The Importance of the United States-Japan Relationship
TOYODA Shoichiro
Chairman
Keidanren
This year, we mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. This is a time for looking back on Japan's economic development over the past half-century. It is a time, especially, for reaffirming the crucial importance of the United States-Japan relationship.
All Japanese owe a huge debt of gratitude to the United States for the role that nation played in our postwar reconstruction. All of us have benefited hugely from the American spirit of generosity and openness.
The United States introduced an economic system in Japan based on democratic principles. It provided funding for reconstruction and opened its vast markets to our exports. Americans taught us the principles of modern corporate management. They furnished us with advanced technologies.
Equally important, we still have a great deal to learn from the United States. A good example is venture capital.
Japan will need a healthy dose of entrepreneurship to break out of the stagnation in which our economy is mired. We need to propagate the kind of entrepreneurial vitality displayed by U.S. venture businesses, including the way they celebrate diversity and honor individuality. Bringing that kind of vitality to bear in blazing new industrial sectors could contribute immensely to reinvigorating the Japanese economy.
Another area where we have a great deal to learn from the United States is deregulation. The present dynamism of the U.S. economy owes a lot to deregulation that the United States began undertaking in the late 1970s in transport, telecommunications, and other sectors.
I am impressed at the leadership exhibited by the U.S. government in implementing that deregulation. I am even more impressed at the wonderful way that Americans -- industries and individuals -- accepted the disruption that accompanied deregulation.
Japan has every reason, therefore, to work to develop even closer ties with the United States. Those ties can and should be a basis for us to make an increased contribution to economic development in Asia and worldwide.
In that spirit, we should welcome the agreement that the U.S. and Japanese governments reached recently in the automotive sector. Failure to reach an agreement would have dealt a severe blow to the industries and the entire economies of both nations. It would have affected the world trading system and the global economy adversely.
We need to recognize, however, that economic frictions will continue to arise between the United States and Japan as our relationship deepens. All of us in the public and private sectors must work to resolve those frictions through calm and reasoned dialogue. We must prevent them from escalating into serious political issues.
Face-to-face communication will be especially important. We need to build more and better channels for promoting that kind of communication between American and Japanese business people. Bilateral discussion and debate need to become routine. Better communication is the best way to nip potential problems in the bud.
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