TOKYO, July 12, 2023—By now, most countries and peoples pay little or no attention to Japan and its once-venerable manufacturers, the likes of Toyota, SONY and Honda. Their interest has drifted years ago to Apple, Tesla, Google, Meta and other American businesses. In a nutshell, the current situation amounts to the death of Japan – and it’s almost no exaggeration. How it happened can be seen in the following case. Read on:
On July 12, Honda Motor Co. as one of the 11 members of a business ‘consortium’ put out a news release that the companies have commenced an energy resource use experiment that the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry funds with a next-gen energy subsidy program. METI had held a public offering of the project via a nonprofit entity, the Sustainable open Innovation Initiative (SII), the news release said.
SII, which is headed by one Mr. Takashi Murakami as representative, has 16 board of directors and
appears to have executives and employees sent from various industry lobbies, and companies that relate to energy, according to its website (sii.or.jp).
The website said that its board and one auditor have no work experience as government officials, which was a de facto disclaimer that SII is not a deposit for retired government officials.
The news release nevertheless affirmed the modern Japanese government-business hierarchy that Honda, a former maverick samurai of Japanese industry, has voluntarily joined as part of the government-sanctioned establishment, or was sucked into it.
Either way, the release effectively underscored that the mighty METI works as the composer and maestro of this project and its member companies, including Honda, seem to assume the roles of lieutenants and foot soldiers reporting to the government.
This is a graphic picture of why Japanese companies have lost innovative wills and instead look up to the government for coordination and adjustments with other companies in the consortium. It’s in marked contrast to the United States, where private-sector innovations and skills pioneered and supersede government interventions, and quite apart from China where private-sector innovations blossom freely initially, then picked by the government later.
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