T N Ninan: Japanese voices

WEEKEND RUMINATIONS

Ernest Hemingway famously covered a conference by focusing on the girls who were doing the secretarial and translation work. Not being as daring as he, I prefer to focus on the stray comments that people make""the anecdotes you pick up are frequently more illuminating than the prepared presentations. And so in Tokyo for a day and a bit a few weeks ago, it was interesting to track some new themes.

First, how the Japs see the US: "I grew up in the 1960s, with the dream of going to America, I was even willing to swim (across the Pacific) in order to get there," said the Japanese businessman. "Now, I don't think I want to go there at all." "Me neither," chimed in a second delegate. And a professor who had studied in Michigan said: "After what the US has done in Iraq, and with this finger-printing of visitors, I declined an invitation to a conference." If this is the mood in the country that is America's strongest ally in the region, and people are willing to give voice to it, Washington had better watch out.

Then, the expatriate view of Japan: "Tokyo has become one of the best cities in the world to live in," says the visiting journalist who has done two reporting stints in the city, and written a book. "After real estate prices crashed 90 per cent, housing is more affordable. More people speak English, and there are more shop signs in English. Also, the restaurants are less expensive, and the food is always good. The metro is less crowded after they have added new lines, and the traffic moves faster. There is little crime. Unlike in Europe, the social fabric holds. And unlike the Chinese, everyone is polite, and friendlier than before."

The surveys still rank Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world, though. And there are discordant notes. "Japanese youngsters seem devoid of motivation, they are almost nihilistic," says the guy from a leading international brokerage, surveying the Asian scene. "The brightest people in our firm are now the Indians. The Chinese too are good."

The real surprise comes from Shinzo Abe, chief cabinet secretary and the surprisingly young front-runner for the prime minister's post when Mr Koizumi steps down in September. "We must open up on immigration," he says, "because our society is aging." The exclusionist Japanese wanting gaijin to come to their land, and Japan as the next melting pot of immigrants? Sounds far-fetched, but it turns out that it is a subject of active debate. Indeed, many Japan Air Lines planes now have large lettering, done in the style of informal brushwork on blotting paper in order to signal the break from the usual stiffness: Yakoso Japan! Welcome (to) Japan.

"I'm not surprised," says the visitor about the warmer welcome. "I was standing with Carlos Ghosn (who turned around Nissan), and the Japanese were queuing up to get his autograph, he is a hero here." A Frenchman who led a group of expatriates that bought a sick local bank and turned it around, argues that the markets are now more open, the rules more transparent, more foreign companies operate substantial businesses, and foreigners can buy real estate""even a bank! "Don't forget that 60 out of the 750 sumo wrestlers are now non-Japanese." The foreigners even do better at the game: one-third of the champions are foreigners!

Abe meanwhile talks about the twin national objectives""openness and innovation. Indeed, there is no sign of Japanese inscrutability, as minister after minister talks frankly, even bluntly. The minutes of the weekly meeting of an economic policy council (chaired by the Prime Minister) are released in 72 hours, says one minister.

"Japan is back," the speaker had said at the start of the conference. Indeed it is""now that growth is expected to outdo the eurozone, and the long recession is truly over. The Nikkei has already doubled, real estate prices are climbing again, the fiscal deficit has been reduced, and unemployment is down. But more than Japan being "back", the important message seems to be: Japan has changed.