Books in Brief: Japan’s Commercial Empire

Japan’s Commercial Empire, by Jon Woronoff (M. E. Sharpe, 415 pp., $30 hardcover, $14.95 paperback)

It is often said that the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere that Japan fought to establish in the war has by now been more firmly established in its satellite countries through trade and investment than could ever have been done through military domination. Jon Woronoff presents an evenhanded treatment of Japan’s overseas investments and business strategies. The Japanese resort to offshore production for both domestic and foreign-policy reasons: in the first category, to “export pollution” and find disciplined low-wage labor (not found in laidback Australia, but abundant in uptight Singapore and South Korea); in the second, to foil protectionism against goods made by “Japan, Inc.” This latter point is aptly illustrated by South Korea’s Masan Export Processing Zone, where the bulk of investment has been from Japan, and virtually all export sales are to the U.S. or Europe. Japanese investments have been concentrated, first and foremost, in the “Gang of Four” countries (Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore), where some businessmen still speak Japanese and most operate with a strong sense of the Confucian Ethic, according to Woronoff. A docile and nimble labor supply can also be found in Malaysia and Thailand, particularly among female employees (enjoyed by the Japanese businessmen; described as both “rapacious economic animals” and “sex maniacs” by the author), and to a lesser extent in the Philippines and Indonesia. The “British disease” of recalcitrant labor unions and surly workers has infected both Canada and Australia, making them less attractive recipients of Japanese capital than either the U.S. or Brazil. In most cases, the recipients need foreign technology and capital a good deal more than the investors need their markets, suggesting that anti-Japanese sentiments (as exemplified by the Tanaka Riots in Thailand and Indonesia in the mid-1970s) will probably subside. While primarily journalistic (though a little light on up-to-date facts and statistics, and marred by sloppy editing), this is a good book deserving a careful reading by any beginning student of Japan. The author avoids both “Jap-bashing” and an overly reverent attitude toward the Japanese, who, although they have been very successful in rebuilding their economy during the past forty years, have often suffered from serious cost overruns and poor judgment in making foreign-investment decisions (as their current $35-billion surplus in merchandise trade with the U.S. demonstrates).

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Japan’s Commercial Empire, by Jon Woronoff (M. E. Sharpe, 415 pp., $30 hardcover, $14.95 paperback)

It is often said that the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere that Japan fought to establish in the war has by now been more firmly established in its satellite countries through trade and investment than could ever have been done through military domination. Jon Woronoff presents an evenhanded treatment of Japan’s overseas investments and business strategies. The Japanese resort to offshore production for both domestic and foreign-policy reasons: in the first category, to “export pollution” and find disciplined low-wage labor (not found in laidback Australia, but abundant in uptight Singapore and South Korea); in the second, to foil protectionism against goods made by “Japan, Inc.” This latter point is aptly illustrated by South Korea’s Masan Export Processing Zone, where the bulk of investment has been from Japan, and virtually all export sales are to the U.S. or Europe. Japanese investments have been concentrated, first and foremost, in the “Gang of Four” countries (Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore), where some businessmen still speak Japanese and most operate with a strong sense of the Confucian Ethic, according to Woronoff. A docile and nimble labor supply can also be found in Malaysia and Thailand, particularly among female employees (enjoyed by the Japanese businessmen; described as both “rapacious economic animals” and “sex maniacs” by the author), and to a lesser extent in the Philippines and Indonesia. The “British disease” of recalcitrant labor unions and surly workers has infected both Canada and Australia, making them less attractive recipients of Japanese capital than either the U.S. or Brazil. In most cases, the recipients need foreign technology and capital a good deal more than the investors need their markets, suggesting that anti-Japanese sentiments (as exemplified by the Tanaka Riots in Thailand and Indonesia in the mid-1970s) will probably subside. While primarily journalistic (though a little light on up-to-date facts and statistics, and marred by sloppy editing), this is a good book deserving a careful reading by any beginning student of Japan. The author avoids both “Jap-bashing” and an overly reverent attitude toward the Japanese, who, although they have been very successful in rebuilding their economy during the past forty years, have often suffered from serious cost overruns and poor judgment in making foreign-investment decisions (as their current $35-billion surplus in merchandise trade with the U.S. demonstrates).