The Meaning and Problems of Development of "the Sea of Japan Economic Region"

Abstract

With the end of the cold war, Japan is communicating with eastern countries/regiorzs, especially Russia and the Russian Far East, North Korea and three provinces in northeastern China more and more intensively. These countries/regions including Japan hope now keeutly that "the Sea of Japan Economic Region"is to be developed. Japan is carrying out a variety of exchanges with self-governing organizations, economic societies and people in the countries/regions.Why is it necessary to develop "the Sea of Japan Economic Region"? From the side of Japan, the purposes are to activate the Japanese area on the Sea of Japan, to put the Japanese economic structure and land utilization in order to advance economic relations with the countries/regions and to make more contributions to the world. Of course, it is not so easy to develop "the Sea of Japan Economic Region", because there are many problems to be solved. In addition to political problems, there exist great differences in the economic system, nationality, religion and the stage of economic development among the countries/regions including Japan. It is here important to ask how we can solve these problems.It is important for Japan to understand the history of the other countires/regions on the Sea of Japan in order to develop economic exchanges with them.Japan should also pay attention more to exchanges of education, culture, sports and so on. On the other hand, it is important for the other countries/regions to reform and open their markets and to provide adequate conditions for investment from western countries. The common problems both for Japan and for the countries/regions on the Sea of Japan are the relationship between the central government and local ones, the arrangement of convenient transportation and communication,the education of talent, and the exclaanges of information.It is certainly not easy to develop "the Sea of Japan Economic Region",because this project is a "great experiment" in history. But, if we take into account the trends like the single market in the EC, "the Free-Trading Agreement"between the United States and Canada and the development of economic region in southern China, we can find in any case two different movements : globalization on one hand and localization on the other hand. We cannot ignore the importance of development of "the Sea of Japan Economic Region", because Japan is one of the strong economies in the world. We should ask, "What kind of position Japan is going to have in the international society?".