Hi Ellis,

I can think of plenty, but let's go with a big one: According to the OECD, 2019 GDP per hour worked at current prices and PPPs was as following (in US$):

France 77.4
US 77.0
Germany 74.3
Japan 47.9

Obviously these numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt, what with the PPP voodoo, nobody really knowing for sure how to measure GDP properly, and special effects (e.g., France is high because low-cost and low-productivity workers are effectively frozen out). But still.

These numbers not even take into account the massive misreporting of hours actually worked (allegedly 1,669 hours per year for dependent employment in 2019, compared with 1,786 for the US and within striking range of Spain--really?).

Meanwhile, Taiwan has long surpassed Japan in GDP/capita (PPP, current prices), and Korea is about par (actually higher in 2018 in the OECD stats but slightly lower in 2019). All of these are peaceful with low crime rates, low violence levels, no "immigration reaction," and aging societies. They do better than Japan on debt, but then, pretty much everyone does.

So it seems to me that at least economically, Japan is not delivering. To the extent that structure determines potential performance, should there not be a role for government? And if there is one, would not Abe have been in a prime position to deliver the goods?

All the best,


Michael

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On Sep 3, 2020, at 13:36, SSJ-Forum Moderator

<ssjmod@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp> wrote:

From: Ellis Krauss <eskrauss@gmail.com>

Date: 2020/09/03

Peter:

I think you are being too harsh on Abe. What could he have done

domestically? What were Japan's most serious problems. Crime? No? Violence? No. Immigration reaction? No. An aging society and massive debt? Yes. But he managed to get through the consumption tax increase, if delayed, no mean feat given internal LDP opposition and massive opposition in the public. He also brought back nuclear power (personally I don't like it but...) -- a stopgap to supply energy needs until Japan can diversify more.

It's true that Abe's main achievements were in foreign policy but you

confined this to domestic policy. And perhaps the main domestic achievement was to bring back political stability after 7 years of non-stability.

Comparatively, what other leader of a major industrialized country

even accomplished that much? Johnson? Trump? Don't make me laugh. Macron? Couldn't accomplish his needed reforms and there was instability over them. Maybe Merkle, but her main accomplishments were in foreign policy too and now she's facing a resurgent extremist right.

So what were your expectations?

Best,
Ellis
Ellis Krauss


On Wed, Sep 2, 2020 at 21:45 SSJ-Forum Moderator

<ssjmod@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp> wrote:

From: Peter Cave <Peter.Cave@manchester.ac.uk>
Date: 2020/08/28

Dear Forum members

With PM Abe's announcement that he is stepping down, I would be

interested to know what you consider to be his most consequential actions in domestic policy, excluding the actions to boost inflation and lower the value of the yen. I deliberately limit the question to domestic policy, and I exclude those particular actions, because I suspect that many might agree about their importance.

There are various opinions about Abe, and he raises quite strong

passions. However, given that he has enjoyed perhaps the most commanding parliamentary majority in the democratic world during his record-breaking tenure, my personal impression is that he has done remarkably little with it on the domestic front. I can't help feeling that almost any other leader of a comparable country, in a comparable position, would have done far more. You may agree or disagree about this - I look forward to hearing. But if it is a correct view, the question then arises, why? Various reasons could be imagined. For example, it could be argued that Abe was weaker than he appeared, and so could not do things he really wanted to do, because of divisions within the LDP, and the LDP's need for the alliance with Komeito. It could also be argued that Abe (and the LDP as a whole) is actually relatively content with the state of Japan, and so did not see the need for radical measures (this would not be surprising given that the LDP has been in power for the vast majority of the last 65 years, and thus has played an enormous role in shaping Japan as it is today).

I look forward to hearing the views of Forum members.

Peter

Peter Cave
Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies
SALC, University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3195

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