Just a quick note here as Ireland and its economy is the subject of live-blogging tonight, due to the worries about financial meltdown and what that could mean for the entire EU block of some 27 countries.
The Guardian does stellar stuff if you like to know about Ireland's debt crisis.
Of course, we all know that economic growth cannot go on, on a finite planet. Japan may be in a better position to get people back to farming, should the economy really go south.
But, it seems the best of the best have not yet gotten that message:
It's George Osborne, during his early stint as shadow chancellor. He wrote a fascinating piece for The Times, headlined "Look and learn from across the Irish Sea", which stated that a good education system, strong focus on R&D and a lower corporation tax was the secret of Ireland's "dynamic economy".
Luckily, the whole article isn't trapped behind The Times's paywall, so you can read it here.
Hat-tip to Gaby Hinsliff (former Observer political editor) for spotting this piece and sparking a lively debate over on Twitter this morning. As she pointed out, it shows just how tricky it can be to tell when an economy is starting to get out of control.
Made me think about the number of articles in said Guardian, but also Wall Street Journal, where some pundits wish Japan was more like Korea. Or, hrm, more like anyone else.
WSJ.com Korea
WSJ.com Japan
WSJ.com China
WSJ.com India
Go figure. Blogger Robert Koehler of The Marmot's Hole says/quotes:
This time from French intellectual (and Lee Myung-bak advisor) Guy Sorman in the Guardian. Sorman’s op-ed is a tad more frightening, though:
The Japanese knew how to co-ordinate state and private-sector goals in the 1970s, but then lost their way. “We should now emulate the South Koreans,” says Eisuke Sakakibara, a leading Japanese economist, who was one of the architects of the Japanese “miracle” of the 1980s. Japanese in search of a miracle now travel to Seoul.
[...]
This second Edo era may sound like a poetic utopia, but it has some influence: Sakakibara observes that Japanese students do not study abroad anymore and that “nobody learns English”. At a time when South Koreans are becoming more globalised, learning English, and welcoming a growing number of immigrants, Japan is entering a “deglobalisation process”.
That is a worrying trend, and not only for Japan: South Korea can hardly stand alone as the lone Asian democracy. If the Japanese do not wake up from their Edo dream, Asia might very well become a Chinese empire.
Not sure exactly what Sorman is trying to say here — I don’t see how looking inward is incompatible with democracy. Some might argue, in fact, that democracies would be far better off minding their own business. I gotta say, too, that concentrating the nation’s energies on social harmony and refining the culture sounds rather nice.
Nobody learns English in Japan? Bollocks.
Other right-wing American, Korea-based bloggers think the region is more or less a mess: China the Predator
To counter that, I would say, Japan-South Korean relations are actually better than ever, thanks in no small part to the pledge from Tokyo to return a major set of documents that were brought here/stolen from Korea during the colonial era (depending on your point of view). No matter, the documents appear to be in mint conditions, having been carefully stored here (rather than burned and lost during the Korean War).
Good to see the current Japanese government go through with a deal that the LDP never cared much about.
Arirang: Korea & Japan Sign Accord on Transfer of Korea's Royal Documents
Yomiuri: Japan, ROK to agree over Korean archives
The Uigwe books were first kept at the Government-General of Chosen (Korea) in Seoul and were brought in 1922 to the predecessor of the Imperial Household Agency.
In a statement on Aug. 10, ahead of the Aug. 28 centenary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula, Kan pledged to transfer the Uigwe and other cultural items that came from the peninsula.
The agreement on the Korean archives is to be finalized in a meeting between Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit starting Saturday in Yokohama, the government sources said.
South Korea has asked Japan to complete the transfer of the cultural assets by the end of the year, they said.
For more good news from Japan, do stay tuned.
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