From: rvkl60@aus18a25.sps.mot.com (Tom Mathes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Try it again - RE: Please give me your opinions...
Date: 13 Nov 92 00:19:04 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Motorola Inc, Austin, Texas

In article <SMITTIE.92Nov10140803@beach.csulb.edu> smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie) writes:
>The Japanese openly admit that they are protecting their rice market. No one
>questions that this is protectionism, not even Japan. The question is are
>Japan's reasons for protecting the market legitimate.
>
>The examples of Toys 'R' Us and Motorola are good examples of areas where there
>was in fact protectist policies. But we should also one that the policies have
>been changed. Motorola is in Japan and doing well. Toys 'R' Us is also in Japan
>with it's large retail chains.

I can't speak for Toys 'R' Us, but I can for Moto.  ONLY after large
amounts of government intervention was Motorola allowed access to
the Japanese cellular market.  Our being good at making/servicing
the product had little to do with us getting access.  It was
our fortune that Robert Galvin (former CEO of Motorola) was a
personal friend of Ronald Reagan.  Without that help at the
highest levels, we could not have gotten access.

It seems that only when Japanese trade practices are answered with
retaliation do we get opened markets there.  Hopefully, this
next Administration will play more hard ball.

>I receive no money from any Japanese concern at the moment though I will be
>going to work for Japanese company in January. I can assure you Mr. Mathes that
>
>My criticism of the paper posted here is not that it is full of lies. I didn't
>say that, implicitly or explicitly. I said the paper was garbage because it is
>completely and utterly onesided, as are your comments Mr. Mathes. May I suggest
>sir, that you try and broaden your scope a bit. That may require you to be
>occasionally critical of America, something too few people are willing to be.

Seems we have more folks "America bashing" than not.  Our present
Administration ignores business.  Consumer publications like Consumer
Reports seem to bash just about any American car they review.  I find
comments like yours seem to be common; in fact, whenever anyone
mentions anything bad about Japan, seems that person is labeled 
a "Japan Basher" in McCarthyite fashion.  I guess the truth is
too much for some to handle.

Smittie, I used to think that America was stupid in the way we do
business.  I honestly thought that we could not sell in Japan since
"we didn't do business the Japanese way".  Working for a large
company that tries to sell there has opened my eyes.  We have
world class product and service in several businesses.  My own
division, the memory division, has had problems selling there.
We do quite well in America and Europe, with world class
product that Japan often can't make.  But, we find it hard
to sell there.  Why is it that American semiconductor companies
find it easy to sell everywhere in the world except Japan?  It
sure isn't a quality issue, nor a lack of trying.

Since your hands are in Japanese pockets, and even though you don't
admit it, your comments are garbage IMHO.  I'm not the one who is 
biting the hand that feeds when I criticize Japan, but you are.  I 
too would defend their practices too if I were in your situation.

As for my quotes from Business Week, I do alot more research than
I wrote about.  I find that publication easy to quote since it
is widely available.  I too have traveled to Japan, and found it
a fascinating country.  I sure did stick out like a sore thumb
there.  I went to places in Tohoku province that *really* made
me feel foreign.  I got a good understanding what an African-
American feels like in a room full of white folks.

Tom