Link: Hatoyama dons tech salesman hat | The Japan Times Online
Friday, March 12, 2010
Hatoyama dons tech salesman hat
Recall woes, loss of overseas contracts prompt calls for public-private cooperation
By SACHIKO SAKAMAKI and TAKASHI HIROKAWA
The late French President Charles de Gaulle once labeled a Japanese prime minister a "transistor salesman." Now Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is hawking bullet trains and nuclear plants after Toyota Motor Corp.'s recalls hurt the country's image as a top manufacturer.
Hatoyama is promoting Japan's expertise in nuclear power and high-speed railways overseas. He has some work to do: A group including Hitachi Ltd. in December lost a $20 billion bid to build nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates to South Korea, after its president helped clinch the deal.
The Hatoyama government is struggling to sustain an economic recovery hampered by a rising currency and falling prices, and has come under criticism from the corporate community for pushing labor-friendly policies. Toyota's global recall topping 8 million vehicles over unintended acceleration threatens to curb exports.
"It's about time," said Kazutaka Kirishima, an economics professor at Josai University near Tokyo. "Toyota's problem made the government realize they must cooperate with the business sector, which considers Asia and other rising countries as the engines for growth more than domestic demand."
Increased exports, which account for about 14 percent of the economy, helped boost gross domestic product to an annualized 4.6 percent pace in the last quarter of 2009. Consumer prices fell for an 11th month in January, and wages rose 0.1 percent for the first time in 20 months. The yen is up almost 10 percent against the dollar in the past year.
Hatoyama wrote a letter last week to Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Tan Dung to solicit an $11 billion nuclear plant project and is supporting a Japanese group bidding to build an $18 billion high-speed rail line in Brazil.
Tokyo-based Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and Toshiba Corp., which mounted a joint bid for the project, reportedly lost the Vietnam order to Russia's state-run OAO Rosatom in Moscow. Spokesmen from the companies declined comment.
Hatoyama told the Diet he would strive to work harder in promoting Japan, the world's third-biggest nuclear power generator, and said the Vietnamese bid wasn't lost.
"I think there's still a good chance with the second phase" of the project, Hatoyama said in the Diet on March 3. "I regret the government's sales efforts haven't been good enough compared with other countries. I'll work hard to be a top seller from now on."
Seoul-based Korea Electric Power Corp. won the $20 billion U.A.E. contract a day after President Lee Myung Bak visited the Middle Eastern country. While Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano last week denied Hatoyama's decision to write an appeal to Vietnam was an effort to duplicate Lee's personal touch, administration officials emphasized the need to step up their efforts.
"There are several things we regret about the U.A.E. nuclear bid," trade minister Masayuki Naoshima said March 3. "Japan is good at exporting plants, but in addition to facilities clients also want knowhow on safety management and staff supply."
Hatoyama, 63, came into office pledging to raise the minimum wage and has proposed new restrictions on the hiring of temporary workers by manufacturers. The limits are opposed by the Tokyo-based Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), the country's biggest business lobby. Polls show his administration is weighed down by scandals involving him and the party's No. 2 official, Ichiro Ozawa.
Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for flaws linked to unintended acceleration and brake woes. Hatoyama on Monday met with Toyota President Akio Toyoda, 53, saying afterward that he had told Toyoda "I hope you make every effort to regain the trust of your customers."
Hatoyama is also putting his weight behind a group seeking to win a ¥1.7 trillion rapid train project in Brazil, competing against French, Chinese and South Korean companies.
The government is reportedly considering providing financial assistance to the group, which may include Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Heavy, and Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co. Ltd.
East Japan Railway Co., the nation's largest railway, may join in the bid, JR East President Satoshi Seino said earlier this month. Tokyo-based JR East's bullet trains can run at 300 kph.
Vietnam may choose a group of Sumitomo Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy, or Itochu Corp. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. for a $56 billion project to build Southeast Asia's first bullet train, Nguyen Huu Bang, chairman and chief executive officer of Vietnam Railways Corp., said in February.
The prime minister also offered to assist Kenya's nuclear power development in a meeting with Prime Minister Raila Odinga last month.
"Japan has the world's top nuclear power technology, and the world's best bullet train," said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., which oversees about $65 billion.
"The government is doing what it should for Japan's national interest."
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