Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:54:18.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global Competition and Technology Standards: Japan's Quest for Techno-Regionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Hidetaka Yoshimatsu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines Japan's evolving commitments to technology development and technology diffusion in Asia. It explores Japan's technology strategies in three areas—Internet protocol, open source software, and horology—focusing on the importance of technology standards. The development and diffusion of technology standards has become one of the core elements in establishing industrial competitiveness. The importance of technology standards encouraged the Japanese government and firms to pursue a regional policy to develop and diffuse new technological ideas and standards in Asia. Japan's commitments were accepted by its neighbors because they could obtain various benefits from collaboration with Japan, such as technological exchanges, technology transfer, and financial aid.

Keywords

JapanAsiatechnology policyInternet protocolopen source softwarehorology
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , December 2007 , pp. 439 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

This study is supported by research funds from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. I would like to thank Stephan Haggard and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.Google Scholar

1. Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, Article 2.4.Google Scholar

2. Vickery, Graham, “Global Industries and National Policies,” OECD Observer, no. 179 (December 1992–January 1993): 11.Google Scholar

3. Archibugi, Daniele and Michie, Jonathan, “Technological Globalisation and National Systems of Innovation: An Introduction.” In Archibugi, Daniele and Michie, Jonathan, eds., Technology, Globalisation and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

4. Katz, Michael L. and Shapiro, Carl, “Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility,” American Economic Review 75, No. 3 (1985): 424–440.Google Scholar

5. Shapiro, Carl and Varian, Hal R., Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Information Economy (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999), p. 231.Google Scholar

6. A famous example is the Beta-VHS struggle in standards for video-cassette recorders. Although the Beta format was technologically superior to VHS technology, JVC, the main VHS producer, could win in the battle against Sony, the major Beta producer, primarily because of the effective formation of the VHS “family”; see Noble, Gregory W., Collective Action in East Asia: How Ruling Parties Shape Industrial Policy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), pp. 95–100.Google Scholar

7. Samuels, Richard J., “Rich Nation, Strong Army”: National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994).Google Scholar

8. Corning, Gregory P., Japan and the Politics of Techno-Globalism (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004).Google Scholar

9. Anchordoguy, Marie, “Japan at a Technological Crossroads: Does Change Support Convergence Theory?” Journal of Japanese Studies 23, No. 2 (1997): 363–397; Whittaker, D. H., “Crisis and Innovation in Japan: A New Future Through Technoentrepreneurship?” In Keller, William W. and Samuels, Richard J., eds., Crisis and Innovation in Asian Technology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Hall, Derek, “Japanese Spirit, Western Economics: The Continuing Salience of Economic Nationalism in Japan.” In Helleiner, Eric and Pickel, Andreas, eds., Economic Nationalism in a Globalizing World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005).Google Scholar

10. Kimura, Fukunari, “Kokusai boeki riron no aratana choryu to higashi ajia” [New trends in international trade theory and East Asia], Kaihatsu Kinyu Kenkyushoho 14 (January 2003): 106–116.Google Scholar

11. Webber, Douglas, “Two Funerals and a Wedding? The Ups and Downs of Regionalism in East Asia and Asia-Pacific After the Asian Crisis,” Pacific Review 14, No. 3 (2001): 339–372; Hatch, Walter, “Regionalizing the State: Japanese Administrative and Financial Guidance for Asia,” Social Science Japan Journal 5, no. 2 (2002): 179–197; Yoshimatsu, Hidetaka, “Japanese Policy in the Asian Economic Crises and the Developmental State Concept,” Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 8, no. 1 (2003): 102–125.Google Scholar

12. For the activities of the council, see its homepage at www.v6pc.jp/en/index.phtml.Google Scholar

13. Nikon Keizai Shimbun, May 2, 2003.Google Scholar

14. Japan's e-Japan strategy began with the enactment of the Basic Law on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society (IT Basic Law) in November 2000. The IT Strategic Headquarters, which was set up in accordance with the law, formulated the e-Japan strategy in January 2001. The strategy aimed at “making Japan the world's most advanced IT nation within five years.” To achieve this goal, the e-Japan strategy prescribed four priority policy areas: the creation of the world's most advanced environment for the Internet, the facilitation of e-commerce, the realization of e-government, and the development of high-quality human resources. The government continuously reviewed and revised the e-Japan strategy, formulating the e-Japan 2002 program in June 2002 and the e-Japan strategy II in July 2003. Furthermore, in order to materialize the strategy, the government formulated the e-Japan Priority Policy Program in March 2001, in June 2002, in August 2003, and in June 2004.Google Scholar

15. In the e-Japan Priority Policy Program 2002, issued in June 2002, the IT Strategic Headquarters showed a prospect that the ABP should be formulated within 2002 as one of concrete measures toward the realization of an internationally balanced IT society in Asia. Afterwards, MIC prepared for the formulation of the ABP. In July 2002, MIC organized the Study Group for the Asia Broadband Program. The purpose of this group was to deliberate on the specific substance and goals of the program. The group published a final report in December 2002 after holding six meetings. Importantly, four specialists and business representatives from China, South Korea, and Singapore became members of the study group. They explained conditions of the IT market and policy in their countries as well as their views on the broadband policy.Google Scholar

16. Other goals were to ensure broadband access for all people in Asia: construct international broadband networks with sufficient bandwidths to directly link Asian countries, prepare environments for secure and easy use of ICT in Asia, digitize and archive major Asian cultural assets, develop machine-translation technologies between major Asian languages, and increase the number of ICT engineers and researchers in Asia.Google Scholar

17. The homepage of the Asia Broadband Program is www.asia-bb.net.Google Scholar

18. “Collaboration with Asian Economies, Financial Assistance,” Asia Broadband Program, available at www.dosite.jp/asia-bb/en/index.html.Google Scholar

19. “Practical IPv6 Application Test Program,” Asia Broadband Program, available at www.dosite.jp/asia-bb/en/2004/index.html.Google Scholar

20. MPHPT Communications News 12, No. 22 (February 4, 2002): 1–2, available at www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/Releases/NewsLetter/Vol12/Voll2_22/22net.pdf.Google Scholar

21. These seven areas were 3G and next-generation mobile communications, next-generation Internet (IPv6), digital broadcasting, network and information security, open source software, telecom service policy, and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.Google Scholar

22. This project was implemented by the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan (CIAJ) and China Education and Research Network (CERNET), headquartered at Tsinghua University. The project included R&D on networks, applications technology, and technology standards.Google Scholar

23. Lu, Ricky, “China Starts Full-Scale Implementation of IPv6,” IPv6style, May 26, 2003, available at www.ipv6style.jp/en/special/20030526/index.shtml.Google Scholar

24. In December 2003, the Chinese government formally launched the China Next Generation Internet (CNGI) project. The project aimed to construct a backbone IPv6 network linking China's major cities by collaborating with six Chinese telecom operators and research institutes, such as China Netcom, China Unicom, and the China Education and Research Network.Google Scholar

25. Nikkei Electronics Asia, January 22, 2003.Google Scholar

26. For the activities of the CELF, see its homepage at www.celinuxforum.org.Google Scholar

27. METI, “Kihon senryaku hokokusho: e-Life inishiatebu” [Report on basic strategy: e-Life initiative], April 2003, p. 22, available at www.meti.go.jp/kohosys/press/0003917/0/030411e-life.pdf.Google Scholar

28. Noronha, Frederick, “Liberalisation Technology for the Lands of Diversity?” In Rajani, Niranjan, ed., Free as in Education: Significance of the Free/Libre and Open Source Software for Developing Countries, available at http://global.finland.fi/english/publications/pdf/free_as_in_education.pdf.Google Scholar

29. The second symposium was held in Singapore in November 2003, the third in Hanoi in March 2004, the fourth in Taipei in September 2004, the fifth in Beijing in March 2005, the sixth in Sri Lanka in September 2005, and the seventh in Kuala Lumpur in March 2006. For the development of the Asia OSS Symposium, see its homepage at www.asia-oss.org.Google Scholar

30. The CICC was established in June 1983 to cooperate with and assist developing countries in the introduction of computers and information technology and thereby to promote computerization for their economic and social development. The homepage of the CICC is at www.cicc.or.jp/japanese/index.html.Google Scholar

31. The ASOCIO was established in 1984 in Tokyo with an eye to promoting close collaboration among the industrial associations in the computing industry in the Asian and Oceanian region.Google Scholar

32. Nikkei Computer, January 27, 2003, pp. 20–21.Google Scholar

33. The first was to take the lead in establishing an OSS promotion body in each country and to create the China-Japan-Korea OSS Promoting Partnership, where the activities of the three bodies would be united and coordinated. Other agenda items were that the promotion bodies would make concrete action plans, and that the three industries would encourage the governments to procure OSS in order to guarantee and improve the quality of OSS.Google Scholar

34. The Japan OSS Promotion Forum was established in February 2004, and the Information Technology Promotion Agency, an MITI-affiliated organization, assumed the secretariat of the forum. Six working groups were set up under the forum: desktop, development infrastructure, support infrastructure, business promotion, human research development, and standardization and certification.Google Scholar

35. The three governments signed the memorandum of understanding concerning ten areas for joint OSS promotion. The agreement aimed to promote joint research for user identification systems and to support the development of the Northeast Asian OSS Promotion Forum by the private sector.Google Scholar

36. Nikkei Weekly, August 29, 2005. In April 2006, the three companies established Asianux Corporation, a new joint venture created to become the main distributor of the common framework operating system in Asia, to strengthen linkages with global vendors, and to promote OSS in Asia.Google Scholar

37. Feigenbaum, Evan A., China's Techno-Warriors: National Security and Strategic Competition from the Nuclear to the Information Age (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003).Google Scholar

38. Dai, Xiudian, “ICTs in China's Development Strategy.” In Hughes, Christopher R. and Wacker, Gudrun, eds., China and the Internet: Politics of the Digital Leap Forward (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), pp. 17–20.Google Scholar

39. Endo, Koichi, “Nicchukan haiteku ‘sangoku domei’ no genso” [The fancy of the trilateral high-tech alliance between Japan, China, and South Korea], Shokun, December 2004, p. 209.Google Scholar

40. “Japan, S. Korea to Continue Exchanging Views on Telecom Technologies,” Japan Economic Newswire, January 16, 2006.Google Scholar

41. Korea Times, April 1, 2004.Google Scholar

42. BPnet, Nikkei, “China Proposed the Joint Development of Asian Linux and Japan Calmed It Down,” July 29, 2004, available at http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/free/NC/NEWS/20040729/147927 (accessed November 2, 2005).Google Scholar

43. The Japan Watch and Clock Industry Association, “The Japanese Watch and Clock Industry in 2005: An Outlook on Its Global Operation,” available at www.jcwa.or.jp/eng/statistics/industry_05.html. There are no official data on world watch production.Google Scholar

44. ISO/TC114 Horology, “ISO/TCI 14 Business Plan: Executive Summary,” May 9, 2005, p. 4, available at http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2122/687806/ISO_TC_114_Horology_.pdf?nodeid=1162373&vernum=0.Google Scholar

45. The nine P members are Switzerland, Japan, France, Germany, UK, China, India, South Korea, and Russia.Google Scholar

46. ISO/TCI 14 Horology, “ISO/TCI 14 Business Plan: Executive Summary,” p. 11.Google Scholar

47. Asano, Shiro, “Tokei sangyo ni okeru hyojunka senryaku” [The standardization strategy in the horological industry]. In Fukutaro, Watanabe and Toru, Nakakita, eds., Sekai hyojun no keisei to senryaku [The formation and strategy of international standards] (Tokyo: Kokusai Mondai Kenkyujo, 2001), p. 52.Google Scholar

48. Interview, Japan Watch and Clock Association, Tokyo, February 2006.Google Scholar

49. Asano, , “Tokei sangyo ni okeru hyojunka senryaku,” pp. 49, 55.Google Scholar

50. The ISO/TCI 14 plenary meeting has been held biennally.Google Scholar

51. Fujita, Masahiro and Kawahara, Yozo, Kokusai hyojun ga nihon wo hoisuru [International standards roll up Japan] (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbumsha, 1998), pp. 196–197.Google Scholar

52. Japan Watch and Clock Association, ISO/TC114 tokei kogyo hyojinka kokusai kaigi hokokusho [The report on the ISO/TC114 horology meetings] (Tokyo: Japan Watch and Clock Association, 1997), pp. 26–28.Google Scholar

53. Asano, , “Tokei sangyo ni okeru hyojunka senryaku,” p. 57.Google Scholar

54. Ibid., pp. 50, 58.Google Scholar

55. Japan Watch and Clock Association, ISO/TCI 14 tokei kogyo hyojinka kokusai kaigi hokokusho, p. 31.Google Scholar

56. Interview, Japan Watch and Clock Association, Tokyo, February 2006. South Korea became a P member in 2003 and hosted a plenary meeting in 2005.Google Scholar

57. Japan Watch and Clock Association, ISO/TC114 tokei kogyo hyojinka kokusai kaigi hokokusho, p. 3.Google Scholar

58. At the annual Interchange meeting, executives of both countries exchanged information and opinions about various issues concerning technology standards, intellectual property rights, statistics, and commercial relations.Google Scholar

59. At the meeting, the Japanese industry explained its proposals for the ISO/TC114 meetings and gained understanding and support for them.Google Scholar

60. The 1999 plenary meeting was held at Bangalore in India with participants from six countries (India, Japan, Switzerland, France, China, and the UK).Google Scholar

61. Interview, Japan Watch and Clock Association, Tokyo February 2006.Google Scholar