Power to Compete

HIROSHI MIKITANI is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Rakuten, Inc., one of the world’s largest Internet companies. The firm has operations in 28 countries and customers all over the world. RYOICHI MIKITANI was a leading Japanese economist who worked and studied at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Kobe University and made important contributions in his work with the Japan Society for Monetary Economics. Ryoichi was also a prolific and respected author.

• Introduction Japan Again ixChapter 1 The Power to Innovate 1Japan Again 1The Keys to Revitalizing Japan 4Keidanren’s Raison Dêtre 7The Nature of Innovation 11Schumpeter’s Contribution 15Building Infrastructure 19Business Innovation 23Summary 27Chapter 2 The Power to Operate 29Workforce Fluidity 29Privatization 33Lifetime Employment 37Escaping Lifetime Employment 40Immigration Problems 43Why English Needs to Be a Common Language in Japan 45Growing the Population 50Summary 53Chapter 3 The Power in Questioning Abenomics 55History of Abenomics 55Independence in Finance 59The Optimal Inflation Rate 62Halting the Rise of Interest Rates 65What to Do About Our 1-Quadrillion-Yen Debt 67The Pros and Cons of Abenomics 70Summary 75Chapter 4 The Power of the Low-Cost State 77The High Cost of Governance 77How to Reform the High-Cost Structure 83Addressing the Japanese Disease 87The United States and Individualism 92The Impotent Bureaucracy 95Internationalizing the Bureaucracy 99Creating Think Tanks 103Political Appointees 106What It Will Take to Improve the Bureaucracy 109Summary 111Chapter 5 The Power to Succeed Overseas 113The Decline in the Number of Students Studying Abroad 113Escaping from the Galapagos Effect 118The Future of Journalism 121Media in the Internet Era 125The Importance of Liberal Arts 131Ryoichi Mikitani’s Experiences Abroad 134Summary 137Chapter 6 The Power to Educate 139Uniform Japanese Education 139The Education of the Mikitani Family 141What the Education System Needs 146Higher Education 151What People Study in University 154The Founding of Rakuten 157The Evaluation System for Teachers 160The Need for Strategy in the Japanese Education System 162Summary 168Chapter 7 The Power to Build Brand Japan 169Brand Power 169The Demonstration Effect 174Brand Value at the National Level 178Foreign Nationals Working in Japan 183Making Japan Attractive to Foreign Nationals 186Japan and the Trans-Pacific Partnership 189Summary 195Conclusion What is the Power to Compete? 197Japan Uniquely Incorporates and Interprets Cultures 197Competitiveness as a Platform 200The Global Logistics Revolution 202Summary 205Epilogue 207Acknowledgments 211Index 213

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