At the Outset of the 21^st Century

Takashi Imai Chairman, Keidanren

At long last, a new gate of history to the 21^st century has opened. Looking back, helped by the rapid strides science and technology have taken in the 20^th century, mankind has expanded the sphere of his activities beyond land and air, and has reached out to space. And thanks to the development of the means of transportation and telecommunications technology, the geographical sense of the world has become increasingly smaller, and the sense of time has sharply contracted.

There is no doubt that technological innovation will bring changes in lifestyle at a pace no one has experienced and that the globalization of social and economic norms will gather a greater momentum. Given the trends, the ability to correctly anticipate changes of the times and expeditiously and resolutely carry out social and economic structural reforms will determine the destiny of this country. Indeed, Japan stands at a critical crossroads during the first few years of this century.

Pressing problems, it is necessary to address at this critical juncture, first and foremost, are those raised by the declining birthrate and a growing aged population, which is continuing at a pace never been observed in other countries. For this country, saddled with a colossal government debt, and faced with a continuously declining birthrate that spells a slowdown in production and consumption, and a growing aged population that heralds greater nursing care spending, to generate sustainable economic growth in coming years, painful reforms cannot be avoided. To accomplish this, it is essential to formulate a grand design that covers finance, social welfare and health care under strong political leadership, and to implement it as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the key to generating forward momentum in the economy lies in innovation such as information technology (IT) and biotechnology.

The United States, which has successfully achieved an IT revolution on a nationwide scale, has achieved noninflationary and sustainable economic growth while wiping out a serious federal budget deficit that had long plagued it, and has since been running budget surpluses. And this experience holds good lessons for us. In Japan, an IT revolution has just gotten under way. And with the ownership of cellular phones equipped with mobile terminal functions such as i-mode spreading rapidly, an information and telecommunications infrastructure unique to Japan is taking shape steadily. Japan should vigorously promote the development of technologies and seek to build a country based on a leading-edge information technology.

At the same time, development of epochal drugs and biotechnology based on genetic information, that will enable the medical profession of this country to provide medical services tailored to individual patients' needs, is indeed a task of great significance. It is necessary for Japan to create a society in which age is no longer a critical factor. Demand for continuous study of strategically important themes, such as those of the human genome that have been undertaken under the government-sponsored Millennium Project, is growing.

To foster the development of leading industries, such as those based on IT and biotechnology that pull the economy forward, it is important to build up cases of successful commercialization of technologies and products through close cooperation and coordination among the government, industry and academia.

It is also an important task for Japan to engineer economic growth in ways balanced with nature by drawing upon lessons learned from global environment issues, a common concern, as the result of industrialization of the economy in the 20^th century. To accomplish this, we must as a matter of course endeavor to build recycle-oriented socioeconomic systems by developing further recycling technology and fuel cells. And Japan should redouble its efforts, as part of its contribution to the well-being of the international community, to share its advanced energy-saving and low environmental impact technology to other countries.

For Japan to remain a country full of vigor and attractiveness in this new century, every citizen must further become more self-reliant. To do this, we must shed the blind conformism with established past practices, and the values and attitude that demand equality of benefits, and change the system of values into one that rewards creativity and put greater emphasis on broadening of opportunities. In this sense, a sweeping reform of the education system is a serious challenge that determines the destiny of this country.

With globalization and network building accelerating ever faster, making an all-out effort jointly by the government, industry and the general population to implement economic structural reforms, and to build the foundations for sustainable growth are the duty imposed upon us.

I am determined at the outset of this century to work resolutely toward solving all immediate problems facing us.