A Vanishing Japan?
In the July 17 FT there's an opinion piece by Hitoshi Tanaka, a former deputy minister for foreign affairs, titled Reports of 'Vanishing Japan’ Are Exaggerated. Tanaka argues that Japan has been edged out by China as the focal point of American attention in Asia and has generally fallen off people's radar screens. For Tanaka, rather than a vanishing Japan, there exists a Japan in transition, a country that has made substantial strides in its domestic and foreign policy, and has the potential to be "…a considerate leader working to structure a regional order."

As one would expect from a former diplomat, the piece is temperate and balanced, and, it must be said, unremarkable. But what struck me was the absence of any mention of South Korea, except in a slight aside. One hopes that's an oversight, and that South Kores is prominent on Tanaka's radar screen. It is Sony that now learns from Samsung, and Toyota is more scared of Hyundai than it is of GM.

If Japan has lost some of its luster, it's not only because big brother China is reviving, but also because its best firms seem less outstanding when compared with its Korean competition. If you're a Chinese manager faced with a buy decision between Japanese and Korean firms, with a workforce angry at reading page-one articles about visits to Yasukini Shrine, a Seoul supplier may be the preferred choice.