Innovative Tokyo

This paper compares and contrasts Tokyo's innovation structure with the industrial districts model and the international hub model in the literature on urban and regional development. The Tokyo model embraces and yet transcends both industrial districts and international hub models. The paper details key elements making up the Tokyo model-organizational knowledge creation, integral and co-location systems of corporate R&D and new product development, test markets, industrial districts and clusters, participative consumer culture, continuous learning from abroad, local government policies, the national system of innovation, and the historical genesis of Tokyo in Japan's political economy. The paper finds that the Tokyo model of innovation will continue to evolve with the changing external environment, but fundamentally retains its main characteristics. The lessons from the Tokyo model is that openness, a diversified industrial base, the continuing development of new industries, and an emphasis on innovation, all contribute to the dynamism of a major metropolitan region.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Innovation

Japan's New Trade Policy:Good or Bad for ASEAN?

Because Japan is a primary investor and trading partner of all the troubled economies, in the midst of the crisis, Japan was called in to help the crisis-stricken countries by opening its market to cheaper imports from South East Asia. The article analyses the opening to trade of the Japanese economy with the help of a gravity equation on panel data using a Hausman-Taylor estimator. We show that there is no certainty that such a role, that is the opening of Japan, will have positive effects for the ASEAN countries, although no detrimental effects are expected. In the worst case scenario, this move and its impact on ASEAN countries would have neutral effect. This new Japanese policy, if applicable, appears to be not enough to (1) help ASEAN countries emerge from the financial crisis and (2) enable Japan to play the role it could and/or should in the region. Although many look at this solution – Japan opening its national market -- as the only one, on the contrary, Japanese help has been different and has proved to be very crucial to the ASEAN countries in need. In fact, the case of Malaysia is a good example of how Japan can help to foster the economy. Their experience shows that, next to trade ties, a greater emphasis can be put on a technical and/or other type of co-operation. Within this framework, Japan has helped Malaysia to recover faster from the crisis, without the former having to open wider its market to the latter. However, Japan is also driven by its own interests. Thus, if it wants to play a leading role in furthering ASEAN integration, especially in economic aspects, it will have to consider, soon or later, opening up its market to appear more reliable to its neighbours.Asian crisis – Hausman-Taylor – FDI, Gravity equation, Japan – ASEAN – Malaysia

Beyond neo-liberalism: research policies and society. The case of Japan.

International audienceThe idea of decoupling is playing a major role in various interpretations of the present systemic crisis. This crisis is understood as an effect of neo-liberal policies, which have revolutionized economic systems since the 1980s. Decoupling indicates a qualitative change in the level of autonomy of the economic sphere in industrial societies. But a new level of differentiation also generates various types of recoupling, new forms of integration, cooperation and regulation recomposing social systems at another level. The goal of this article is first to situate the idea of decoupling within its conceptual complex. Secondly, the ecological constraint is considered the source of this intense differentiation within social systems, which has intensified since the 1970s. Finally, based on the case of Japan, this paper explains why large-scale science and technology policies developed since the 1990s have to be understood as part of a recoupling process, a project to reconstruct and reach a social and economic coherence in the long term. Similar policies are now implemented by all major industrial nations. Such policies have the potential to overcome neo-liberalism's negative effects.Le notion de découplage (proche en Français de celle de désajustement utilisée par Bertrand Gille) est utilisée actuellement pour montrer comment le paradigme néolibéral suppose et renforce une dissociation entre le politique, le social et l'économique. L'article étudie l'impact sur les politiques de recherche à partir d'une étude du cas japonai

Norms and Values in Japanese Democracy Assistance Towards Southeast Asia Countries, 2008 – 2013

Japan has a unique way in interpreting its involvement in global movement of democratization. Although Japan boosts an adequate experience in transition to democracy after World War II as well as the economic prowess, Japan\u27s participation in democratization Internationally has been very low for more than 50 years. The Japanese involvement in democracy assistance around the world can be considered minor compared to other donor countries, especially among the OECD DAC members. In relation with regional priority, Japanese ODA consistently place Southeast Asia as the main target for development assistance but with lesser compliance with supporting governance and civil society known as the core component of democracy assistance. While Japan has adopted new foreign policy strategy known as the “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity”, including Southeast Asia region, there still remains a need and opportunity to increase Japan\u27s engagement in democratization process, either by promoting or protecting democracy

Trade in Northeast Asia: Why do Trade Costs Matter?

Trade costs are often cited as an important determinant of the volume of trade. This paper provides enough evidences to ascertain that today’s trade issues in Northeast Asia go beyond the traditional mechanisms of tariffs, and include “behind-the-border” issues. By estimating a modified gravity equation, controlling for endogeneity and remoteness, we find that variations in transaction costs along with trade infrastructure facilities have significant influence on regional trade flows in Northeast Asia. On average, 10 percent saving in transaction costs increases imports by about 5 percent in Northeast Asia. This paper concludes that when tariffs tend to become low in Northeast Asia, the economies in this region could potentially benefit substantially from higher trade provided trade costs are well controlled.trade costs, transaction costs, infrastructure, regional trade, tariff

Politics and the Economy in Pre-War Japan

The paper by Richard J Smethurst discusses the influences that led to the economic policies pursued in the interwar period by Takahashi Korekiyo, who engineered Japan's recovery from the depression in the early 1930s, and is often thought of as the 'Keynes' of Japan. The paper traces the influence on Takahashi's thinking of his Western experiences and diverse bureaucratic career, but focusses in particular on the role of Takahashi's mentor, Maeda Masana. The paper by Masataka Matsuura analyses the term zaikai as used in prewar Japan and its identity as a small network whose influence was distinct from that of the zaibatsu. The paper traces the membership and activities of this small group from the time of Shibusawa Eiichi through to the Second World War, and argues for the importance of the functions they discharged in the context of the developing Japanese economy.Japan, economic depression in early 1930s, Takahashi Korekiyo, Maeda Masana, zaikai, zaibatsu, Japanese economic development, Shibusawa Eiichi.

Japan and Japanese firms: historical and modern lessons for international business and economic development

The obsession in both the popular and academic press about Japan, Japanese firms and their management practices lasted until the 1990s, after which there has been an inexplicable absence of curiosity. I argue here that there is still much to learn, not only from their contemporary activity, but from their historical actions. Less developed countries, in particular, can benefit from a careful study of the Meiji era, during which Japan built up the structure, institutions and organizations that underlay its economic success for much of the 20th century, and was a blueprint for many Asian success stories. The Meiji period was crucial in building up of Japan’s location advantages, and the rapidity of the reforms in this period underlined much of its subsequent growth. I also argue that despite Japan’s economic stagnation since the 1990s, its firms have not been stationary. There has been considerable evolution in the management and structure of Japanese firms and its innovation system. Such developments represent a useful preview of challenges ahead for the more advanced emerging economies such as China and India, as well as newer advanced economies, such as Korea

What We Can Learn From Japan\u27s Early Earthquake Warning System

Japan\u27s combination of high technology and cultural adaptation to its natural setting makes their earthquake detection systems a model for the rest of the world

Currency and Financial Crises of the 1990s and 2000s

We survey three distinct types of financial crises which took place in the 1990s and the 2000s: 1) the credit implosion leading to severe banking crisis in Japan; 2) The foreign reserves’ meltdown triggered by foreign hot money flight from frothy economies with fixed exchange rate regimes of developing Asian economies, and 3) The 2008 worldwide debacle rooted in financial institutional opacity and reckless aggregate demand management, epicentered in the US, that spread almost instantaneously across the globe, mostly through international financial networks