Viii

In 1971 the Japanese automobile industry ranked second in the world in the number of automobiles produced, exported, and registered, thus proving its outstanding leap-forward through the postwar years. This represents a glorious victory for MITI's protectionist policy. Nonetheless, even in 1969, when the Japanese automobile industry ranked second in the world in automobile production and fifth in the number of automobiles exported and registered, MITI itself was quite modest in describing the industry as follows: "Its passenger car production is fifth in the world [actually third when mini passenger car production is included]; it has so many manufacturers [but the number of passenger car manufacturers equals West Germany's]; its enterprise scale is inferior to the top-level automobile makers in the United States and Western Europe [but larger than their second-class firms]; its export ratio is below the European and U.S. level [actually, higher than the U.S. level]; its independent technology developing capacity is insufficient [how much is "sufficient"?]; the automobile parts industry's competitive power is insufficient [how much is "sufficient"?]; the sales network is unprepared [yes, exactly.']." (The statements in brackets are ours — H. U. and H. M.) MITI then insisted that the industry was not yet ready for full liberalization of capital.