On January 16, Business Times Singapore interviewed Kazuhiro Haraguchi the Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. Kazuhiro Haraguchi stated, "Unless Japan models after Singapore on bringing information revolution aggressively, it may lose its economic power within decades."
Haraguchi said, "Japan is rated no. 2 in the global economy, but I'm worrying about falling back to no. 8 by 2050. Japan makes a plan for the future, achieving three percent of annual GDP growth rate for the next 10 years. Japan's industrial structure should turn its direction from a manufacturing business to the IT sector. Singapore has successfully turned its direction; the country has an answer for solving our problem."
According to an official from Singapore, the ratio of subscribers to the Internet among Singaporean households is over 76 percent in 2008, most of them using optical fiber cable. In Contrast, Japan has reached less 30 percent of subscribers for the Internet recently. Haraguchi stated, "Japan is left far behind Singapore in the era of IT."
The Minister pointed out that the government has intervened too much in the private sectors. By doing so, this has pulled back Japan's economy, and killed the spirit of innovation. He stated, "I believe IT will help the Japanese enterprises to grow its creativity and the government to raise its efficiency."
