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INTERNATIONAL DESK
Will Century 21
Bethe
Japanese Century?
by
John A. Halford
I
T
w
AS
a nice-looking little watch, and my
daughter's eyes were gleaming with antic–
ipation. The price was reasonable.
But was it of good quality, 1 wondered?
"Yery good quality," the salesman assured me,
"brand-new model- totally made in Japan." To him,
that set the seal on quality. The watch was
total/y
made in Japan.
And why not? Any stigma that "made in Japan"
once had has long since disappeared under the flood of
cameras, cars and calculators that are as good as-and
often better than- their American and European–
made counterparts.
Since the end of World War 11, the Japanese have
become superstars in the industrial world. Few nations
in history have come so far, so fast.
It
seems
as
if there
is nothing that they cannot do. Sorne have predicted
that just
as
the United States dominated the 20th
century, the next century will belong to the Japanese.
Already, they lead the world in significant fields.
Whether it is giant oil tankers or miniature calcula–
tors, Japan seems to be able to manufacture them
quicker, cheaper and better than almost anyone else.
Japan, lncorporated
Western businessmen wryly refer to "Japan, Incorpo–
rated"
as
if the whole nation is one giant combine,
with the individual companies all working together for
the national profit.
There is something relentless about Japanese effi–
ciency. 1 once traveled from Tokyo to Hiroshima on
the "bullet train." We left Tokyo on time-to
the
second.
After a computer-controlled, high-speed run
of several hours, we arrived at the destination, several
hundred miles away--on time-to
the second.
1t
was
almost scary--one felt one was part of a carefully
controlled manufacturing process. 1 am more used to
the cheerful confusion of the average Asían railroad–
and for reasons that were hard to explain, 1 found
myself almost resenting this Japanese efficiency.
That is so often the way Westerners react to Japa–
nese success. We buy J apanese products because they
are less expensive, get better mileage or because they
February
1983
just
work better
than most of the competition . But at
the same time, there is an underlying feeling of resent–
ment.
Sorne time ago, the Los Angeles
Times
published a
story about Japan being willing to loan the United
S tates $1O billion at a low rate of interest. The Japa–
nese realize that if they are to continue to trade with
the United States, sorne money would have to be
plowed back into the country's ailing economy. Other–
wise, there would not be the means to buy from
J apan-and
everyone
would end up losing.
It
was not
intended to be an insult, but it seems that many Amer–
icans took it as sucb.. "First they destroy our industry
with cheap cars, cheap cameras, cheap watches.
Then
they have the gall to offer us 'foreign aid'! "
Like envious school children, we look for ways to
tear down and belittle those who are more successful
than ourselves. We like to believe that the average
Japanese worker is an unthinking automaton (not
true), that he will work long hours for a bowl of rice
(not true) and that all the J apanese can do is copy
other people's ideas (not true) and sell them back
cheap (definitel y not true). Westerners look for some–
thing underhanded, or sinister behind each Japanese
success-anything to somehow explain away their
astonisbing performance. That is avoiding the issue.
The Japanese worker is
not
a "superman." But indi–
vidually, and as a nation, the people of Japan seemed
to have learned to apply important laws that lead to
success. They have not had prosperity handed to them
on a platter. Their success is no accident. They could
be considered in sorne ways a
have-not
nation-almost
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