Japan goes shopping at the village stall By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Japan's unique "buy Asian and African" drive has shifted into high gear
as part of its broader diplomatic effort to help the poorest among the
developing countries.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) last month kicked off the
drive, officially dubbed the One Village, One Product
(OVOP) campaign, which is an expansion of a late-1970s domestic program that
now includes developing countries.
The campaign will see products culturally representative of Asia, Africa and
other developing regions sold across the country. Products include crafts,
textiles, processed foods, and cosmetics.
The concept is the brainchild of Morihiko Hiramatsu, former governor of Oita
prefecture in western Japan. The former senior METI official translated the
idea into action when he took the helm of the Oita government in 1979. The
prefecture's domestic OVOP movement encourages local villages to develop at
least one specialty product and make it a hit in national - and even global -
markets in the spirit of "acting locally, but thinking globally".
The expanded METI-sponsored campaign comes at an opportune time, as there are
growing signs of the world's second-largest economy emerging from many years of
stagnation. Japan is also close to a long-awaited victory in its battle against
tenacious deflation, a continuous decline in prices that has plagued the
economy by squeezing corporate earnings and wages. Amid the improving job
environment and wages, Japanese consumers are loosening their purse strings.
METI held an exhibition of 77 products from 23 developing countries in Tokyo
from February 27 through March 3, and until next Thursday many products will be
showcased at FOODEX Japan 2006, an international fair near Tokyo where food and
beverage producers and buyers do business.
Also, booths for exhibiting and selling products from developing countries will
be set up at major Japanese airports. Products from African countries will also
be exhibited and sold during an event tentatively named the Greater Africa
Development Partnership Fair in Tokyo in early September.
Japan will also provide technical cooperation using official development
assistance money to promote the OVOP movement in developing countries by
improving their ability to develop and export their promising products. To that
end, Japan will specifically dispatch experts to help explore and improve the
potential of products and will also accept trainees from those nations with the
aim of enhancing the development of human resources.
Successful Japanese model
Hiramatsu initially proposed the OVOP campaign to prevent depopulation and
economic stagnation in Oita prefecture and also to reduce its heavy dependence
on the central government, thereby promoting local autonomy. Although the
charismatic governor stepped down in 2003 after serving six four-year terms,
the movement has deeply taken root in the prefecture on the southernmost major
Japanese island of Kyushu.
The prefecture's OVOP movement has been fairly successful. Oita's shiitake
mushrooms account for by far the highest share, 28%, of the domestic market.
Also, Oita is the only place in the country where kabosu limes are produced.
Oita's distilled-barley spirits, consumed with kabosu lime juice, is famous for
its smooth taste. Oita prefecture also has two of Japan's biggest spa resort
towns, Beppu and Yufuin. More than 10 million bathers flock to Beppu, while
more than 3.8 million spa lovers visit Yufuin, every year.
In 2002, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 810 OVOP
products, including 338 local specialties, 148 facilities, 133 cultural goods,
111 revitalized regions and 80 items related to environment. In local
specialties alone, there was a huge increase in the number of products and
sales between 1980 and 2001, with the number of OVOP products jumping from 143
to 336 and sales soaring to 141 billion yen (US$1.2 billion) from 35.9 billion
yen.
In 1994 the Asia Kyushu Regional Exchange Summit was held in Oita prefecture,
bringing together leaders from Kyushu and Asian countries to exchange ideas on
regional development, human resources and environment issues. Many foreign
leaders and politicians have visited Oita to learn about OVOP.
OVOP goes global
OVOP has been introduced around the globe with some modifications. Hiramatsu
has spoken on and helped introduce OVOP in other countries. He was awarded the
1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award, often regarded as the Nobel Peace Prize of Asia,
for contributions to the economic independence and development of Asian
countries.
The OVOP strategy also has won applause around the world. OVOP programs,
especially in the initial phase, have had an enormous positive economic and
social impact on communities. Local residents were greatly encouraged by a
clear and feasible goal, strong leadership and vision. Villagers have found
their local products turning into national brands.
In some cases such attempts have not achieved their intended results, while in
others the initial momentum was not sustained. Some experts also point out that
since the OVOP movements are often led by the local government or strong
community leaders, the real and diverse needs of community people could be
neglected.
Thailand is one of the most enthusiastic countries about OVOP. Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra introduced the Thai version of OVOP, known as the One
Tambon, One Product (OTOP) movement, in February 2001 to promote local industry
through manufacturing of specialty products based on the native culture,
tradition and nature. The tambon is the country's local administrative
unit equivalent to a village or town.
Thaksin invited Hiramatsu to Bangkok for a seminar on the movement in April
that year and in November visited Oita prefecture. In response to a request
from Thailand, the government-affiliated Japan External Trade Organization
(JETRO) has supported the Thai OVOP movement in the exploration of specialty
goods and the promotion of sales in the Japanese market. Products include
textiles, hand-made papers, baskets made of bamboo and other plants, ceramics
and wood products.
An OVOP program was introduced in China in the early 1990s, and a growing
number of local communities have embarked on their own versions of OVOP - such
as the One Factory, One Product campaign in Shanghai.
Shaanxi provincial Governor Chen Deming said his community's project is an
effective way to speed up local economic development. "The program has helped
our local farmers develop unique and beneficial products," he said.
For example, paintings by Huxian farmers, clay sculptures in Fengxiang,
Shangluo green tea, Zhouzhi kiwi fruit, and Lintong pomegranates have become
popular brands in China, the governor said. In Jingzhou, in Hubei province in
central China, local farmers enjoyed annual income increases of 5-8% after the
program was implemented eight years ago, city official Zhang Wenzheng said.
Experts point out that the program can shift surplus labor from agriculture to
other areas, such as processing and manufacturing, marketing and research.
Other Asian countries with an OVOP-type program include the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Mongolia. And the movement has spread
to the United States, with Los Angeles and the state of Louisiana launching
campaigns.
Japan's diplomatic aims
Japan's OVOP campaign, mainly for the least developed countries (LDCs), is part
of the Development Initiative for Trade, which Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
unveiled to ambassadors in Tokyo from 40 LDCs in December, shortly before the
World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Hong Kong. Assistance
for developing countries, especially the poorest among them, is high on the
agenda for the current WTO-sponsored Doha Round of global trade-liberalization
negotiations.
The initiative features, among other things, duty-free and quota-free imports
of products from LDCs and provision of $10 billion in official development
assistance over three years.
"Based on the idea that it is extremely important for developing countries to
develop their capacity to export, and thereby obtain their fair share of the
benefits of the free trade system, the initiative represents a package of
measures that contributes to the development of LDCs through trade," Koizumi
wrote in the Financial Times on the eve of the WTO conference in Hong Kong.
While demonstrating how actively it is helping LDCs through the OVOP campaign,
Japan apparently hopes to gain support from developing countries for its
stance, especially on farm trade, in the Doha Round. Japan is on the offensive
in negotiations to liberalize trade in non-farm products such as automobiles
and electronics, but is on the defensive when it comes to agriculture.
Hisane Masaki is a Tokyo-based journalist, commentator and scholar on
international politics and economy. Masaki's e-mail address is
yiu45535@nifty.com.
