Opinion Tokyo Needs a Good Manager! By CHRISTINE CUNANAN-NOMURA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
東京を再生できる都知事、求む 東京を再生できる都知事、求む いよいよ都知事選の投票日が近づいてきた。 大都市である東京では今、不景気、就職難、 犯罪の増加、ホームレス問題など、 急務が山積している。 筆者は選挙権を持たないが、東京在住者として 有能な都知事の選出を願っている。

I was happy to learn that Tokyo governor Yukio Aoshima would not be seeking a second term. It's not that I don't like him, for he seems to be a sincerely kind and unpretentious man who has certainly tried his best. However, I don't think he has the ability to manage metropolitan Tokyo well.

In fact, few people really have the ability to manage such a large metropolis as Tokyo, although many aspire to do so. The list of contenders for the governorship includes several interesting personalities: two veteran politicians, a writer and former Cabinet minister, a scholar and TV commentator, and a former high-ranking United Nations official. I am sure all of them are intelligent people who want to make Tokyo a better place to live and work.

In fact, I've had the pleasure of meeting several of the candidates before and have been suitably impressed by them. I once appeared in a television debate show on a panel opposite Koji Kakizawa, visited Shintaro Ishihara in his office, met Kunio Hatoyama at a diplomatic function and even went to see a baseball game with Yoichi Masuzoe.

However I wonder which of these candidates truly has the managerial talent to run Tokyo. Frankly speaking, Tokyo seems to be in bad shape due to the actions of past administrations and to the effects of Japan's worst postwar recession. I've heard that the metropolis may run a deficit due to a drop in tax earnings and past overspending.

Tokyo must also cope with rising unemployment and crime, the increasing number of homeless people, the heavy burdens of the pension and health insurance systems, care of the growing elderly population and various environmental concerns.

Tokyo obviously needs a good, no-nonsense manager who will be able to coordinate the use of its limited resources in the best possible way. In other words, the new governor must be able to motivate both bureaucrats and citizens to find solutions to problems together and to get as many things done as quickly, effectively and cheaply as possible.

Tokyo today is almost like a company that is losing business as time passes. Without the right "company president," things will only keep getting worse. With the right leader at the helm, howev er, the situation can improve quickly and the "company" can have a second life.

The U.S. car company Chrysler, for example, was headed for bankruptcy when Lee Iacocca, a talented manager, was asked to head the company. He planned an aggressive strategy and slashed his own high salary to $1 a year. Both his actions and example inspired other employees, impressed investors and helped save Chrysler.

In a similar way, the upcoming gubernatorial election offers Tokyo the same possibility for a rebirth if citizens will only elect an able manager. As a long-term resident of Tokyo, I am very concerned that the next governor be the man who can best improve general living standards and help Tokyo navigate through the 21st century. Unfortunately, I can't vote.

However, let me say this much: Managing Tokyo has little to do with being nice, sincere, honest or likable, or with being the smartest, most successful or most famous candidate — although, of course, all these personality traits will help. Tokyo needs a good, efficient manager!

Shukan ST: April 9, 1999

(C) All rights reserved