article from NATURE - Japan's information infrastructure

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Bob Johnstone has given permission to send this to IP list. This article is for
IPers only, no reposting please.




Japan's Information Infrastructure
NATURE, June 2, 1994
Bob Johnstone, Tokyo


Two Japanese government reports issued almost simultaneously in Tokyo at
the end of last month [May] offer very different visions of Japan's future
information infrastructure.


The reports were drawn up by the Ministry of International Trade & Industry
(MITI) and the Telecommunications Council, a high-level committee that
advises the Japanese Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications (MPT).


Historically, MITI has overseen Japan's computer industry, while MPT
controlled communications and broadcasting. But with the spread of digital
technology, telephones and televisions increasingly resemble computers,
precipitating an inter-ministerial turf war. The rival reports appearing
within days of one another represent an early skirmish in what promises to
be a lengthy struggle.


One big difference between the reports is that MITI's "Advanced
Information-ization [sic] Program" focuses on the importance of promoting
network usage, whereas MPT's "Establishing a New Information Infrastructure
for the 21st Century" emphasizes the construction of the network itself.


The MPT report envisages a three-stage project that would lay optic fibres
to all Japanese homes and offices by the year 2010. Metropolitan areas and
prefectural capitals would be wired first, followed by all cities with
populations of over 100,000, then finally all cities.


The cost would be between Y33 trillion and Y53 trillion [= $317 billion to
$510 billion]. The report made no attempt to clarify where such huge sums
would come from. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Japan's semi-privatized
telecoms behemoth has offered to do the job, but only on condition of being
allowed to raise its tariffs. MPT has recently ruled out such an increase.


The report drew immediate criticism for its insistence that Japan's
information infrastructure should be woven exclusively out of optic fibre,
as opposed to a mixture of connection schemes including satellite, wireless
and copper cable. Less controversial is its suggestion that, for the sake
of efficiency, the network should be built by the private sector, with the
government's role being limited to the provision of tax breaks and
low-interest loans.


This apparent hands-off policy represents a 180-degree shift from MPT's
recommendation last autumn that a public corporation be set up under the
ministry's control to do the construction. Since then, however, MPT has
come under fire most notably from its former vassal, NTT, for the repeated
failures of its dirigiste policies. Many Japanese now realize that MPT red
tape is the main reason why their country's cable television and mobile
communications industries lag so far behind their Western counterparts.


Some local commentators suspect that the telecoms bureaucrats new
enthusiasm for private-sector initiatives is less than whole- hearted.
"They know that they have to do some deregulation," says Izumi Aizu of the
Center for Global Communications, a small but influential private
think-tank, "but if you read the report carefully, it's clear that they
want control to remain in their hands."


Letting the private sector have its head through deregulation and
liberalization is also one of two main themes outlined in MITI's report.
The other, according to a MITI source, is that "it is important for
government to act as an advanced user of information technology," that is,
for public institutions such as libraries and national laboratories to show
the rest of the nation the way. (In theory, this principle should also
extend to government agencies, but as yet no ministry, including MITI, has
managed to get itself hooked up to a network.)


The report's concrete proposals include a recommendation that 100 primary
and secondary schools should be connected to the Internet as an experiment
to demonstrate the educational benefits of computer networking. The MPT
report makes no mention of networking.


Putting emphasis on usage is a new twist for MITI, whose traditional role
has been to protect Japan's domestic computer industry and to promote its
growth. MITI seems to have realized, says Shumpei Kumon, a leading Japanese
networking advocate, that "what is important at this moment is not to
protect and promote industry, but to promote the development of networking,
using the most advanced technology that can be imported."


But although the bureaucrats have belatedly realized that building an
information infrastructure is important for Japan's future, as yet, Kumon
complains, "they have no clear vision of what the information revolution
means."


Getting schools involved with networking means that MITI must win the
support of the Ministry of Science, Education and Culture for its
proposals. The trade ministry is trying to set up an inter-agency task
force under the leadership of the Prime Minister's Office to push for
further deregulation of telecommunications and the development of
networking.


Other agencies, including the ministries of education and health and
welfare are reportedly enthusiastic about participating in the task force's
activities. Only MPT appears reluctant to join.


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