Interesting People mailing list archives
An interesting perspective
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 09:01:02 -0400
X-ListName: Discussion about Japan's Electronic Frontier <efj () twics com> Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 13:14:10 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: efj () twics com From: tlogan () lanl gov (Thomas P. Logan) Reply-To: efj () twics com Subject: "lets move on" & "minjorin" Well, now that the dust has settled, fastidious apologies to all for having the nerve recently to bring up such a non-germaine topic as foreign (particularly U.S. firms') participation in the formulation of Japan's info. highway. It's clear through the discussion of many that this topic had little to do with the issue of "internationalization" or "globalization" of Japan's domestic NII. But, as not a few would appreciate, the essence of "kokusaika" (internationalization) often is not so much an introduction of foreign elements (people/business interests/controlling capital/buyouts) into Japan as it is observed to mean a deeper familiarization of, relation to and injection into structures, events, and technological agendae outside of Japan on Japan's own beneficial terms...But, that's a Nation-State's perogative I 'spose... Simply speaking, I reasoned that since some net users are either with the US gov. or U.S. private industry that they may have wanted to access more nuts and bolts information re: the "procurement windows" of Ministry of Posts/Telecommunication (MPT) such as AT&T Japan is attempting, perhaps coordinating information and ways into the Japanese system and perhaps effect a little more reciprocity for a change. Access and participation by U.S. firms in the "benkyo kai" (study groups), adhoc and/or informal gatherings, etc. and particularly at this even infant, informal stage [which usually turns out in retrospect to be the ground floor in the long-term arketing sense for such major projects in Japan], is merely propositioned. To wit, as a theoretical proposition, would Minjorin accept observer or perhaps observer status by a U.S. telecom/info tech firm or the FCS (US Embassy Tokyo)? These questions and strategies dovetail precisely I thought, into the related discussion of Internet for Japan and the "internationalizing" effect that would have to break down barriers that still exist. Guess not. The "Sentaku" article contact info. was posted over to Toshio Takagi. As an update for he and others, it appears this is a subscription-basis (not off-the -stands) magazine. It would however be nice to input it in English into efj. I found particularly interesting the mention of pronounced and apparantly urgent multiple lobbying attempts by MPT reps stateside (probably the Japanese Embassy) to attempt to access thru VP Gore's science office a proactive role for Japanese firms in the U.S. NII development. Dovetail's back to the Minjorin question and reciprocity/"internationalization." Well, let's push the envelope and test the system...Also a (negative)concern in the article was of the recently passed S.Bill 1 (Hollings Bill) on U.S. NII.... In response to one posting, I would say, "let's not break out the champagne and "nihon shu" quite yet on the US/Japan trade framework deal." The unfortunate word today is that even with the ink still drying from two days ago, (to begin talking again) a substantial disagreement and rift is again developing between Kantor and Hata on starkly different interpretations of wording and what was actually promised (precisely what fouled up the talks and nebulous agreements last year)..Boy is this like a bad dream over and over and over.
From my brief 12 recent years up to last month of in living in Tokyo,
working mostly in business, I tend to side with people like Hitotsubashi U. economist Iwao Nakatani, who know the "system" as good if not better than anybody else, who in the "Nikkei" castigated Prime Minister Hata for not placing numerical targets re: consumer price reductions in the Price Stability Policy Council, by saying "The ministries will never tackle the problem seriously (without targets.) ...I'm a newcomer, so O.K., "let's move on..." as many feel. Happy U.S. holidays to all here, and a good weekend in Japan and elsewhere... [Private opinions above are expressed.] Tom Logan CNSS-LANL (505) 665-6110 27 May 1994
Current thread:
- An interesting perspective David Farber (May 30)