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Op-Ed
The Japan That Can Say No
Saturday, June 4, 2011
By Anthony Rowley
Tokyo- (PanOrient News) The "Japan that can Say No" was the title of a book co-authored in 1989 by Japan's then transport minister Shintaro Ishihara and Sony co-founder Akio Morita which made waves because of its unusually assertive style. It is also a phrase that sums up the unfortunate style of some Japanese government ministers.
I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when covering the Asian Development Bank annual meeting in Hanoi during which it became clear (even before the unfortunate Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair) that French finance minister Christine Lagarde could be next in line to head the IMF.
I decided to sound out a few of the assembled finance ministers at the meeting for their views on Madame Lagarde, having first talked to the lady herself (who was in Hanoi) and found her every bit as approachable and charming as she is obviously intelligent and competent.
I first spoke (on behalf of Emerging Markets newspaper) to Chinese vice finance minister Li Yong who said politely the issue was "complicated" and that he preferred not to comment at that point. Likewise, Indian finance minister Pranap Mukherjee responded politely "let us wait and see."
I had friendly and frank conversations on the issue with Indonesian finance minister Agus Martowardojo and Bangladesh finance minister Abul Maal Muhith while a colleague chatted amiably with Vanuatu finance minister Bakoa Kaltongga for a small country view.
No collation of Asian views would be complete without that of Japan, I decided and duly approached Japanese finance minister Yoshihiko Noda for his view. "Excuse me minister," I began," I wonder if I might ask you for a comment on..." Even before I ended the sentence, he said "no" and strode off.
Reporters get used to being brushed off on occasions but there are, as they say "ways and ways" of declining and the way that Japan chooses to say no on occasions does little good for the country's image in the view of this correspondent.
Noda is not the only person whose style leaves something to be desired in this regard. I have seen other senior Japanese government officials either cross their arms in front of their face or scurry away looking alarmed to the point of panic when approached for a comment in English.
This is an area where Japan is found badly wanting compared with China. In my many years experience of covering international financial conferences and other gatherings I have repeatedly been impressed by the smoothness and urbane attitudes of Chinese ministers and senior officials.
Li Yong is one such example and another is People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan. Both seem equally at home in English Chinese or in Chinese, and both seem anxious to engage the foreign press, unlike Mr. Noda or even Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa.
This is not just a matter of being nice to journalists. More is at stake. Chinese officials often take the trouble to give briefings (in English) at international meetings, to bankers, businessmen and others who are eager to hear about the emergent Asian giant's economic prospects.
The officials usually deliver concise and informative accounts and acknowledge that China faces enormous challenges in its development while outlining what the government is doing to address these. Their audiences take copious notes and appear generally to go away satisfied.
It is rare indeed in my experience to hear Japanese officials give similar briefings. This I think contributes to the remarkable lack of interest at international gatherings in Japan, quite apart from the fact that it is being progressively eclipsed by China as Asia's leading power.
It was not always so. For example, when Eisuke Sakakibara (Mr. Yen) was vice finance minister for international affairs of Japan in the late 1990's, this witty and intellectually nimble mandarin imprinted Japan name and views firmly upon the global map and could debate with the best of them.
Likewise, his successor as vice finance minister Haruhiko Kuroda was always an eloquent interlocutor who could hold his own in any debate. Kuroda has carried these qualities over into his current job as president of the ADB and is nowadays one of what seem to be diminishing numbers of good "ambassadors" for Japan.
Japanese senior financial and other bureaucrats seem less international nowadays than did their predecessors (although I would make exceptions in the case of IMF deputy managing director Naoyuki Shinohara and Japan Bank for International Cooperation president and CEO Hiroshi Watanabe).
This is partly perhaps because, under the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, bureaucrats (like children in Victorian England) are supposed to be "seen but not heard" and the talking is supposed to be done by government ministers instead. All well and good provided the ministers have something to say. But if it is simply "no" I for one would rather not hear it.
Anthony Rowley is a long-standing expert on East Asian economic and financial affairs, resident in Tokyo.
Photo Courtesy of ADB
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