The trains run on time in Japan, to the minute.
“Not only that, but the doors actually align with the markings on the platform, and if they’re running late, they apologize profusely,” says Shihoko Goto, a senior Northeast Asia associate at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “It’s not just about good infrastructure. It’s about the personnel taking pride in their work and having the right training to meet these high expectations.”
In a global survey of more than 21,000 people, Japan ranked as the No. 5 Best Country in 2017, two spots better than its rank in 2016 and 10 spots better than Singapore, the closest ranking regional neighbor.
“Japan has become the Queen Elizabeth of countries, inoffensive yet respected,” says Russell Green, co-author of “What Happened to ‘Japan as Number One’?” and Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics at Rice University. “A slow-growth economy and aging population mean Japan does not threaten anyone, yet it remains a rich, technologically advanced country with a vibrant culture.”
During times of political and economic upheaval across the world, Japan — with its efficient public transportation, carefully choreographed tea ceremonies and hierarchical organization — seems to present order and consistency as attractive alternatives. But some experts argue that a country that has built up such substantial international influence over its long history could do more to lead the world forward.
“Stability is a good thing, but it depends on your perspective,” says Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It is good if the rest of the world is volatile, but not good if you want change or reform.”
Japan is a champion of cosmopolitanism, a mindset that experts agree has brought a high quality of life and great amount of equity to its citizens and one that can serve as a model for other nations struggling with growing stratification.
“There are several trends that Japan has been able to maintain: commitment to social equality, commitment to democracy and commitment to a positive role in international affairs,” says Christina Davis, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. “It’s remarkable that a decline in economic prosperity and a change in its region with the rise of China’s power have not set back those basic set of commitments.”
Two decades of stagnated growth after its bubble burst in 1990 set Japan well behind economic predictions. In 2010, China overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, and while Japan maintained the third-largest economy, it was effectively pushed out of superpower status.
Despite the economic challenges, Japan continued to funnel resources into key pillars of its model: investment in research and development rose from 2.8 percent of gross domestic product in 1996 to 3.5 percent in 2008, and government expenditure in education remained steady at 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, just slightly below the global average, according to the World Bank.
“Japan’s strength is in using innovation to enhance society at large, rather than the individual consumer,” Goto says, pointing to Hitachi as an example. The Tokyo-based multinational conglomerate is investing in projects like integrating traffic flow with urban planning that require both private stakeholders and public policymakers to focus on improving the common good.
But with a rapidly shrinking workforce due to an aging population and one of the lowest rates of incoming foreign direct investment among developed economies, experts say it is critical for Japan to pivot away from its traditionally nationalistic policies.
“What unnerves investors is volatility in policy,” says Paul Laudicina, chairman of consulting firm A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council and co-author of the Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index, in which Japan ranked No. 6. “But a headwind that Japan has had to deal with in the past is openness to their market and access”
After a string of a news prime minister each year since 2006, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was elected in 2012. The well-liked leader of the country’s conservative party was cleared to run for a third term this month, which would make him the country’s longest serving prime minister.
Abenomics, the economic policy plan he put into effect soon after he took office, is a step forward. The International Monetary Fund now projects annual growth through 2018, even if less than 1 percent.
Along with strategies to push central bank monetary policy and government spending to grow inflation, a third key pillar of Abe’s plan is structural reform that would deregulate certain sectors and pave the way for more open trade policies.
But Abe faces a challenging year ahead. A number of Japan’s allies — including the U.S. and, to a much lesser extent, the Philippines — have gone through substantial leadership changes, and the U.S. backing out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a blow to progress.
Even if Japan doesn’t make a complete economic turnaround, there are ways that a slow-growing or small economy can “punch above its weight,” experts say. The U.K. and Canada, for example, are rather small economies relative to their ability to affect agendas that are of international concern.
“Japan has a special role in trying to push for a reduction in nuclear weapons that is not at all tied to its economy,” says Davis. “At the same time, Japan has been a laggard on the immigration front,” she says, despite it being a “natural fit” for a country with demographic decline.
Despite a long history of inward-looking policies, the Japanese are conscious of the image they portray to the rest of the world. Order and stability are not necessarily traits they hope will be attributed to their long-term success, says Tamaki Tsukada, spokesperson for the Japanese Embassy in the U.S.
“We are a very adaptive society,” he says. “We are always dynamic; Change and improvement are the essence of Japanese culture.”
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Japan’s Stability Is Both Strength and Liability originally appeared on usnews.com
