What would have changed if the concept of the “Turntable of Civilization” had been presented to the world decades earlier.
Drawing on Eisuke Sakakibara’s account in Nikkei, this essay reflects on a missed turning point in global financial history and Japan’s unrealized role.

2016-08-25
What would have happened if this concept had been presented to the world at that point in time.
The following comes from this morning’s Nikkei, and it immediately led me to one hypothesis.
That is to say, when I had completed what was in fact a Nobel Prize–level concept called the “Turntable of Civilization” more than thirty years ago, what would have happened if I had not been a businessman, but instead, as I should have been, a scholar standing at the forefront of Kyoto University, and had presented this concept to the world at that time.
Sunday Reflections, Verification.
Mr. Eisuke Sakakibara, former Vice Minister of Finance.
Japan’s fund initiative blocked by the United States and China.
—Why did you aim to establish the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF).
“When Thailand was hit by a currency crisis in 1997, we were dissatisfied with the response of the International Monetary Fund. In the midst of the crisis, banks were forced to close and the exchange rate was shifted from a fixed to a floating system. In fact, the IMF later set up a neutral committee to review the matter and admitted it had been wrong.”
—Why did the AMF concept end up as an illusion.
“Southeast Asia and South Korea were positive, and Hong Kong was also OK, but the United States opposed it. Discussions with China also did not go well. U.S. influence over the IMF is extremely strong, and the IMF system was convenient for the United States. Since the AMF would ultimately weaken U.S. influence, people like Lawrence Summers, then Deputy Treasury Secretary, were extremely angry.”
“The biggest reason was that China did not agree. Not only because it was persuaded by the United States, but probably because it disliked Japan’s initiative. At the very least, China would have preferred an equal partnership.”
“In reality, Japan took the lead, South Korea and Southeast Asia followed, and China came last—and that sequence was exploited by the United States. We should have spoken with China first. At the time, we lacked direct channels to China’s Ministry of Finance and the People’s Bank of China. We tried behind-the-scenes coordination through people we knew well, such as Joseph Yam in Hong Kong, but it did not work.”
—After the Lehman shock, China is now actively pursuing reform of the international monetary and financial system.
“I think China has the medium- to long-term objective of making the renminbi the key currency of Asia. At the very least, it seems to be pursuing, as a long-term plan, the creation of something like a Chinese economic sphere in the realm of currency.”