The National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) held the Second Japan-EU Roundtable on Global Governance on November 14 and 15 in Brussels, jointly with the Japan Foundation (JF) and the European Policy Centre (EPC). This roundtable followed the first Japan-EU Roundtable held in January 2005 with a focus on United Nations reform and regional integration in Europe and Japan. The aim of the roundtables is to promote a venue for think-tank policy scholars in Japan and the EU with policy implications, as recommended in the 2001 EU-Japan Action Plan. The roundtables have been co-sponsored by the European Commission.
The second roundtable was composed of two sessions: "The Impact of Population Decline and its Solutions in Japan and the EU" and "European and Asian Approaches to Regional Integration" under the theme of global governance. Some thirty policy scientists from various disciplinary fields, such as demography, economics, political science, and international relations, participated in the roundtable and had animated discussions.
After welcoming remarks by Takafusa Shioya, President of NIRA and Hans Martens, Chief Executive of the EPC (one of the co-convenors), Akiko Fukushima, Director of Policy Studies, NIRA began the session by reading an introduction by Kuniko Inoguchi, Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs, who stressed the impact of rapid population decline and outlined the policy measures taken by the Japanese government to reverse the trend. A basic law had been introduced in Japan in 2003 to provide an environment that encourages child-rearing. This included a framework to support parents in balancing work and childcare. The minister also called for more gender equality in the workplace and family life so that women did not have to make a zero-sum decision about whether to have children.
The Impact of Population Decline and its Solutions in Japan and EU
The first session analyzed demographic trends and associated problems in the EU member states and Japan. Both the EU and Japan face the challenge of declining populations due to low fertility rates in the first decade of the 21st century and lasting into the foreseeable future and the resultant significant political, economic, social and security problems. The participants had intensive discussions and came up with several policy implications in the end.
Hiroshi Kojima, Director, Department of International Research and Cooperation, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, outlined low fertility trends in Japan and some other Asian countries. He encouraged implementation of comprehensive countermeasures to population decline and called for global measures on international migration and marriage as well. Laura Terzera, Associate Professor, Universita degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, presented the demographic projections for Europe, pointing out that the European population would see some growth up to approximately 2030, but then experience a steady decline. Naoki Atsumi, Research Fellow, Fujitsu Research Institute, showed negative correlations between public spending on childcare and fertility rates and additionally disproportionate share spending on the elderly in Japan. He then encouraged shifting the governmental budget more towards the young, who bear the child-rearing burden.
Naohiro Ogawa, Deputy Director/Professor, Nihon University Population Research Institute, presented several counter options for the rapid ageing of the population in Japan: a later retirement age, an increase in employment opportunities for the elderly, and more effective use of the accumulated wealth of the elderly. Noriko Tsuya, Professor, Keio University, pointed to current family policies in Japan - the insufficiency of payments and short durations of the child allowance, the limited applicability of the parental leave system, and the acute shortage of childcare services. She argued to improve Japan's family policy such that it can be effective in slowing and eventually halting the on-going fertility decline. Stefania Rimoldi, Universita degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, showing the EU-25 population projection that should peak in 2025, suggested delaying the retirement age, increasing social participation opportunities, and maintaining the physical and mental capabilities of the elderly.
At the end of the first session, the following short-term and long-term policy recommendations were made by the participants.
The short-term policy recommendations are:
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To fulfill governmental family support programs more actively and adequately;
To extend the retirement age and promote an 'age-free' society;
To utilize better elderly workers;
To verify the immigration policy sufficiently;
To reallocate governmental spending more toward the young than the elderly;
The long-term policy recommendations are:
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To increase international competitiveness, led by the labor, business, and governmental sectors;
To expand the access to education in finance to optimize national wealth;
To promote a more gender equal and family friendly society;
European and Asian Approaches to Regional Integration
The second session of the Roundtable focused on the trends and perspectives in regional integration in Asia and Europe. In Asia, the East Asian Community (EAC) Building, comprising Japan, South Korea, China, ASEAN, India, Australia, and New Zealand, draws much attention of the global society. On the other hand, the EU is struggling with the ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty and the agreement of the 2007-2013 budget deals.
The second session started with a video-message from Kazuo Ogura, President of JF, reminding the participants of three critical points about the EU, history of excluding the heretical, the concept of the other, and overcoming nationalism, to examine the EU as a role model of regional integration.
Dr. Cameron enunciated the seven keys - Political Will, Agreed Leadership, Shared Goal, Common Institution, Legal Basis, Mutual Solidarity, and Step-by-Step Approaches, to the success of EU regional integration. Makio Miyagawa, Director of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, asserted that three factors why the East Asian integration came a major issue were the end of Cold War, trade linearization and economic deregulation, and raising skeptical attitudes to international organization in the Asian financial crisis. Both speakers stressed the reduction of regional tensions to help further the development towards regional integration in East Asia.
Daisuke Hiratsuka, Director of Regional Integration Study, IDE-JETRO, assumed that EAC would obtain unique identities and democracies based on cultural and social diversity and subsequently asserted that ASEAN could be a model of a regional institutional framework in the EAC. Yujiro Murata, professor, University of Tokyo, affirmed that the struggle for supremacy between Japan and China was an obstacle to regional integration among the nations in East Asia, though it may create mutual benefits in economic, security, and environmental issues. Alex Berkofsky, EPC Senior Policy Analyst, expects the active involvement of the US, the major role of China, and Japan's contribution to build the institutional framework of the EAC. Plamen Tonchev, Head of the Asia Unit, Institute of International Economic Relations Greece, warned that the present Japanese diplomatic trends showed more reliance upon the US than Asia. Consequently he suggested the Japanese government form an innovative diplomatic strategy.
Finally, Toshiro Tanaka, Professor of Keio University, outlined four dilemmas in the EU: dilemma between the neo-liberal and social economic models, dilemma of expansion, dilemma of democracy, and dilemma of national interests. These dilemmas caused the struggle of the EU integration process; however, they were regarded as simple national conflicts and would be resolved in not-so-distant future.
At the end of the second session, the following policy recommendations to Japan were made by the participants:
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To maintain favorable relations with China;
To make extra efforts toward industrial development within East Asian countries;
To control the extravagant nationalism of each nation;
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