this article to your representatives, or
your favorite political party. Scatter copies of it into the 4 winds. These are
all things which can be done.

     If you are a student, you probably realize much more than your parents do
that your standard of living is likely to be a considerably lower than theirs.
You are much more likely to have trouble finding a good job upon graduation
than they ever had. That is how this problem affects you directly. As a result,
you may wish to get your friends & family to tell others and organize or inform
student groups to get the word out about this problem. If you don't act, its
you (and your kids someday) who will suffer the most as a result of all this,
so its up to you.

     In the meantime, one very good way to get people aware of the topic is to
get them a copy of Rising Sun (by Michael Crichton) as a birthday or Christmas
present. This is a very good factually based fiction murder mystery book on the
subject. It is a #1 best seller and is by the same author who wrote "Andromeda
Strain", "Great Train Robbery" and other very famous books and movies. A movie
version of this book (starring Shawn Connery) is being made and should be out
next year.

     Remember that a problem like this can be fought, one American at a time.
Think of America when you do business and remember that exclusive self-centered
thinking will only make problems in America worse than they are. That is the
true lesson of the 1980's. Self centeredness doesn't work in the long run. If
we were as loyal to each other as the Japanese are to each other, we wouldn't
be in the economic and social mess we are now. Remember that, and expect it
from your family, friends and associates. If you don't get what you expect, let
them know. Hopefully in the future, the economic war will be called off and our
two countries will live peacefully and with co-operation. I look forward to
that day.

     I run a mailing list which occasionally distributes articles like this
one. If you'd like to be on the email receiver list, please send me a note (to
the address below).

Andre Robotewskyj; ar12@midway.uchicago.edu

---
THE END

'Its much harder to nullify  the results of an economic conquest than those
of a military conquest'

-Takahashi Korekiyo
 Japanese Finance Minister
 1936
---
L.B.

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