Hello from Tokyo. Joseph Schumpeter was one of the most famous economists of the 20th century. He is known for characterizing the core of capitalism as an evolutionary cycle of creative destruction or innovation. His theories fascinated many Japanese scholars, including his professor-turned-governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, Heita Kawakatsu. (There is also a theory that this may be because his name Heita (also pronounced Peta) resembles Schumpeter.)
In the 1990s, Kawakatsu taught a course on Japanese economic history at Waseda University in Tokyo. One of his favorite case studies in class about Japan's unique economic development is that Japan introduced gun technology from Portugal in the 16th century and quickly grew to become one of the world's leading exporters. However, it was a process of abandoning it and returning to Japan. When national isolation began in the 17th century.
But ironically, when Kawakatsu was elected governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in 2009, he was a vocal opponent of one of Japan's most famous innovations: the high-speed maglev trains that pass through the prefecture. became a person. He managed to stall the project for years. On Tuesday, Kawakatsu made headlines after inappropriate comments about his profession forced him to announce his resignation. All eyes are now on how his pending resignation will affect the stalled maglev project.
Speaking of innovation, this week's big stories focus on China's innovation frontier, the technology industry, where workers are under increasing pressure from their employers to keep their jobs. Some say that Asia's knowledge-intensive technology industry is actually a labor-intensive industry. This may be true. Innovation is a source of economic growth, but the workers who support that innovation do not necessarily benefit.
Meanwhile, the US Congress is trying to force the viral short video app TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or ban it from doing business in the US. The bill passed the House and awaits a vote in the Senate. This week's “Business Spotlight” in the magazine takes a closer look at the bill and what's going on with the company.
The plight of workers left behind by economic growth is not limited to China. In Asia Insight, Nikkei Asia's Seoul correspondent Steven Borowiec follows office cleaners and other marginalized workers who board buses at dawn to commute from the capital's suburbs to the glitzy center. He reports what he observed up close. As the ruling and opposition parties compete to appeal to these workers in the upcoming South Korean general election, voters' skepticism is growing.
Finally, from this week's Life and Art section, contributing writer Stephen Mansfield takes a nostalgic look at Japan's not-so-distant past in some of Tokyo's less-appreciated areas. Now that the Japanese economy is breaking free from deflation for about 30 years and entering a new era, many people are feeling nostalgic for the Showa era.
Have a great weekend!
Arata Nakayama
Nikkei Asia Editor-in-Chief
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