By Dr. Trevor Gardner, ContributorON THIS my second visit to Japan, after a period of more than 25 years, I still wonder today as I did then about the genius of the Japanese people. Coming out of the destruction of World War II they have established for the world an example of what industry, discipline, thrift and common sense can do for any nation. The land of Japan is not endowed with unlimited resources, except in human capital. Yet Japan stands among the most developed nations of the world today.
I propose that Jamaica, with its limited resources, has the capacity to set a course towards the sun and become as efficient and economically viable as Japan. Jamaicans have always taken the United States as a model for economic development. I believe that choice is flawed for several reasons.
First, the United States is today, one of, if not the most blessed nations with developed natural resources. Very few countries can lay claim to having as much natural resources as the United States.
Our best knowledge would lead us to conclude that even if other nations can claim to have as much, or more natural resources, these countries are certainly not as developed and none is on the horizon to compete in the development of natural resources in the near future. So, based on this one significant factor in nation building, natural resources, Jamaica is unwise to use the United States as a model. There is a better model.
Second, the United States is not a very efficient nation in the use of land space and materials, but because of their natural resources, this weakness is easily not seen. Americans waste more in disposable food than any other nation in the world. They waste more in fuel consumption than in other nations.
They dispose of materials and equipment faster than any other group of people. In spite of this, they remain ahead of the competition because of the first factor, developed natural resources.
THE JAPANESE MODEL
The Japanese provides a model for efficiency as exemplified in building construction, manufacturing industry, and similar ingenious examples in the field of information technology.
Third, the United States does not have as disciplined a work force as Japan. A review of the lost time from job-related absences would reveal that the United States workers have one of the highest, if not the highest absentee record in the world. Certainly on my last review, a couple of years ago, the loss to industry in the US manufacturing plants was significantly higher than Japan.
The culture of the Japanese people reveals a more monolithic philosophy towards work, nation and family values. Customs are more predictable and have a longer life span than most US popular customs. Jamaicans would do well to adapt more closely to the philosophical guide with which Japanese culture is lived that we would the American culture. The melting pot theory for which the Americans seek is already a reality in Jamaica.
Finally, while Americans are a people who save, they do not do as well as the Japanese. That is one reason for the progress the yen has made against the dollar. In 1974, when I made my first visit, the yen was valued at approximately 360 for one US dollar.
Today, the yen is about 120 for one US dollar. In 28 years, the Japanese currency has increased in value by approximately 66 per cent and continues to make big gains against the US dollar. I propose that the Japanese ingenuity is more replicable in Jamaica than the US model. There are three factors that the Japanese borrowed from the Americans in the process of setting up their own models.
1. They adopted American pragmatism or they were always a pragmatic people. Their history seems to support the latter.
2. They adopted and surpassed American marketing genius.
3. They embraced and practised American generosity.
The Japanese translated these three practices into the ethos and thought of the Japanese people and then buttressed them with their own creativity, national pride and adventurism. These factors, I believe, formed the launching pad for the economic development and political influence of Japan today.
'COPY CATS'
In the 1960s and early 70s, many reputable US journals branded the Japanese 'copy cats'. But in the 1950s, Gunning saw a greater sense of adventurism in these people than he saw in his own country. So, he took to them the same information the US had refused, another way to look at the building of automobiles. The 'team concept' from the manufacturing floor to the executive branch was born in the land of the rising sun. This approach revolutionised the Japanese automobile industry and for a period crippled the US auto industry. Eventually, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors had to copy the Japanese success in order to rebuild their industry.
The Japanese imported to build products for exportation. Jamaican bauxite is one such product that travels to Asia as raw material and returned to the west as product. Very soon, the copy cat label was history and the Japanese were setting the pace in many industries. The most notable is the information technology business.
Jamaica has the human resources. The nation has a sense of tradition and adventurism. We are a creative people. So, what do we lack? We need a systematic education system that brings the evident human resources in
harmony with our adventurism and creativity towards serious economic ends. We must add to that education curriculum a sense of industry seasoned with a culture of discipline, thrift, and common sense.
A 30-YEAR PLAN
Serious government plans must see bipartisan support for a Generation Plan, a 30-year plan. It should take about two years of full-time effort to establish a written curriculum geared towards the aforementioned characteristics.
It would take another two years to integrate this into the tertiary teacher education curriculum and reform the content for teacher training. In five years, one political term, the reformation would be in full bloom and we could begin to sense the difference in the destiny of our people.
We would have borrowed less from the international lending agencies, but would have advanced more economically, socially and politically.
This proposal is the moral equivalent of war on old practices, sensibilities and loyalties, a new way of looking at the world. The Japanese model is more relevant to the Jamaican contextual existence by any measure of the imagination.
When this trip is undertaken, I will have a better sense of whether the nation of Japan has stayed the course and to what extent they have modernised without being Americanised. That is precisely Jamaica's cultural, economic, social and spiritual challenge today. Jamaicans must modernise without trying to be something they can never be, and need not be an American. The Japanese model is the way.
Dr. Trevor Gardner is vice-president, Academic Administration at Northern Caribbean University (NCU).
