The Future Of Japan Us Economic Relations And The Structural Impediments Initiative

Whether in the form of the ongoing automotive wars, books and films such as Michael Crichton's Rising Sun, or George Bush's ill-fated trip to Japan in 1991, frictions between the United States and Japan have been steadily on the rise. Americans are bombarded with images of Japan's fundamental difference; at the same time, voices in Japan call for a Japan That Can Say No. If the guiding principle of the Clinton administration is indeed new values for a new generation, how will this be reflected in U.S.-Japanese relations? Convinced that no true solution to U.S.-Japanese frictions can be achieved without tracing these frictions back to their origin, Ryuzo Sato here draws on a binational experience that spans three decades in both the Japanese and American business and academic communities to do just that. In an attempt to bridge the communication gap between the two countries and dispel some of the mutual ignorance and misunderstanding that prevails between the two, Sato addresses the following questions: --Is Japan really different? --Has America's sun set? --How have conflicting views on the role of government affected U.S.-Japan relations? --What are the real differences in American and Japanese industrial policies? --What is the anatomy of U.S.-Japanese antagonisms? --What effect has the collapse of the bubble economy had on relations? --What is Japan's future course? Is it truly a technological superpower? Can it avoid international isolation? An incisive personal look at one of the most important political and economic global relationships, written by a major player in the world of international business and finance, THE CHRYSANTHEMUM AND THE EAGLE provides a readable and engaging tour of U.S.-Japan relations, past and present.

The time is ripe for a bold new initiative to recast the U.S.-Japan economic relationship for the 21st century. A new Japan is emerging. Foreign investment is on the rise. Tokyo is deregulating and restructuring its economy. A new generation of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists has emerged. But a more vibrant, sustainable Japanese economy is threatened by the crushing weight of Japans mounting public debt, the burden of its aging and shrinking population and the cumulative toll of years of economic stagnation. New governments in Washington and Tokyo have a unique opportunity to reinvigorate the U.S.-Japan relationship and to accelerate the pace and redirect the nature of change in the Japanese economy by creating a U.S.-Japan " open marketplace" --free of tariffs, with minimal regulatory impediments and an increasing freedom to do business--by the year 2010. This effort would include harmonization and mutual recognition of domestic regulations, meaningful enforcement of competition policy, deeper restructuring of the Japanese economy, and a dramatic increase in Japanese imports and greater acceptance of foreign investment. In this effort, the United States must assert its economic self-interest through new structural and sectoral trade initiatives and stepped up multilateral market-opening pressure through cases brought to the World Trade Organization. A New Beginning: Recasting the U.S.-Japan Economic Relationship, by Bruce Stokes, is a road map for U.S.-Japan economic relations in the 21st century.

Assesses the utility of the series of discussions under the rubric of the Structural Impediments Initiative; and questions why Japan seems to be relatively immune to the boom in U.S. exports.Witnesses are from Depts. of Commerce, State, and Justice; President's Council of Economic Advisers; and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Hon. S. Linn Williams.

These proceedings include papers on Japan's World Role in the 1990s, the economic dimensions of Japan and North America, and Japan and North America as Partners in the Pacific Community. It also provides the concluding remarks.

Schoppa documents how U.S. pressure has been misapplied in the past, insisting on the need for a strategy more informed about internal Japanese politics. While a strategy reliant on brute force is liable to backfire, he argues, one which works with domestic politics in Japan can succeed.