4 billion funded by public and private funds5 at year end off events in the last quarter to imagine and develop tomorrow's productsJust as had told him to take that of Caisses d'EpargneIt is an application of the teachings of StTake two mobile in hand and compare imagesBut these days it seems to me difficultAll disciplines foreigners account for 3 Pressure from the markets could not relaxEvolution of the spiritsRadical change of sceneryMany Japanese talk of England to refer to the United Kingdom. Many Americans also. This error has the gift to irritate Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish. The same irritation occurs at the Japan, where foreigners often believe that all of their Japanese counterparts come from Tokyo. And yet, there was a time where the saying come from Tokyo on a trip abroad was likely to agree to ask what district of Hong Kong City part! The capital is therefore better off that there are half a century. But this is not yet the case in the rest of the country.
The Kansai region, West of Honshu, the main island of the Japan, a lot of difficult to bear the situation. She hates the seconds roles after Tokyo. Number of committees are even created to search for how the region could impose its competitiveness at the global level rather than become a province of the country focused on Tokyo. I was invited to preside over one of these commissions, which has just published its results after two years of work. It was a very rewarding experience. The commission consisted of officials from Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka, three major Kansai cities. Kyoto is the former imperial city. Kobe is chic and international. Osaka is the Kingdom of the trade and the theatre. They consider all three the year somewhat as of barbarians and see in Tokyo an ideal common enemy. But so far, they were too busy to compete among themselves. Wire work, I have however gained the conviction that it is these divisions between people in the same region that are the secret of the strength of the Kansai.
Although being born in Tokyo, I am fascinated by the Trinity formed Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka. Very proud of its cultural heritage, Kyoto is almost France of Japan. Osaka is for its part Italian. Kobe is a mixture of Belgium and Austria. They know all three put their assets in value. There is not the same diversity in the Kanto region, shadowed only by Tokyo. The Kanto has other cities, but they have sunk into oblivion, with the exception perhaps of Yokohama. Compared to the Kansai, Kanto seems to fade. The Kansai offers a regional integration involving diversity and competition. The Kanto offers integration focused around a central pole, with almost nothing around.
Unfortunately, if the three cities in the Kansai have a common enemy, they fail to find a common cause. Do not confuse common cause and common benefit. When something is likely to report a profit, everyone wants to keep it for him. Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka compete hard foreign investment. We hear much collaboration to attract companies in the region, but it remains dead letter. "Affairs of the community are not business, but the policy", said Walter Hallstein, the first President of the European Commission. The Kansai much could learn from him. Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka do not need a common benefit but a common weakness. Something precious and fragile that they would be forced to protect together. Peace, for example. Or a resource that they compete without end if they the managed separately. The coal and steel, for example.
Our Committee has unfortunately failed to identify the equivalent of the peace or the coal and steel for the Union of the Kansai. Thought quickly to the environment when sought a fragile common cause. The most obvious common weakness of the three cities is the State of their finances, but it is certainly in a domain where it is difficult to establish a collaboration. Or perhaps if. All suggestions welcome!
