Messages from Monthly Keidanren, February 2000

Craftsmanship in the Network Age

Yoshiharu Fukuhara
Vice Chairman of the Board of Councillors, Keidanren
Chairman, Shiseido Co., Ltd.

Today, we hear much talk about how the competitive strength of Japan's manufacturing industries is in decline, leading to a steady loss in trust in the technological prowess of this sector. In view of this trend, and as someone involved in the pursuit of craftsmanship, I have come to embrace a genuine sense of concern about the future.

In the past, those known as "craftsmen" possessed unique "technique" and "spirit," and engaged in the creation of industrial art lifestyle goods, the construction of distinctive buildings and other work with pride and devotion. The spirit of these endeavors was subsequently carried on in the manufacturing of industrial products. There, fueled by the skilled dexterity for which the Japanese are so well known, together with their tenacious and discriminating quest for excellence, this state of mind secured high levels of quality, and earned the trust and respect of the world.

Then, with the progress made in computers, the move to NC (numerical control), the dissemination of CAD (computer-aided design) and other rapid developments, dramatic advances were witnessed in productivity. In doing so, however, the fastidious approach to materials and tools, the special ability to instill ingenuity in the fabrication sequence, workplace know-how and other aspects of the world of the Japanese "artisan" --in short, the drive and devotion supported by craftsmanship --now face the threat of extinction in the name of competition against countries which hold advantages on the cost front.

Japan, along with the rest of the world, now finds itself in the midst of the emerging multimedia and Internet era.

Computer technology consists of the ability to store and reproduce past memories in optimum fashion. Networks, which radiate out all directions like intricately woven spider webs, have evolved to the level of furnishing superb function in the pooling of composite information, and the transformation of such data into superbly diversified and heterogeneous "intelligence."

Backed by the resourceful use of this type of information technology, I believe that the skills and the experience of Japanese craftsmanship, extolled in the past as the strongest anywhere on earth, are set to be passed on and duly inherited. Likewise, I foresee the creation of dynamic new "intelligence" through the fusion of technology, and other movements which will lay a sound foundation for the craftsmanship of a new era.

As this process comes to pass, a critical factor will be human resources. I am confident that Japan, buoyed by the inherent strengths of refined manual dexterity, delicate sensitivity and precision craftsmanship, is positioned to combine these attributes with the enhancement of its intellectual assets, and mount a solid comeback as a nation founded in technology. For the Japanese, a people now struggling with the challenges which include the hollowing of industry and the conceiving of new business fields, the exploits of modern-day "craftsmen" equipped with the tools of the information revolution, are destined to serve as the fountainhead of the rise in technical competitiveness needed to survive and further prosper in the 21st century.

For myself, I hold out the highest of expectations for each and every individual involved in fields of craftsmanship. I look forward to the success of these contemporary artisans in giving full play to their sense of mission, and in manifesting the spirit of discriminating taste and aspiration in a bold and lasting manner.


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