SOUTH AFRICA IS AFRICA'S JAPAN

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I. The oldest map of Africa

I wish to speak about a very interesting topic on which I imagine nobody has yet lectured. That is, "South Africa is Africa's Japan."

Can anyone tell me where the world's oldest map of Africa exists now? To our great surprise, the answer is in Japan. This Map was drawn by a Chinese cartographer in 1402 to prepare the navigation to Africa by the Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho.  This was realized more than 80 years before the arrival of Bartholomew Dias at the most Southern point of the African continent in 1488. After a long historic process, this map finally came to Japan and is actually part of a collection of the Ryukoku University in Kyoto. Interestingly, the Ryukoku University itself didn't realise, until Dr. F. Ginwala's visit to Japan, that this is the oldest existing map of Africa in the world. Dr. F. Ginwala, the speaker of the National Assembly, is very well known for her great collection of some 120 African maps. For many years she has been searching for the oldest map of Africa, and after a long quest, she found it in Japan. A couple of years ago, the Japanese Government donated an authentic copy of this map to her which I, myself, had an opportunity to see in her office the other day.

I have just introduced this story to you, because I was interested in the reason why Dr. Ginwala collects African maps. When I met with her in Cape Town, she told me that she collects African maps as part of her endeavour to seek a new identity for South Africans as well as Africans. According to her, South Africans have been traditionally apt to identify themselves in relation to Europe, but this has a danger of caging South Africans in the old fashioned context of European colonization history.  If South Africans view themselves from other angles, it would help them to find an alternative self-image, which could contribute to forming a new identity. In fact, Africa has a very rich and long history of relations with Asia, tracing back to the ancient time well before the so-called "discovery of the Indian Ocean Route" by Vasco da Gama. At the beginning of the 15th century, about one century before Vasco da Gama, a special envoy of Kenya (Kingdom of Marindi) visited China with a giraffe as a gift to the Chinese Emperor. According to UNESCO`s "The History of Africa", this eastern coast of Southern Africa exported pig iron to the Indian continent already in the 10th century, involving Indonesians as traders. Old maps of Africa really tell us a lot of things. This is exactly what Dr. Ginwala intends to do.

Likewise, I wish to give a fresh look upon South Africa from a new angle, namely through a comparison with Japan. It is no surprise for us to recognize so many differences between our two countries. You may, however, be surprised to find more similarities pertaining to both countries.  And this is the reason why the title of my speech today is "South Africa is Africa's Japan."

II. A brief history of the bilateral relations

Let me begin by introducing a brief history of exchanges between our two countries. In 1586 or only a hundred years later than Bartholomew Dias's discovery of the Southern point of the African continent, a vessel carrying Japanese crossed the Cape of Good Hope on their way back from Portugal and stayed half a year in Mozambique. They were young Christian Samurais who were dispatched from Japan to Rome to see the Pope. The first African who came to Japan at the end of 16th century is believed to be a Mozambican. The adoption of a national isolation policy by the Tokugawa Feudal Government in 17th century, however, closed any possibilities of further exchange between Japan and Africa.

After the Open-Door Policy in the 19th century under the Meiji Government, exchange between Japan and Africa started again, although it was slow in the beginning. It is nevertheless noteworthy that one Japanese merchant named Komahei Furuya opened up and successfully ran a retailing shop "Mikado" in Cape Town in 1898 on the eve of the outbreak of the 2nd Boer War. The enhancement of the general exchange level between our two countries in the early 20th century is symbolized by such facts as the nomination of Mr. Julius Jeppe as the honorary consul in Cape Town in 1910 as well as the opening of the Japanese Consular Office itself in Cape Town in 1918, which was the first diplomatic/ consular mission in Africa. Trade relations between Japan and Africa reached their highest peak in the 1930s, when Japan shared 65% of the Eastern African cotton textile market. And Africa, as the Japanese export destination, shared around 6% to 8% of the total Japanese export. South Africa was the top business centre of Japan in Africa.

World War II deprived Japan of any business basis in Africa. While Japan has started to establish new diplomatic relations with newly independent African states one by one, relations with South Africa remained very limited for well-known reasons, including UN sanctions. Accordingly it should be noted that fully-fledged relations started only after 1994. Seven years have passed since then. It is really exciting for me as Ambassador of Japan to witness the remarkable development of our bilateral relations in recent years. Yesterday, President Mbeki left for Genoa, Italy to attend the dialogue with G8 leaders. It may be recalled that the first round of the dialogue between leaders from the South and the G8 leaders was initiated by Japan as president of the G8, on the eve of the Okinawa Summit last year. And we had the honour of inviting Presidents Mbeki, Obasanjo, and Bouteflica from Africa to Tokyo in July last year. This last January, it was our turn to realize the Prime Minister's visit to Africa. And Prime Minister Mori marked his first step on the soil of this country in his itinerary to visit three African states, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. It should be emphasized that this was the first ever visit to Sub-Saharan Africa by an incumbent Prime Minister of Japan. The top agenda of mine at present is to prepare the state visit by President Mbeki to our country this coming October. The Japanese people are really looking forward to welcoming President Mbeki and making this visit the most successful and meaningful, so as to further advance our relations. I wish to add that the first round of business dialogue between top business leaders of our two countries, "Japan-South Africa Business Forum", will be launched in Tokyo during the visit of President Mbeki.

Commensurate with such activation of mutual visits at a high level, we are also forming a good common basis which will deepen our mutual understanding at a people to people level. Though our mental images of our respective countries may have been rather vague until quite recently, it is now at a good time for both of us to consider the differences and the similarities between our two countries.

III. Differences

I wish to start with the differences between our two countries before speaking about the Japan-SA analogy. As far as my experiences while serving two years in Detroit as a Consul General are concerned, I find South Africa and the US almost like twin sisters in the sense of their multi-racial/multi-cultural society. This is particularly true in Detroit City where 80% of the population is composed of African Americans as is the case in South Africa. Accordingly it can be stated that SA is as different from Japan as is the US. Let me elaborate on this a little bit further.

The first distinct contrast is that of social and cultural homogeneity/ heterogeneity. I am afraid that all the Japanese in this room now may look almost alike to your eyes. Although some minorities such as the "Ainu" exist, Japan is quite often quoted as almost being a "one race, one language" country. This may be an expression to describe the social and cultural homogeneity of Japan. One of the major factors to form this homogeneity is the geographical conditions in which the Japanese Archipelago is located in the Far-East and isolated by four seas from the continent. And a long history without foreign invasion fermented a common culture in this Archipelago. On the other hand, it is entirely needless to describe here how multi-racial / multi-cultural South Africa is. The number of official languages spoken in South Africa, namely eleven, is, to my knowledge, the second largest after India which has fifteen.

Secondly, the equality / inequality of income distribution is another contrast. The World Bank uses the Gini Index to measure this. A Gini index of 100% is the maximum state in terms of inequality, while 0% represents a completely equal income distribution. Japan is, with some Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden, one of the most equal societies with a Gini Index of 25, while South Africa stands on another extremity, together with Brazil and Guatemala, in forming the most unequal income distribution group with a Gini Index 60. Using divided population deciles, we find that the richest 10% of the population holds only 20% of the national wealth in Japan, while the richest 10% owns 46% of the wealth in South Africa. To avoid any misunderstanding on your part, this is a mere statistical fact. How to interpret the implications of the statistical figures is another matter. Among the major developed counties, the US is the most unequal society in terms of income distribution, but at the same time it has the most dynamic economy as well. The equality / inequality issue appears as a matter of choice among national economy models, in the sense of how to harmonize the requirements of social-justice and those of economic dynamism. However, it may be noted here that the homogeneity of a society is also reflected upon the equality of income distribution in the case of Japan, while the heterogeneity of society has been historically closely linked with economic inequality in South Africa.

The third contrast is the history of nation-building and its implications in peoples minds. The nation of Japan has been perceived by Japanese people merely as a natural existence which evolved over centuries, since the ancient times of myth and legend. And this natural existence has never been challenged by foreign invasion until Word War II. The Japanese Imperial system can be traced back to at least the 6th century, and even earlier, if the legendary period is included. Since then until the present time, imperial heredity has been succeeded always within the same lineage of the "Tenno Family" as the world's longest hereditary monarchy. In a clear contrast to Japan, South Africa is a "nation created" through quite uneven processes of combating colonialism and through uniting various races in to a nation. For South Africans, a nation is not a natural existence, but something that is created with sweat and blood.

IV. Japan / South African Analogy

Now, I wish to address today's main topic and make an analogy between the two countries. Though many people have distinctly contrasting picture of our two countries, I am totally convinced that there are strong similarities between Japan and South Africa.

(One Single Developed Economy in the Region)

In the first place, both countries are commonly featured as being the only singe developed economy in the region. To be accurate about the Asian region, Japan is no longer the only developed economy in the region as the other developed colleague countries as the Republic of Korea and Singapore also have developed economies. The Republic of Korea has already joined the OECD, the rich countries club, in 1996. Singapore's per capita GDP of  US$ 30,000 is the 9th in the world, very close to the Japanese US$ 32,000.  It is, however, undeniable that Japan was the only developed country in Asia for many decades until quite recently. Likewise South Africa is one single developed economy in Sub-Sahara Africa. While South Africa is considered as one of the champions of the South, she is classified as a developed country in the same group of OECD countries in the trade statistics books made by the Japanese Ministry of Economy and International Trade.

The Japanese economy has been sluggish since the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, the Japanese GDP of US$ 4 trillion is 50% more than that of all other Asian countries combined which amounts to only $2.6 trillion. If we look at the general picture of the world GDP, the total world GDP of $ 30 trillion is composed of $ 8 trillion for US, $ 7 trillion for EU and $4 trillion for Japan. The sum of the US and Japan's GDP constitutes a constant 40% of the world GDP under the trade-off of the Yen / Dollar exchange rate. In the same way, the South African GDP of $133 million shares 40% of the Sub-Saharan GDP. Such GDP comparison shows the ratio of Japan to other Asia is 60% to 40%, while the ratio of South Africa to other Sub-Sahara Africa is 40% to 60%. Though the ratio is reversed between the two, the overwhelming economic status of each respective country in the region is alike.

The status of the economic giant in the region is by and large projected onto respective relations in each regional organization, insofar as Japan's relation with ASEAN on one hand, and South Africa's relations with SADC. Though there is an outstanding difference between South Africa inside SADC and Japan outside ASEAN, there are many similarities between two countries in respect of trade and investment.  While Japan's GDP is eight times bigger than that of ASEAN, South Africa's GDP is three times greater than that of the rest of the SADC. South Africa's exports to the rest of the SADC countries is fifteen times greater than imports from them. Though Japan / ASEAN trade is becoming very interdependent as a result of the relocation of Japanese manufacturing plants to ASEAN, trade between Japan and ASEAN for many decades has been predominately in favour of Japan's surplus. Japan has contributed to the development of ASEAN industries through investment and the transfer of technology. In the same way South Africa has been playing an important role to uplift the economic development of the SADC neighbouring countries. The great success of the aluminium smelter project, MOZAL, in Mozambique is a good example of this. As far as economic cooperation is concerned, I wish to add that 30% of the total Japanese Official Development Assistance is extended to ASEAN countries. 

With regard to our respective relations to neighbouring countries, one very important similarity which both of us are facing is the psychology of our neighbours. This psychological aspect is two-fold; perception of others towards a single economic giant in the region and the memory deriving from the negative legacy of the past.  I joined this year's World Economic Forum held in Durban, where the topic, " South Africa's competitiveness; strong points and weak points" was discussed.  One of the broadly shared perceptions of the SADC neighbours was that of "arrogant South Africans." This may be the cost of being the only country with economic success in the region. Similarly, Japan was some time in the past called the "ugly Japanese" by its neighbours in the same vein of the so-called "ugly Americans". In the 1970s when Japan increased its economic presence in a conspicuous manner, we experienced a flare-up of anti-Japanese sentiment in some ASEAN countries. As a result, the Prime Minister of that time, K. Tanaka was the recipient of anti-demonstration by Indonesian students in Jakarta.  

With regard to its negative legacy, Japan still has difficulties in dealing with its memories of World War II which remain in the minds of our Asian friends.  When Japan attempts to take any political initiatives in Asia, a very cautious and thoughtful approach is required. Even now, Japan faces very strong protests from Korea about descriptions of modern history in some school textbooks recently published in Japan. When Japan raises the issue of human rights in China, the retort is "Did you forget about what you did to us during World War II?"  While South Africa's human rights struggle is a great asset and the subject of others admiration, it seems to me that some negative memories still remain in the minds of former front-line countries. And I notice sometimes that another kind of very curious sentiment exists in your neighbours namely the psychological credit that harks back to the assistance given to the ANC leaders in exile before 1994. This situation can be transformed, on some occasions, into a refusal to listen to any advice or accept the initiative of South African leaders who were once helped by their neighbours. Though the nature of legacy is not the same, it seems to me that situations where both of us are placed are very much alike.

With such a common feature as being the only country with a developed economy, our two countries are destined to play responsible roles to contribute to the economic development of the region as a whole. Because both of us are fully aware that a single country's prosperity can not last, if it is isolated from other countries in the region and that the development of the entire region would benefit our own economy. Hence, South Africa took the initiative of Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (MAP) or "the New African Initiative" for the benefit of Africa. Likewise, when a financial crisis hit Asia in 1997, the Japanese government launched a $ 44 billion financial package to rescue all other Asian countries. We are also destined to represent the interests of the region vis-a-vis the outside world. This is why President Mbeki was invited to attend the dialogue with G8 leaders in Tokyo last year as well as in Genoa in July. President Mbeki was expected to convince G8 leaders to sufficiently accommodate African concerns within global management. As the only member of G8 from Asia, Japan is also expected to reflect Asian matters within global management. We can not remain as a mere regional power, because our economy is transcending the regional boundaries and we are obliged to act globally. I recognize that the efforts of South Africa to conclude various Free Trade Agreements with the rest of the world, such as the EU or the MERCOSUR, to bridge regional and global economies, should be interpreted in this context.

(Westernization and Traditional Culture)

Let's move on to the second analogy, which is the challenge to harmonize the westernization / modernization with the preservation of traditional culture.  Japanese modern history over the last century can be described as the harmonization between the westernization and the preservation of our own tradition. For as long as three centuries of the national isolation policy, Japan was forced to open its door to foreign powers in the second half of the 19th century. Then our struggle to catch up to the Western World started. Because we needed western technology, it was imperative for us to absorb both the system and the basic thoughts behind technology. As mere superficial imitation of technology was not enough for deeply rooting it on our soil.  However, Japan is a country with a long history and rich culture and this resulted in our thoughts and system conflicting so often with those of the West. Therefore it has been our great challenge to better harmonize these two ways of thinking. This challenge was addressed in a variety of areas ranging from dress and hairstyles to basic values such as democracy and traditional authorities. I wish to introduce only a couple of symbolic matters.

An example of the above is how Japan harmonized the western modern political system with the Japanese tradition of the Imperial system. The Meiji new Government dispatched a number of study missions to Europe and the United States. Since the French system and British system were too democratic, we tried to introduce into Japan, the Prussian (German) constitutional monarchy system, which preserves much of our feudal character. Another example is the harmonization between modern society based upon individual values and traditional community based societal values. Japanese culture, in particular, has been closely linked with rice cultivation which required collective work from the people in the village for planting, harvesting and all other processes. I have learnt that South Africans also have a traditional mutual-help ethic of " Ubuntu". One product of such harmonization efforts is the so-called Japanese Management. The world business community was interested in studying the secret of Japanese economic success in the 1980s. One of answers to this was Japanese Management, which harmonized modern capitalism and the traditional values of human relations; life-long employment, the seniority system, decision making by consensus or vertical integration of business. Then, you may ask how Japan compromised egalitarianism based on community solidarity and the requirement for social promotion or the selection of social elites. The policy taken by the Meiji Government in 19th century was the adoption of both universal education and social promotion, regardless of family, blood, and income group, only through examinations and school careers.

So such a principle was firmly established that even those born in poor families, in fact everyone, could get social promotion through excelling in examinations.

This challenge of harmonization between modernization and the preservation of traditional culture may have appeared in a different way in South Africa, because the modernization in your country started with the transplantation of a Western system on African soil by European immigrants. It appears to me, however, that the challenge South Africa has been facing in recent years, particularly after 1994, is exactly of the same nature as those experienced by the Japanese, namely how to harmonize the Western value system with the traditional African value system. There are many issues that will have to be tackled, including, among others, how to integrate traditional leaders into a modern democratic system, how to maintain a balance between community solidarity and the modern principle of individual responsibility and how to resolve the income distribution inequality problem while preserving a market mechanism. All these are high hurdles which Japan struggled with and overcame in our modern history. The first and unique economic success by a non-European state obliged us to pursue this challenge.  Likewise, your unique history and the national character of being a multi-racial society with unique economic success in the region will force you to tackle these challenges.

Let me touch upon a politically delicate matter, the racial problem. While the harmonization between "modern and traditional" appeared to Japanese as a conflict within the mental structure of each individual, it may have appeared to South Africans in many cases as harmonization between White's Western values and Black's Tradition. In this connection, considering Japanese experiences, I might say that the existence of an 11% White population will be of great benefit to you. When Japan started her Westernization process in late 19th century, we spent a countless amount to absorb the technology and systems from Europe and the US. We invited about 500 foreign experts every year to Japan to transfer their knowledge of technology in such various sectors as Government departments or universities. Their salary level was extremely high, in some cases exceeding that of our Prime Minister. It is recorded that a national university spent one third of all its budget for employing foreign academics. Japan also dispatched her students abroad to absorb developed technologies and systems. The Ministry of National Education, for example, allocated 20% of its entire budget to cover the cost of some 300 students dispatched to European countries. It is obvious that it was a great burden to the Japanese Government to finance all of these programmes above, without any foreign assistance such as ODA. In your case, you have already have a basis of society a excellent model of Western system and technology within your country before inviting any foreign experts. Any country with the existence of such a high percentage of Whites as large as 11% who claim by themselves to be Africans cant be found anywhere else on the African continent. You are blessed with the right conditions to create a "South African development model," in the same way Japan has produced a Japanese model. Now I remember vividly one passage of Mr. Nelson Mandela's 'Long Walk to Freedom,' " I told white audiences that we needed them and did not want them to leave the country. They were South African just like ourselves and this was their land, too."

(Identity Problem)

The third analogy between the two countries is the identity problem. If I ask you "Is South Africa a Western value system based society or an African value based society?," everyone may have a different reply. There is a derogatory word "banana" which was often used by the first generation of Japanese immigrants to the US for expressing too much Americanization within the second generation, because a banana is yellow on the outside and white inside. I have learnt there is also an expression "coconut" in South Africa to express much the same. As a natural consequence of the above two analogies, both South Africa and Japan have identity problems. When I served as Consul General in Detroit, there was a mayor's election between candidates, all of whom were African American. The most effective shooting words to attack other candidates were "He is not black enough." Very curiously, I heard the same expression from neighboring African countries, "South Africa is not black enough." And Japanese are also told by other Asians that the Japanese are not Asian enough. Particularly, in the case of international debates about human rights matters in China or Myanmar when Japanese intervention is regarded by other Asians as "Japanese are speaking like Europeans, despite being Asians".

As the only developed economy in the region, or as a unique country harmonizing Westernization with the preservation of traditional culture, each of us has one foot in the Western world and the other foot in Asia or in Africa. Inevitably both of us should face an identity problem. And if we can succeed in creating our own distinct identity, we can play an important role in bridging the two worlds or more broadly between North and South. And if we fail to do so, we will suffer an identity crisis by losing the world we do belong to.

I have no doubt that South African leaders are doing their best to create a new South African identity. The message contained in the famous speech by (then Deputy) President Mbeki "I am an African" is self explanatory. Referring to European immigrants, Boer people, descendants of the warriors of traditional tribe and many others in his speech, he concludes his message by saying "--- Being part of all these people and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion, I shall claim that I am an African."  Dr. Ginwala's aim to attain identity through collecting African maps is also a search for a new identity as South Africans.

We, Japanese, also have been trying to create our own identity, while harmonizing westernization with the preservation of our traditional culture. Dr. Huntington categorizes the world into eight civilizations including Western Christianity, Moslem, Hindu, etc in his book "The Clash of Civilizations." Very interestingly he could not classify Japan into any category. Accordingly he set out an independent civilization category only for Japan, referring to "one country, one civilization." We are proud of this as a evident proof of the success of our endeavour to create our own identity in the century since the adoption of the Open-Door policy.

Japan has played an important role to bridge the Asian and Western world, or more broadly North and South. In the same vein, South Africa can play a very important role in bridging Africa and the Western world, or the North and South. The South African initiative of MAP (Millennium African Recovery Plan) should be interpreted in this context, emanating message persuasive for both Africa and the developed world. And Mr. Alec Erwin, your Minister of Trade and Industry, is the only Trade Minister in the world who understands simultaneously both the global market economy and the plight of African economic reality.

V. Toward Strategic Partnership

The 4th Japan-South Africa Partnership Forum was held this month in Pretoria under the Co-chairs of Mr. S. Sugiura, Deputy Foreign Minister, and Dr. Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency. The naming of this Government to Government dialogue in itself represents the determination of our two Governments to develop a strong partnership. Though our diplomatic relation is quite new, its development since 1994 is really remarkable, manifesting how much we need each other.

Japan highly values the importance of South Africa which is the economic giant in the region with a 40% share of Sub Sahara African GDP as well as being the political leader. While Japan is firmly determined to commit herself in Africa, we regard South Africa as a major partner in the region and as a gateway to other African countries. This is, however, only a part of ground on which our partnership stands. The more important basis is the fact that both Japan and South Africa share the same unique destiny as a nation, as I have stated above. Going further, I should emphasize that our partnership transcends the mere regional sphere by our awareness of the global perspective, in the light of shouldering a common role to play in bridging North and South.

Whenever asked about what my goal is as Ambassador here, I always reply that I came here to consolidate a strategic partnership between Japan and South Africa.  


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Last update: 05-Nov-2001