Word: sakurauchi
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Unfortunately, not all analyses of America's problems are as sophisticated as Kunihiro's. When Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Speaker of the Lower House of the Diet, caused a furor in the U.S. two weeks ago by saying that the "root of America's ((trade)) problem lies in the inferior quality of American labor," he was reflecting a condescension toward Americans that many Japanese share...
Some Japanese politicians and newspapers have become more open in their contempt for America -- or what they consider American self-indulgence, moral squalor and indiscipline. Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Speaker of the Lower House of the Diet, called American workers lazy and illiterate; the U.S., he said, was becoming Japan's subcontractor. The remarks came just after George Bush's trip to Tokyo with the heads of the American car manufacturers, an excursion that left an impression of weakness and whining...
...Reynolds reports, "a customer said, 'Next time I see you, don't call on me in a Japanese car.' It was kind of a laugher. But at the same time, I got the message. He happens to be a Ford Motor Co. engineer." Reynolds says when he heard Sakurauchi insult American workers, "I decided to do something." Reynolds canceled an order for a Nissan company car. He ordered a Ford Escort instead. His next step will be to sell the Infiniti and buy a Lincoln Mark...
...Just as Sakurauchi said. The rueful self-accusation is repeated across the U.S. Being a debtor nation, mortgaging their real estate to the Japanese, the mighty Americans, the victors of World War II, the dollar people, have lost a certain amount of face in their own estimation. They have been outdone, they sense, in a way they would not have thought possible -- outdone not only by the Japanese but also by their own appetite for the things their competitors sell. Most Americans probably agree with Texas investor Richard Fisher, who took his family on a four-month sabbatical to Japan...
...Although Sakurauchi's comment that 30 percent of the American workforce cannot read it surely outrageous, it does contain an element of truth. As Time magazine pointed out recently, nearly 15 percent of American workers are functionally illiterate. And many high school graduates go into the job market without adequate training in math, science and communications--skills critical to today's economy...