On November 16, 1998, the late Prime Minister of Japan, Keizo Obuchi, revealed a new "economic stimulus package", designed to lift Japan's economy out of the doldrums. In his presentation, Prime Minister Obuchi (unwittingly) revealed one of the primary reasons for Japan's current recession.
During his presentation to the press, which was broadcast on national TV, the Prime Minister used visual aids to display the way in which the ruling party would attempt to assist the people and businesses of Japan in recovering from the slump.
The method chosen for the presentation?
A high-tech plasma screen? A voice-operated laptop computer? A wonderful piece of new Japanese technology, revealed to the West for this purpose?
No, the answer was... a piece of cardboard, with a chart printed on it, held up beside Obuchi by two young aides, with a third aide holding an telescopic pen pointer and pointing to appropriate areas on the cardboard as the Prime Minister spoke.
This over-manning and under-skilling is typical of the Japanese economy. As I looked out of my window to a construction site when I wrote this article, I saw a young man, smartly dressed in uniform and construction helmet, holding a red baton, standing at the entrance to the construction site. He was (and probably still is!) employed by the construction company to wave the baton at any trucks entering or leaving the site (about ten per day at the moment). The rest of the time, he stands around, looking bored.
On any road construction project, there will usually be two or three of these flagmen, giving totally unnecessary directions to the traffic. Car parks and shopping centers also employ many people to direct traffic in the parking areas, wave them into and out of the parking lot, stop pedestrians from throwing themselves under customers' cars, and to shout loud welcomes at anyone passing.
Prime Minister Obuchi's aides are simply following the traditional Japanese practice of overmanning, which extends throughout the whole of Japanese industry. And they wonder why the banks are in a mess...!
The cardboard drawing is typical of Japanese presentations. Despite Japan's being the world's largest producer of high technology, Japanese TV stations almost invariably make their points by the presenter, or a female assistant, holding up a piece of cardboard, and pointing to areas of interest with a pen, etc. The slightly shaking hands of the presenter, and Japanese TV producers' fondness for hand-held camera shots, continually swooping and zooming, often mean that these works of art are often rendered totally illegible.
Don't be mistaken, these cardboard information sheets are beautifully produced--they're not just quick scribbles with a felt marker--and have probably involved a computer at some stage in their production. Prime Minister Obuchi's "visual aid" was of the same high standard, as far as one could tell (the size was so small that it was impossible to see it in any detail while the camera was also concentrating on Obuchi).
Only occasionally do computer graphics make their appearance on TV - usually as a special effect on game shows, etc. The idea of using computer graphics to illustrate news items, etc. has yet to catch on in a big way. In many ways, this is typical of Japanese TV--the workings of program production are prominently displayed (other cameras, highly-visible microphones, studio monitors, etc.).
However, the refusal to use high-tech is another reason for Japan's current lack of ability to compete on an international level. Many operations which are computerized as a matter of course in the West are done by hand in Japan.
An accounting system which refuses to recognize the time spent by employees as an item on the accounts also helps to keep this inefficiency alive.
As an outsider, I have to believe that Japan cannot begin to recover from the current recession unless it starts to adopt the standards of the rest of the world. The inefficiency and waste of manpower that pervade almost all aspects of Japanese political and business life are a serious handicap to Japan's acceptance as a global economic force in the next century. I haven't even begun to touch on Japan's most wasteful area--the neglect of 50% of the potential work force, and the relegation of women to copy-machine operators and tea-makers.
Prime Minister Obuchi symbolized traditional Japanese business and political methods excellently in his presentation--whether he meant to or not. I originally wrote, "let us hope that the Liberal Democratic Party starts to move into the 20th century and carry Japan forward with it before the 21st century arrives". This was a little optimistic. We seem to be stuck in an age of corruption, graft and general incompetence all round.
Post-Koizumi footnote (May 2001): There is a little hope for us, it appears. People are at last starting to question the need for the overstaffing and the human waste.
