The Japanese technological challenge to Australia

Abstract

The Japanese economy has experienced a period of unprecented growth since the Second World War; enormous trade surpluses and the strength of the Tokyo Stock Market have propelled Japan center stage financially, yet it is the global ascendency of Japanese technology in key strategic industries that has provided the underpinning for the economic boom. Japanese technology is now all-pervasive, it is setting the agendas for other nations, its modus operandi is being studied by others who would reproduce its characteristics and so capitalise on its successes. However, the Japanese political, legal and business framework is unique; labor relations are characterised by consensus rather than confrontation; robotics is a pivotal technology; R&D and education have pragmatic subtleties often lost to the Western mind; and attempts to emulate the technological culture have been only marginally successful. The Europe of 1992 and the American-Canadian trade block of 1999 can only isolate Australia from its traditional Western orientation and mandate a reassessment of its relationship with East Asia, and particularly with Japan as the dominant economic power. Geographicallty, Australia is part of Asia, and political, economic, and technological integration into the Asian environment is advancing rapidly. The genesis of a response to the Japanese challenge must be inaugurated at the highest level, at the level of Federal government policy, and a National Technology Strategy has already been mooted. This Strategy failed to gain popular support and was shelved; but in the longer term, some form of comprehensive technology policy may become mandatory.