As the world goes smaller, and issues in the world further settle down, whether it be China or Siberia, development will proceed. In order to get the needed access (participation in the market), the most important possibility lies in linear technology. Japan and West Germany are the most advanced countries in this research and development, and the theoretical base of Japanese technology is far superior. West Germany has given up in research on superconducting, but Japan has cleared three technological obstacles which were envisioned by West Germany.
To make a long story short, the West German magnetic floating train development realized a levitation of only 8mm, but Japan's "Maglevel" superconducting linear motorcar realized a levitation of 10 centimeters, and speeds of 500 kilometers per hour. This type of technology does not exist anywhere in the Soviet Union or the United States, it only exists in Japan and West Germany. If the giants in the economic field and the politicians can joing together around this type of technology, it would open up new possibilities for our advancement. Whether or not this can be achieved depends upon our large and small choices in the future; in sum, it is a question involving the sensibilities of our politicians.
There is a Jiyu Shakai Kenkyu-kai (Free Society Research Association) which is presided over by Mr. Morita. This was formed more than 10 years ago as an association of politicians and businessmen. I am the youngest, but I also participate. We get together for discussions one or twice per year.
Recently, Mr. Kissinger predicted that Japan might become a military superpower. This, however, was not the foolish step of Japan getting ICBMs and refurbishing the old Yamato battleship, it pointed to the danger that no matter how much the U.S. or Soviet Union developed space, equippped themselves with space platform weapons, the military initiative to control these would be dependent upon Japanese technology. The question now is whether Japan has politicians who accurately understand the history behind what we have now become.
We Japanese now face choices on whether we can boldly proceed or stand back quietly. It may be possible that Japan can secure a new culture for itself based upon the skeleton of the development of high technology. We must not restrain ourselves to what we have done up to this point. The dregs of the postwar period are too prominent in the consciousness of Japanese. I feel that however hesitatingly, the revolution in our consciousness has already begun.
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