Japan’s Commercial Empire

414 Pages·1984·33.774 MB·English

by  Jon Woronoff (auth.)

JAPAN'S
COMMERCIAL
EMPIRE
'This book is an amazing story of a new global economic
order emerging from Japan's expanding network of for
eign direct investment. ... The author's unique exposi
tory skill supported by a thorough command of the facts
has produced an exciting book befitting its extraordinary
subject matter.'-Koji Taira, Professor of Economics,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
How Japan managed to recover from the war and the ill
fated Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and devel
op a worldwide dynamic and expansive commercial em
pire is an important and intriguing story. Jon Woronoff
examines the impact of Japanese investment on the host
countries, those that resent it and those that beg for
more, and how investments by the same Japanese com
panies wreak havoc in some countries and contribute to
progress in others.
About the Author
JON WORONOFF graduated from New York University
and received a Translator-Interpreter Diploma and aLi
cence es sciences politiques et economique from the Uni
versity of Geneva. He is the author of numerous books on
East Asia, including Japan's Wasted Workers, World
Trade War, Hong Kong: Capitalist Paradise, and Korea's
Economy: Man-Made Miracle. He also covers the region
for such authoritative publications as Asian Business,
Oriental Economist, and Mainichi Daily News.
JAPAN'S
COMMERCIAL
EMPIRE
Jon W oronoff
M
MACMILLAN
© 1984 by Jon Woronoff
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without written permission from the publishers.
First published in the USA in 1985 by M. E. Sharpe Inc
First published in the United Kingdom in 1985 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS, and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Woronoff, Jon
Japan's commercial empire.
1. Japan-Foreign economic relations
I. Title. II. Keizai Teikoku-Nihon no Sugao.
English
337.52 HF1601
ISBN 978-0-333-39438-0 ISBN 978-1-349-17743-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17743-1
Contents
Foreword 7
1. Reviving The Empire 9
2. The Colonizers 39
3. The Colonized 76
4. Japan's Quarry 104
5. The World Factory 159
6. Enrolling Foreign Labor 204
7. Neocolonies ... 253
8 ...• Or Competitors? 295
9. The Mother Country 332
10. The New Order 379
Acronyms 403
Bibliography 405
Index 409
Foreword
The shadow play is very popular in Asia. Rough figures are
cut out of leather or molded into papier mache and a
light is focused on them so that a huge shadow appears on
the screen. The further away from the screen the figure is,
the larger it becomes. On occasion, it can be absolutely
monstrous. To make things perfectly obvious, there is a
broad characterization of the personalities and behavior.
This way the audience immedately knows who is who. It
can readily distinguish the good guys from the bad guys
and respond accordingly.
Unfortunately, all these efforts make the characters
more visible ... and less real. By doing away with details
and ignoring nuances, it is possible to obtain simple and
sharp outlines. But this creates not clarity so much as
confusion and bias. And the crude personification, along
with invariable and predictable story lines, result in a cast
of caricatures rather than recognizable persons and scenes.
One of the most striking shadow plays nowadays is the
explosive resurgence of the Japanese economy and, as a
particular attraction, the invasion launched by its ag
gressive investors. The shows that are presented will vary
tremendously depending on whether they are directed by
Japanese or foreigners. But there is always the same gross
exaggeration and simplistic plot and action.
In its own road show, Japan depicts itself as good and
helpful. Its investors come to tap natural resources, sell
essential products and upgrade domestic industry. The
8 Foreword
employers treat their staff well and look after their in
terests. In the end, they are rewarded for their kindness and
generosity. Meanwhile, in local theaters, the complete
opposite is portrayed. Here, the Japanese are reviled as
exploiters and neocolonialists, greedy people who take
everything they want and give precious little in return.
Such portrayals, alas, are not restricted to street players
and untutored troupes. The descriptions of Japanese in
vestment, like those of American imperialism, and Euro
pean colonialism before it, are amazingly onesided and
unreliable. This applies to those for and against. They try to
convince by appealing more to emotions than reason, by
playing on fears and prejudices rather than proving their
point with facts and figures. They evoke applause, but very
rarely understanding. Yet, the authors are noted academics
and journalists, businessmen and politicians.
In this book, an attempt is made to deflate the exag
gerations by contrasting the opposing views. Biases on
both sides are used to disprove one another. This is not as
difficult as it may seem. The instant one starts collecting
information objectively, without a predetermined plot or
an urge to show which side is right, the result is a much
more variegated picture. Piecing the parts together, it
quickly becomes manifest that neither side is systematically
the hero or the villain, the victor or the victim.
While this presentation may be somewhat less dramatic,
and does not conclude with a simple and easy-to-remember
moral, it does have its advantages. It is certainly closer to
reality. It shows how the various actors behave in different
situations and what their deeper motivations may be.
It provides a broader variety of scenarios, some with a
happy ending, others banal or tragic. And, it reduces the
antagonisms and confrontations to their true proportions
rather than blowing them up to impress the public.
JON WORONOFF
1
Reviving The Empire
The Japanese Return
"We never thought they would come back," grumbled an
elderly Filipino worker who had once helped construct a
bridge for the Japanese and was now part of a crew
building a factory just outside of Manila. When he was
working on that bridge, some forty years ago, it was not
because he applied for the job. All the people in his village
had been rounded up at gunpoint and told to work. Now he
was drawing a salary. He would build a factory for the
Japanese as willingly as one for the Americans or local
capitalists ... or almost. The difference is that he was
not really pleased to have the Japanese back.
The surprise is universal. No one expected the Japanese
to recover from their defeat for decades. The battle was
hard won and the victors wished to see the foe restricted
to its crowded islands and perhaps reduced to a more
primitive and pastoral life. It was only when new op
ponents arose that the United States decided Japan should
not be stripped of its machinery and have its companies
disbanded. But even the Americans never expected Japan
to reconstruct as quickly as it did and then expand its
economic power around the world.
This is not the first time the Japanese have astonished
their neighbors. The erstwhile Japanese empire, which
reached its maximum extension in the Greater East Asia
10 Reviving The Empire
Co-Prosperity Sphere, was built in the twinkling of an eye if
compared to most other empires, from the Roman to the
British. It was not until1879 that Japan, just "opened" to
commerce in 1854, made its initial move abroad by
incorporating Okinawa. In 1895, it took over Formosa
(now Taiwan). In 1910, it annexed Korea. Then it carved
out more spheres of influence in China. The progression
became lightning swift once the Japanese decided to risk
everything. In about a decade, from the Manchurian
Incident in 1931 to the time it reached the peak of its
expansion, the imperial army conquered or controlled
most of China, Indochina, Thailand, Burma, Singapore,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Pacific is
lands.
The only historical event that could beat that for speed
was the rapid disintegration of the Japanese empire. Driven
out of New Guinea in 1944, the Japanese were chased from
island to island by the American navy. Meanwhile, they
lost Burma and the Philippines. Then came the raids on
Tokyo and atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
When the emperor surrendered in August 1945, the rest of
the empire collapsed like a house of cards.
The Japanese hurried back to the motherland. Even
those who had been in Taiwan or Manchuria for years,
some for a whole lifetime, found it wiser to retreat
promptly. There were over six million of them between
soldiers and settlers who were added to the islands' already
huge population of over seventy million. If forced to live as
humble peasants and restricted to some rudimentary
industries at best, they might have vegetated and disap
peared as an active and vital part of humanity. When
allowed to restore the economy completely, they were
reinvigorated and the energy generated by that unpre
cedented effort carried them abroad once again.