Japan's Isolation in the International Arena — Over the New Stage of Currency Adjustment

Fear of Japan's Isolation: Last year [1971] was marked by a series of events which gave rise to fear that Japan was headed, internationally, for gradual isolation in the political and economic spheres. Japan's lack of independent thinking in political and economic affairs was clearly revealed in its handling of Chinese entry into the United Nations, the Japan-U.S. textile talks, and the multinational negotiations on the currency adjustment. In the international arena, one event after another added to the suspicion that the Japanese government lacked a long-range vision and could not see things in proper perspective. Having observed the succession of recent events from the shift in U.S. economic policy to the multinational currency realignment, I cannot suppress fundamental doubt about Japan's qualification for a place in the club of advanced free countries. These events raise doubts about whether Japan has attained sufficient maturity in political democracy and the economic liberalism required for membership in the free, international economic community. I believe that unless Japan can answer the question persuasively, it will inevitably go further along the road to isolation in the international economic community.