Twenty Years Later

sometimes purchasing. However, today, Japan’s economy stands on its foundations. Japan has reached a position where it can send not only products but also its industrial expertise to other countries. Due to its advanced technological capabilities in industry, Japan now has the opportunity to assist other countries and win their friendship by taking on major projects and engaging in trade. Japanese experts are currently implementing modern irrigation projects in Thailand, teaching computer programming in Singapore, building steel mills in South Korea and China, and establishing petrochemical industries in the Middle East, among other endeavours. Initially, the Japanese learned to produce steel from the Americans, but now they have developed that skill to the point where they are capable of exporting it back to the United States. Japan, which was once a student of America, has made such advancements in various fields, especially in communications and electronics, that the U.S. is now entering into agreements with Japan for technical assistance in its military-critical sectors. Commenting on this experience in Japan, a newspaper observer wrote: “Now the flow is out instead of in.” (The Hindustan Times, June 11, 1981) Japan was content to endure industrial subjugation for 20 years, which resulted in its current status of industrial dominance. Had it insisted on dominance from the very beginning, it would have only led to perpetual subjugation. To gain something, one must be willing to lose something;