Half a day with Hayami in Japan

From the central bus depot, a taxi drove us to the FASID/GRIPS compound, a 16 storey building standing at the heart of Rupoongi area, one of the busiest parts of Tokyo. "I heard that Tokyo is one of the most populous cities in world, but, to my utter surprise, no sign of that could I notice during my 45 minutes travel by taxi," I told Mizan sitting by my side.

"To see that you will have to go to the subways, Sir. Underground subways are the soul of Tokyo city where most of the people commute by train. Some of the subways are under private sector and some under public sector," Mizan informed me.

I said: "Then, I saw just the tip of the iceberg, is not it?"

"Rightly so, Sir," Mizan replied.

I was taken to a room in the dormitory at the ground floor of the 16 storey building where I was supposed to stay for 10 days. Cold could not catch me there as it was well heated. A small bed, a reading table and three chairs with a round table and, of course, a small fridge in the small room. Very soon Yujiro Hayami (73) greeted me with a basket of commodities comprising soup packets, tea-bags and other food items to see that I feel comfortable to start with my business at FASID. He also provided me with a jacket to confront the cold.

My task was to attend classes -- where students from different countries came for a Masters degree -- and summarize to them the lectures on development economics with a reference from our part of the world. A dozen of Bangladeshi students, mostly government servants, were there and I was told that they were doing fine. I think that our students perform better outside possibly because of the pressures built into the system. Besides, I had to guide some Ph.D students, providing them with suggestions. And finally, I had to present a seminar in the faculty on: "Trade liberalization and poverty reduction in Bangladesh."

Yujiro Hayami wanted that I spend half a day (Saturday) at the Hayami house. And on a Saturday, the 73-year old man came to pick me from the place I was living. "The subway is a bit further," he told me, "would you have problem in walking?"

Back home I walk on average, 5 km every evening and so with confidence I said: "No problem, Professor." Yujiro started walking so fast that soon he left me far behind. Looking back he asked: "Any problem?" Wearing a jacket, shoes with thick socks, and a cap covering my head and ears to bear the chilly wind, I was already losing ground to the respected professor. However, soon we reached subway and after changing three stations or so, we came out from the underground subways.

He took me to see the Meiji Shrine built in honor of the Meijis, the architects of modern Japan. I was thrilled as I read about Japanese economic history (not so deeply though) in my student life. As we were walking a long way to reach the shrine, the professor was describing the shrine and I was recollecting some aspects of Japanese history that I read.

Japan is said to have entered into a modern era with Meiji restoration in 18th century. Before that, in Tokugawa period, spanning from 16th to early 18th century, Japan was isolated from the rest of the world. Anyone leaving the country at that time used to be guillotined if he returned. Modern education system, communication, and a host of other developmental steps were taken up by Meijis. Japan opened its doors to derive the technological benefits from other countries.

Just before entering into the shrine, Yujiro requested me to purify myself with water. It is the Japanese culture. In Japan, trust matters the most. The world renowned Toyota car company has a host of small and medium suppliers of parts. Toyota's "just- in- time" or "zero-inventory" system has been structured along the lines of community relationships. The internal organizations of Japanese firms incorporating the community relationship has proved to be effective in guiding the complex division of labour within a modern enterprise. The transaction is mostly based on faith in the words of the parties in transaction. Corporatization is strong because of trust and honesty. There is stray evidence of corruption but, by and large, Japan is free from corruption.

A "culture of shame" prevents Japanese from doing anything that people speak ill about. The society stands as solid rock on the pillars of trust, honesty, and a culture of shame. Japan is also sometimes called a "communist-capitalist" country where the social security systems resemble almost communist countries and the mode of production is under capitalism. From the ashes of devastation caused by bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan rose to rule the world economically by virtue of the pillars I just mentioned.

In his house, Mrs Yujiro Hayami welcomed me. The family comprises two daughters and a son. I met his daughter-in-law Kajisa, a good economist at FASID, and his son, working in a company and living with parents. I told them about a story that I read few years back about Japanese young people. They earn a lot but do not want to get married and leave their parents' house. As reported, free food and accommodation allow them to travel worldwide and enjoy life with friends! But economists argued that the trend is not good for the economy because, in that case, the demand for houses and furniture go down with a multiplier effect on the economy.

Anyway, I was mentally prepared to eat raw fish at the Hayami house, an item that Japanese relish the most but I liked the least. My professor, an ardent admirer of wine, meantime managed a glass of sake (wine made of Japanese rice) for me. I wanted to know the origin of the word sake as there is also a Persian word "saaki" that I was acquainted with. But we could not go further due to the call for food.

Mrs. Yujiro surprised me when I found that she was kind enough to keep me off the raw fish and, instead, cooked for me chicken with tomatoes and fish kabab. Again, the cooked rice was not Japanese japonica rice but Thai long grain rice. The learned lady could, perhaps, feel that as a Bangladeshi, I might not be so interested in typical Japanese food: glutinous rice, noodles and raw fish eaten by chopsticks. At Hayami's house, I enjoyed the motherly care of Mrs Hayami and the delicious food that she prepared. Having another sip of the glass of sake, I said: arigato gojaimas (thank you) to Hayami family and bade good bye.

The memory of my short stay in Japan remains fresh. In Bangladesh, we could learn a lot from Japanese economic history. The government there is still very dominant in selective areas where market might be missing; technology borrowing is a precondition for a quick take off; land reform paves way for prosperous agriculture; financial market is well regulated to infuse blood in the economy. And finally, Japan could be model in terms of institutional development. Culture and institutions (called cultural sub-system) have a bearing on resources and technology (called the economic subsystem). Half a day with Hayami helped me expand my horizon of knowledge about Japan.

Abdul Bayes is Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.