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Sakikabara:
the centre is moving
from New York to
cyberspace; expect
turbulence |
You have always advocated a Japanese style of capitalism. Have your views been modified as a result of Japan's recent slow growth?
What has happened during the last five to 10 years is a telecommunications and information revolution. I call this new type of capitalism, cybercapitalism. It is driven by new information technology, and is a new sort of capitalism of the late 1990s and 21st century. Obviously Japan has to adapt to that. Sure, Japan should retain what is good about the Japanese model - take, for example, the stability of employment among blue-collar workers. But for those in the information technology sector you need to have more mobility in the labour market. This means that such countries as Japan, France and Germany - which used to have a different kind of capitalism from the Anglo-Saxon variety - are adapting. I have not changed my view that each country has a different style of capitalism, but you obviously have to adapt to change. Nothing is fixed. Times are changing. What has happened in the last five years could be compared to the Industrial Revolution.
