Editorial
Bureaucratic red tape should be eliminated to ensure economic growth
What policy measures should be taken to expand the economy is one of the points of contention during the ongoing campaign for Sunday's general election for the House of Representatives. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has criticized the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for lacking a strategy for economic growth. On the other hand, the DPJ criticizes the LDP's strategy for economic growth as being excessively dependent on export-oriented industrial sectors.
However, the policy of increasing the competitiveness of the domestic industry based on technological innovation will certainly remain unchanged regardless of the framework of a new administration to be formed following the election.
Various projects are being planned around the world to respond to environmental problems and the current economic crisis. They include the construction of high-speed railway lines and so-called smart grids. Moreover, the water-supply sector that can make up for water shortages has also drawn attention.
Japan's Shinkansen network has a solid reputation for its safety as it has not been involved in a single fatal accident since it started more than 40 years ago.
A new grid that uses part of the smart grid technology -- including an automatic electricity distribution system designed to minimize the area where a power failure occurs, is already in operation in Japan. Domestic technology is outstanding in terms of the quality of electric power as the period of any power failures is short and the frequency and voltage of electricity are stable.
In the water-supply sector, Japanese manufacturers' technology of permeation membrane, which is the core of the water filtration system, is highly advanced.
The problem is these advanced technologies have not been integrated. Unless they are integrated into a system and spread throughout the world, Japan will remain to be a mere supplier of parts and cannot gain profits from such high technologies.
Information technology (IT) is a good example of this. Japanese IT service businesses, such as search engine operators, lag behind their overseas competitors even though a fiber-optic communication system has been laid across the country and Japanese manufacturers of IT systems, such as semiconductor production devices, have a competitive edge. Japan also lags behind other advanced countries in the field of ground computing, which has drawn attention as a new way of using computers, based on the utilization of the network.
Japan got a late start in IT services due partly to the Japanese government's vertically divided administrative functions. The production of electronic devices is under the jurisdiction of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, and communications and broadcasting are supervised by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry while the Agency for Cultural Affairs oversees copyright-related issues. These administrative bodies are closely linked to industry organizations under their respective jurisdictions partly through bureaucrats landing in post-retirement jobs in the industries they once supervised.
Because of difficulties in coordinating the interests of various parties involved, Japanese search engine operators had been unable to even install a database for their services in Japan until recently.
It is important to revamp the vertically divided administrative system that is linked to various industries as part of Japan's strategy to boost economic growth.
(Mainichi Japan) August 26, 2009