Impressions at the Beginning of 2007
January 10 (Wednesday) 2007
2007 arrived with a relatively calm New Year's Day in Japan. The weather was peaceful across the nation. The Japanese economy is also transitioning smoothly while stock prices show an upward trend early in the new year. In terms of international relations, while the troublesome issue of North Korea persists, relations with countries across Asia have improved and it could be said that the new year opened in a peaceful state.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer some comments with a fairly long-term look at Japan's future challenges and opportunities.
The greatest factors that will define long-term structural change in Japan are population decline and the aging of society. In addition, a shift in the international framework, in other words the expansion of emerging powers headed by the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will likely have a significant impact on Japan’s global competitive power. Environmental restrictions will also become stricter, and it seems likely that the problem of food and energy resources will represent even greater constraints on Japan. Amidst all of this, the march of digitization and globalization continues to accelerate. In terms of security, new risks such as terrorism should expand even further, and the necessity for a new security strategy will likely emerge. Within the backdrop of this substantial paradigm shift, there are at least three directions that Japan must give attention and energy to.
The first is securing the coexistence of safety and peace of mind. How to protect its citizens from traditional threats such as North Korea, and from new threats such as terrorism and its many-faces. How to secure peace of mind for citizens in an aging society. How to ensure the coexistence of many different countries and peoples in a complicated state of international relations. These are challenges for Japan.
The second is realizing wealth, efficiency, and diversity in the midst of a new historical situation in which great economic growth is unfeasible with population decline. How to achieve affluence and comfort with qualitative improvement instead of physical expansion. How to boast the world's foremost cutting-edge industries on the one hand, while achieving efficiency in the overall Japanese economic structure, which bears sectors with extremely low productivity such as services, construction, distribution, and agriculture and fisheries, on the other. How to, in an aging society experiencing radical diversification in lifestyles and family structures, provide various services that respond to the demands of the people.
The third is establishing trust and confidence in international relations. For Japan to survive in a world where, in following with a shift in international relations, the power paradigm of emerging states and Asian nations has changed and energy and resource restrictions are becoming increasingly severe, it is paramount that it gain the trust and confidence among the international society. To do this, it is necessary to form sensible partnerships with various countries while remaining rooted in the US-Japan alliance, to actively contribute to solving the difficult issues facing global society, and to actively convey Japan's attractiveness, achievements, and points of view. This requires that the functions in charge of international strategy be made even more comprehensive and powerful by primarily the government or related institutions; it also requires dramatic cultivation of the personnel handling these activities. To make 2007 a long-term reflection of Japan’s future, I hope that this will be a year of boldly embarking on these courses.