Japan’s GDP has stagnated for twenty years, falling behind the U.S. while piling up massive debt under bureaucratic control. Addressing Prime Minister Kan, this essay questions whether his policies can truly revive Japan’s economy or if they will perpetuate decline.

A proposal addressed to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan on August 21, 2010. The author points out that Japan’s economic stagnation and increase in national debt over the past 20 years were due to a bureaucracy-led government. The piece expresses concern that policies other than the “Government Revitalization Unit” might be based on a similar bureaucratic mindset. It questions the path to future prosperity and economic growth for Japan, citing a harsh assessment of the country from the Wall Street Journal, and asks if the prime minister is truly confident he can stop the decline.

To Prime Minister Kan
August 21, 2010

Prime Minister Kan, twenty years ago, the GDP of the United States was 750 trillion yen, while Japan’s was 550 trillion yen. Today, the United States stands at 1,300 trillion yen, while Japan hovers around 470 trillion. During this period, Japan has accumulated some 450 trillion yen in government bonds.

You must now be particularly aware that the real architects of these lost twenty years were the bureaucrats.
Most LDP politicians knew that the bureaucrats were more capable than they themselves were, and the bureaucrats knew it as well.
Thus, the reality was that governance was left entirely to the bureaucrats. Politicians did not neglect pork-barrel favors for their districts, while the bureaucrats did not neglect securing lucrative amakudari posts for themselves.

As for the policies you and your supporters are now trying to implement, judging from the combined analyses of political reporters and commentators—excepting the so-called “budget screening”—it appears to me that you are once again relying on bureaucrats and operating with the same mindset as they do.
If so, can Japan truly return to a path of prosperity?

Can you raise a stock market that has not risen for a quarter of a century?
Can you lift the GDP from 550 trillion yen twenty years ago to 1,000 trillion yen in the next twenty years?

The Wall Street Journal has pointed out that while today’s China has become a nation brimming with confidence and underlying strength, Japan’s two decades of stagnation represent a tragic situation, both for the world and for the Japanese people.
That is the unvarnished truth.

Do you truly possess the conviction to prevent this tragedy from deepening, and to keep Japan from continuing down the path of decline?