Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011
It would be nice if people considered Metropolis a “think tank.” Then, when we called for submissions on “reimagining Japan,” we would receive articles not only from our fantastically talented pool of underpaid contributors, but also from Pulitzer Prize winners like John W. Dower, Paul J. Ingrassia and David E. Sanger; entrepreneurs-cum-bazillionaires like Softbank’s Masayoshi Son and Fast Retailing’s Tadashi Yanai; top-selling au courant Japanese culture stars like Natsumi Iwasaki (What if a Female Manager of a High School Baseball Team Read Drucker’s ‘Management’?); alpha dog CEOs from companies as varied as Nissan, Cisco and even Starbucks, all alongside a liberal dose of high-end academics and foreign policy experts vying to have their opinions heard.
Global management consulting firm McKinsey, however, does have think tank cred and when they decided to tackle Japan’s struggle with change—the rise of China, and an increasingly competitive global economy—they tapped the aforementioned luminaries and many others for contributions. Now, they have published over 80 of them in Reimagining Japan: The Quest for a Future That Works.
As they were going to print in March, the trifecta of disasters hit—earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. Re-editing the articles probably didn’t make much difference, as the bulk of contributions hammer home familiar topics: how Japan needs to become more “open,” how it needs to expand its biggest untapped workforce—women, how it needs stop relying on manufacturing and become more innovative in its exports, and how the political system is in dire need of true leaders. Indeed, these themes reappear page after page in Reimagining Japan, and reflections on the disaster are often just lip-service intros to the articles, especially in the first chapter.
Everybody, it seems, has an opinion on change for Japan. Howard Shultz of Starbucks uses his column inches (“Finding The Perfect Blend”) as marketing blag for his ubiquitous coffee behemoth, concluding only that Japan should rely on its traditional values of work ethic and attention to detail (I’m not convinced Shultz has ever truly seen a Japanese office “at work”…).
Others opinions are not so mild. Masayoshi Son’s brief missive (“Beyond Nuts and Bolts”) sums up the thoughts of most Japan techies: that IT and pharmaceuticals are the bankable industries, and that fishing and farming are dying ones. Oh, and companies should all emulate Apple and the government should reward entrepreneurship by lifting taxes on stock options, thereby encouraging young companies and IPOs to sprout. At least he adopts an “it’s not too late” tone.
Fast Retailing’s Tadashi Yanai’s simple takeaway? “My advice to young people is simple: get out of Japan.”
Other standouts in the book include contributions from popular foreign writers Robert Whiting and Alex Kerr. The former’s piece looks at how Hideki Nomu changed the perception of the Japanese towards international professional sports, paving the way for the superstar Ichiro Suzukis, Mao Asadas and Ryo Ishikawas of today. He goes on to explore the perception of Japanese people on their country’s global competitiveness in general. Meanwhile, Kerr’s “Japan After People” is a sci-fi piece spin off of the History Channel documentary series Life After People, which projects how the world would change were humankind to disappear.
Other highlights were the chapters “Refreshing The Talent Pool” and “Reinvigorating Society.” These present more forward thinking, opposing, but eminently readable articles about the directions Japan can and should be taking.
If you have even a passing interest on what some of Japan’s—and the world’s—movers and shakers think about the country’s future, there’s plenty to digest here. Unfortunately, this is not a book easily read on a packed train during your morning commute. At 452 glossy hardbound pages, Reimagining Japan packs a lot of weight, both literally and figuratively. It might be a good idea then to heed the contributors arguing that Japan ride the technological bandwagon, and purchase the more portable e-reader edition. That might make reimagining Japan—and rereading the book—easier, especially if you navigate the country’s societal and technological changes daily.
Available at major bookstores and via Amazon.
