Evening star., 1956-08-26
japan Is Booming but Still Has Many Problems

ceiling of expansions in mills in
South Carolina, Virginia and Massa-
chusetts. Plans for new plant in
Texas we're abandoned.
An anxious Japan, fearing re-
prisals, last April cut back annual
cotton blouse exports from 2la to
1la million dozen. The crisis sub
sided.
An almost equally serious situa-
tion seems to be developing in UNI
hrella frames. Japan is landing
them in America for 81. cents each,
l9 below United States wholesale
price. 1t Is expected to send seven
million this year, ten times 1855
714,000.
Resentment fingers on also among
California fishermen who are UNDER
sold by Japanese canned and frozen
tuna imports.
Precorious Base
Japan's problem in selling to the
United States is only one of her
difficulties. Her economy at best is
always precarious. These basic reali-
ties can never be ignored:
Eighty-nine million people live
in an area Of poor natural resources
about the size Of California. Only
Is per cent of the land is arabic.
Twenty per cent of the food and
most industrial raw materials must
be imported, especially iron ore,
coking coal, petroleum and raw cot
ton. Foodstuffs and raw materials
together account for IS per cent
OF all imports.
To buy these necessities Japan
must sell its products or die. Yet
exports today are only 81 per cent
OF the 1934-36 volume. And these
exceed imports in value only be-
cause they include the invisible ex-
port" Of foreign troop expenditures,
principally American.
To overcome this situation Japan
has devised a five-year plan ending
in 1860 that would boost annual ex-
ports to $2.660. .000. .000-66 per cent
above 1954-and balance foreign
trade without special procurements
{ py foreign troops.
Much of this expansion is
planned for fields in which Japan
has regained little of It's pre-war
position. These include shipping,
insurance and investments in for
eien countries, principally Asia and
Latin America. Japan is also hoping
to capture more and more of the
foreign tourist dollar.
These goals, calling for a more
than so per cent expansion of both
imports and exports, might seem
hopelessly optimistic if it weren't
for the tremendous slack in Japan's
economy. There is a wealth of tech
nicians. admitted uneconomic use
OF labor, and an estimated 10 mil
lion unemployed by Western stand
ards.
Many PitfoIIs Aheod
There are many pitfalls between
Japan and its goal Of true economic
stability.
investment capital is painfully
scarce. There is no end In sight to
the continuing population explosion
now jamming q million more people
a year into the teeming home is
lands. And food is such a problem
most Japanese are still under
nourished by Western standards.
BY 1860 Japan hopes 70 complete
projects providing sufficient new
land to grow 81 million cubic feet
OF new foodstuffs. But the process
Is highly expensive, involving the
reclamation of coastal areas now
under salt water.
In addition Japan is faced with
the prospect Of gradually shifting
emphasis from light to heavy in
dustry because many Asian nations
are now developing light industries
Of their own.
In the years ahead Japan will be
under increasing pressure to turn
to markets wherever she can find
them, including Red China and
other Communist nations.
Japan has been riding the crest
OF worldwide prosperity. When it
ebbs. as surely it must, Japan's
exports will be seriously affected.
1t may then be up to nations of
the free world to decide what con-
cessions they will make to keep this
industrious, talented people in their
camp.
Geopoliticians worried for years
over what might happen to world
balance of power if German indus
try and technology were ever linked
with resources of Western Russia.
They called. it the "heartland
theory"
Today they might equally ponder
what would happen If industrial
Japan were ever again Joined with
the enormous land mass and re-
sources of totalitarian, Communist
China.
~ tilis sense, perhaps, Japan and
its economy is one Of the pressing
problems Of our age.
tThe Associated PresO