Report of the Prime Minister's Commission on Japan's Goals in the 21st Century

Summary of Overview

The Frontier Within:
Individual Empowerment and Better Governance in the New Millennium

January 2000

I. Realizing Japan's Potential

• The vested interests and social conventions that have grown up during the course of Japan's development since the Meiji era (1868-1912) in accordance with the "catch up and overtake" model have ossified society and the economy and leached Japan's vitality. The world no longer offers ready-made models. Japan's own latent strengths, talent, and potential are the key to Japan's future. In this sense, Japan's frontier lies within Japan.

• Two core changes are needed: changing the methods and systems whereby citizens interact with the state and redefining and rebuilding the relationship between the individual and the public domain. This calls for fostering the spirit of self-reliance and the spirit of tolerance, neither of which has been given sufficient latitude so far.

II. Global Trends and Their Implications

Globalization

• Systems and rules in society must be made explicit and internationally acceptable. Japan must create a society in which the wisdom and ideas of individuals are valued, where people's vitality is not inhibited by precedents, regulations, and established interests, and where those who fail have chances to try again. Japan should participate actively in the formation of global systems, standards, and rules.

Global literacy

• The Japanese must strive to increase their "global literacy," meaning that they can freely and immediately obtain information from the rest of the world, understand it, and express their own ideas clearly. The basic elements of this new literacy are the mastery of information-technology tools, such as computers and the Internet, and the mastery of English as the international lingua franca.

The information-technology revolution

• To cope with the revolution in information technology (IT) and particularly the rapid development of the Internet, Japan must upgrade its infrastructure and strengthen its IT training. We need new rules to strike the proper balance between the protection of information on the one hand and disclosure and freedom of expression on the other; we also need to get neutral, fair actors to take part in the formulation and maintenance of such rules.

Advances in science

• Rapid advances in science and technology are enriching our lives, but they also require us to reconsider the fundamental issue of the purposes of scientific and technological development. Human existence and dignity are being put to the test. Science and technology should serve not to conquer nature but to support lives that are spiritually as well as materially affluent.

Falling birthrates and aging populations

• The decline in the number of children being born and the rise in the proportion of elderly in the total population are global issues. And aging is progressing faster in Japan than anywhere else. This trend raises such fundamental issues as how to give younger people a proper say in society, how to reconcile intergenerational differences, and how to maintain social vitality. We should avoid pessimism and look for ways to draw out the latent strengths of all.

III. Central Elements of Reforms

1. From governing to governance

• In Japan, which has given priority to the state, the bureaucracy, and organizations, governance is widely seen as a top-down, or public-sector to private-sector, process. There is little sense of governance as requiring creative tension between those who entrust authority and those entrusted with authority, as signifying the joint creation of a new public domain by individuals acting responsibly in cooperation with various actors.

• Building a new form of governance and enabling it to mature requires new rules and relationships between individuals and organizations. Articulation of rules, disclosure and sharing of information, presentation of options, transparent and rational decision making, steady implementation of policy decisions, and ex post facto policy assessment and review are necessary. This means establishing governance built up through joint endeavors, governance based on rules and the principle of responsibility and grounded in two-way consensus formation, rather than governance premised on one-way rule.

• While we do not repudiate everything about the old style of governance, the Japanese word traditionally used for governance, tochi, cannot adequately convey the new governance, which we have decided to call kyochi in the Japanese version of this report because it emphasizes cooperation rather than governing, rule, or control.

2. Empowerment of the individual and creation of a new public space

• In the twenty-first century, whose salient feature will be diversity, tough yet flexible individuals who take risks on their own responsibility and tackle challenges with a pioneer spirit are needed. Engaging in free and spontaneous activities and participating in society, such individuals will create a new public space based on individuals rather than the traditional top-down public sphere, a public space that permits and supports diverse "others" and that honors consensus.
• Empowerment of the individual will catalyze the creation of a new public space, and the creation of a new public space will present the individual with greater choices and opportunities. This interaction will generate a new form of governance (kyochi).

IV. Japan's Twenty-first-century Frontier

1. Promoting the pioneering spirit

• In the twenty-first century a social ethos and systems welcoming individual excellence underpinned by a pioneer spirit are necessary. We need to introduce a new kind of fairness that justly assesses and adequately compensates people who display excellence and have creative ideas and "fair disparity" through assessment of performance and growth potential. Equal opportunity not equal result must be guaranteed and systems allowing people to start over devised.

(1) Transforming education

• It is necessary to overturn the excessive degree of homogeneity and uniformity in education. We must distinguish clearly between compulsory education, which requires citizens to acquire necessary knowledge and skills, and education as a service, which helps free individuals acquire means for self-realization. The former must be rigorously and vigorously implemented as the minimum required of citizens, while the latter should be left to the market mechanism, with the state offering only indirect support.

• In regard to primary and secondary education, one proposal is to compress a carefully selected compulsory-education curriculum into three days a week, with the other two days given over to review or, for children who are achieving well, scholarship, arts, sports, and other forms of personal cultivation, specialized vocational education, and so on. Using state-issued vouchers, these children can also study at privately run institutions outside the official school system.

• Education is a joint endeavor of home, community, and school. Discipline and training in the home are important. It should be made clear that the primary responsibility for children's education and behavior rests with guardians.

• In regard to higher education, educational institutions themselves must improve their international competitiveness. Excessive regulation of the establishment of universities and other institutions of higher education must be abolished, educational and research performance assessed, English used as a language of teaching and research, and foreign faculty dramatically increased.

• Medical schools, law schools, and other means of improving educational functions in order to hone specialized skills are also essential.

(2) Enhancing global literacy

• It is necessary to set the concrete objective of all citizens acquiring a working knowledge of English by the time they take their place in society as adults, organize English classes according to level of achievement, improve training and objective assessment of English teachers, expand the number of foreign teachers of English, contract language schools to handle English classes, and other general materials. In addition, the central government, local governments, and other public institutions must be required to produce their publications, home pages, and so on in both Japanese and English.

• In the long term, national debate on whether to make English an official second language will be needed.

2. Making a strength of diversity

• In an age of diversification, mutual recognition of differences and systems actively encouraging of diversity are essential. Valuing diversity means valuing freedom. The balance between freedom and responsibility is important.

(1) Putting individuals in control of their lives

• To achieve self-realization, life should be a single continuum, regardless of gender or age. Integrated policies that address education, employment, child care, social security, economic revitalization measures, and so on as a whole are needed. Policy options and the relationship between benefits and burdens should be articulated so that people can plan their lives.

• The minimum necessary social security must be guaranteed by the state and public institutions, but over and above that individuals should be enabled to choose from among diverse options. The idea of paying into pension funds for a certain period in order to receive benefits later in life is important. It is also necessary to increase options for elderly care services, preventive medicine, and public health services. In regard to employment, fair assessment of skills, the choice of diverse employment formats, and the provision of opportunities to develop skills and start over are needed throughout life.

(2) Regional self-reliance

• What is required is not just a decentralization through the devolution of powers from national to local authorities, but also the building of a system under which local residents can themselves decide on the shape of their own regional government.

• The first requirement is to level the relationship between the center and the regions. We need to achieve local autonomy in the proper sense of the term, meaning that local residents can themselves decide what sorts of services they desire and how much of a burden they will bear in connection with their region's own issues. Regional governments should be set up on a scale that allows them to exercise self-responsibility and self-reliance, and the regions should be free to decide on their own taxes and local bond issues. Rules will also be needed for the rehabilitation and possible merger of regional governments in financial trouble. The setup should secure the maximum possible degree of citizen participation, limit the scope of administrative discretion, and allow prompt implementation of policies.

• The role of the national government should be limited to areas where action needs to be carried out from a truly national perspective, and systems should be established that will allow it to implement these policies on its own so that the implementation process will not be affected by the conditions of particular regional governments.

(3) Vitalizing the nonprofit sector

• We should shift to a system under which the realization of the public interest will reflect the will of the people involved, and the nonprofit private sector can grow through its own efforts. To achieve this, first of all it is essential to unify the system for establishment of incorporated nonprofit organizations, with registration being sufficient, and to establish a transparent system whereby eligibility for tax deductibility of donations is judged on a uniform basis by a neutral and fair third-party institution. In addition, it will be necessary to greatly expand the scope of tax deductibility for donations and allow both individuals and businesses the option of using a portion of their income either to pay taxes or to make donations.

(4) Taking new steps for an immigration policy

• Japan should move to implement an immigration policy, on a gradual basis, that will encourage foreigners to want to live and work in this country. To start with, we should set up an explicit immigration and permanent-residence system to encourage foreigners who can be expected to contribute to the development of Japanese society to move in and possibly take up permanent residence here. We should also consider preferential treatment for foreign students, allowing them automatically to acquire permanent residence status when they complete their academic work at a Japanese high school, university, or graduate school.

3. Strengthening underpinnings of governance

• It is essential to have a new system of governance to match the needs of an age of increasing diversification and complexity. The executive, legislative, and judicial functions must all be reviewed.

• Politicians will require intellectual skills of policy development and policy debate, and also the ability to engage in international dialogue. Naturally, they must also display the spirit and ethics befitting those involved in the conduct of public affairs, along with a sense of responsibility.

• In the private sector, physicians, attorneys, asset managers, and others providing specialized information and services affecting individuals' lives and property should be subjected to stronger requirements of accountability and third-party review.

• Journalism also has an important role to play and responsibility to fulfill in areas like sifting information, protecting human rights, proposing policies, expanding international networks, and transmitting information from Japan. The world of journalism should abandon closed arrangements like the exclusive press clubs set up to cover particular government departments, and it should establish its own systems of independent review and mutual criticism.

(1) Diversity and transparency in policy choices

• It is essential to strengthen the policy staff working for legislators, enlarge the research organs attached to the National Diet, enhance the "think tank" functions of political parties, and strengthen the policy-proposing and policy-research functions of universities, private-sector think tanks, nonprofit organizations, and other bodies. People from such outside institutions should actively be brought into government service, and bold exchanges of personnel should be conducted between the public and private sectors.

• As elected politicians increasingly take the initiative in the processes of forming and deciding on policies, they must also accept accountability. It will also be necessary to establish systems to prevent politicians from serving special interests and to ensure information disclosure by and systematic oversight of political parties.

• With respect to issues that involve the shifting of burdens to future generations, such as the management of government debt, it will be necessary to establish a system that will provide for specialized, neutral planning and policy drafting through a transparent process based on a medium- to long-term perspective.

(2) Lowering the voting age to 18

• It is necessary to find ways to ensure that the people's policy choices are reflected in election results and to halt the trend toward political apathy. An automatic system of regular periodic reapportionment should be instituted to correct imbalances in legislative representation, and a debate should be started about the merits of shifting to direct election of the prime minister.

• We propose that the voting age be lowered from the present 20 to 18. Adding 3.5 million new young voters to the rolls will not only get these younger people involved but will also raise the general level of people's sense of involvement in politics.

• Lowering of the voting age will have to be accompanied by consideration of lowering of the minimum age of eligibility for election, along with the need for consistency between the new voting age and the provisions of relevant legislation, such as the Civil Code and the Juvenile Law.

(3) Strictly limiting the government's role

• The role of the government should be strictly limited to those areas that the private sector is incapable of handling. This is more than a matter of streamlining. Rather, the aim should be reform that will raise the level of services provided to the public.

• A fundamental overhaul of the management of public administration is essential. The main priority should be examining the extent to which public administration has made efficient use of the budget and other administrative resources to achieve policy objectives; for this purpose a public accounting system should be established, along with a system that will allow the apportionment of the budget by policy objectives and the results of policy review to be reflected in expenditures.

• In addition to establishing the appropriate legislation and other measures for crisis management, it is necessary to achieve adequate disclosure of information and to create a setup under which the national government, local governments, businesses, local communities, nonprofit organizations, and others can work together to manage crisis situations.

(4) Promoting rule-based governance

• The international competitiveness of Japan's legal services will have a major impact on the country's vitality. We should dramatically increase the number of people in the legal professions by eliminating a cap on the number of people admitted, relaxing the regulations, promoting competition among lawyers, allowing people other than lawyers to undertake activities like the provision of legal consultation, and making it easier for people who have left school and are already working in other professions to obtain legal qualifications. There is also a need to diversify dispute-settlement procedures, to introduce a system of lay judges, and to streamline court operations.

• It is important to shift the government's regulatory posture from one of applying regulations in advance to one of establishing clear rules and letting the private sector act freely, with sanctions taken after the fact if the rules are violated. It will be necessary to strengthen the administrative functioning of quasi-juridical organs and provide explicit rules governing the imposition of after-the-fact regulation. In addition, systemic safeguards will be needed to make sure that policies adopted through transparent procedures are not subsequently distorted by people connected to special interests.

4. In Pursuit of Enlightened National Interest

• Issues like trade, finance, poverty, and environmental protection cannot be handled only by state machinery; it is essential that a broad range of people be involved in international affairs, bringing "civilian power" to bear. This means getting people involved in international governance, actively creating global public goods.

• Japan should define and pursue its national interest on a long-term, systematic basis, with reference to the proper shape of its nation-building efforts. This means the pursuit of "enlightened national interest," recognizing that the pursuit of Japan's interests will resonate with the pursuit of global public interests and that the achievement of global public interests will overlap with the achievement of Japan's interests.

• We should foster a lively debate about the national interest, backed by a healthy realism, and develop the people's ability to participate in policy deliberations, make policy proposals, present these policies to the rest of the world, and engage in international dialogue on them.

(1) Global civilian power

• In the twenty-first century nations should not seek to develop themselves and resolve conflicts through military might; rather they should work to attain human security and achieve international public interests fairly through civilian means.

• Japan should continue to be involved in constructing the international economic order and to actively implement official development assistance. It should also devote augmented efforts to international cooperation and the use of multilateral institutions to preserve values that the present market system cannot readily evaluate, involving areas like culture, the environment, and human rights.

• Civilian power refers to the collective strength of the people of the nation, centering on "soft" intellectual and cultural strengths, such as the abilities to define issues, articulate hypotheses, transmit information, conduct multilateral discussions, display cultural attractiveness, and deliver messages. We need to have a system that will get a wide range of people involved in deliberating policy, interacting with other countries, and forming domestic public opinion. We should implement "track two" diplomacy centered on non-governmental organizations and boldly supplement the ranks of the bureaucracy, including senior-level positions, with people from the private sector who have international perspectives and the ability to deliver Japan's message to other countries.

(2) Comprehensive, multi-layered security framework

• The task of assuring national security will require preparedness against dangers, efforts to create an environment in which conflict will not occur, and efforts to restore and maintain peace within the international community.

• The core element of Japan's preparedness against eventualities will be the stability and preservation of the Japan-U.S. alliance, which should continue to be used as an economic, political, and military foundation to sustain the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. Japan should move forward with the enactment of necessary legislation and also encourage public debate concerning such matters as the exercise of the right of collective self-defense.

• In the area of conflict prevention, the central elements should include diplomatic efforts to raise the level of international trust, preventive diplomacy aimed at stopping conflicts from occurring, and efforts to strengthen the international security order. Efforts to achieve economic security are also important. Another major issue is "human security," involving such concerns as the protection of the global environment and the eradication of poverty and hunger.

• Japan should not content itself with a course of unilateral pacifism; it is only natural to respond actively to international peacekeeping and peace-building operations. While in principle lending support to legitimate joint security activities, Japan will need to conduct its own deliberations, accompanied by public debate, concerning the appropriateness and nature of its participation.

• Security in the twenty-first century will be a comprehensive concept, encompassing economic, social, environmental, human-rights, and other elements, and it will need to be pursued cooperatively by the public and private sectors on the multiple levels of human beings, states, regions, and the entire globe.

(3) "Rinko" - Active and Engaging Neighbor Policy

• In the twenty-first century cooperative relations should be strengthened within East Asia, a region of great potential for the future. In particular Japan requires a national resolve to build relationships of long-term stability and trust with the Republic of Korea (the Korean Peninsula) and China. By "neighborly relations" we mean contacts that will build close ties, picking up on elements that diplomatic efforts alone cannot grasp.

• It is essential for the Japanese to have a full understanding of the histories, traditions, languages, and cultures of the peoples of its neighbor countries. We should increase the amount of school time devoted to the study of Korean and Chinese history and the history of these countries' relations with Japan and improve programs of Korean and Chinese language instruction. In addition, we should develop a sense of neighborliness that will provide for the multilingual information displays at major locations throughout Japan to include Korean and Chinese alongside English.

• We should also expand the scope of "track two" diplomacy and multilevel dialogue and exchange, including intellectual exchange, cultural exchange, regional exchange, and youth exchange programs.

• While developing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation framework, we should undertake joint efforts with the Republic of Korea and China in such areas as the possible creation of a free trade area, joint energy development, and the construction of a system of monetary coordination.

VI. Japan's Aspiration, Individual Aspiration

• We are not pessimistic over Japan's future. There are vast potentials within Japan. The main actors are individuals; individuals will change society and the world. From this will emerge a new society and a new Japan. We would like to see people bring a "resilient optimism" and "practical imagination" to the twenty-first century.

• We would also like to see the next century viewed through an expansive temporal perspective. It is not realistic to accomplish our ambitious goals in one generation. We should set out and develop a consensus around a new vision and set an appropriate direction of change and pursue it, even if it may take, as the saying goes, three generations-80 years-to accomplish it.