This Is No Way to Conduct Relations : Effective diplomacy requires statesmanship
Japan has long accused U.S. politicians of Japan-bashing. Now Tokyo seems to be doing its share of America-bashing. A ranking Japanese politician has blamed the U.S.-Japan trade imbalance on what he explicitly and publicly described as lazy and poorly qualified U.S. workers.
To put the trade problem on the shoulders of U.S. workers is ridiculous. It may play well in Japan, where kenbei-- open contempt for America and its people--is coming into vogue among Japanese opinion makers. But irresponsible comments only perpetuate negative stereotypes and misinformation about the United States. Funny, but Japanese auto makers such as Honda and Nissan don’t seem to be complaining about U.S. workers at their plants in Ohio and Tennessee. Neither are other Japanese companies operating in the United States.
Japanese newspapers quoted Yoshio Sakurauchi, 79, Speaker of the House of Representatives, as saying: “American workers don’t work hard enough. They don’t work but demand high pay.” He described the United States in a speech as “Japan’s subcontractor,” saying, “If America doesn’t watch out, it is going to be judged as finished by the world.”
Criticizing President Bush’s recent visit to Tokyo as merely a sales pitch for U.S. cars, Sakurauchi was quoted as saying, “The deterioration in the quality of the U.S. workers is at the heart” of Japan’s $41-billion trade surplus with the United States. An aide of Sakurauchi confirmed the general content of these quotations but denied others attributed to him, such as one that managers in the United States cannot give written orders because 30% of workers are illiterate.
U.S. business does have some problems with illiterate workers; Japanese workers do typically work 4 to 5 hours a day longer than their American counterparts. However, experts note, U.S. productivity remains No. 1 in the world.
Sakurauchi is a seasoned political veteran who should know better. He has been elected 16 times to Parliament and has served in a number of Cabinet posts, including that of foreign affairs minister.
In a telecast Monday, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa seemed to hedge on what many had seen as Japanese promises to buy more U.S. autos and parts. As Miyazawa’s comments strained the situation further, barbs grew sharper in an unhappy America. Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.) compared Japan’s attitudes toward Americans to those that had led to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and he blamed “trade cheating” for “steadily destroying the U.S. industrial base.”
Such rhetoric only exacerbates tense U.S.-Japan relations. Tokyo and Washington need cooler heads--and cooler talk.
