Vanishing Japanese Diplomacy.

Last evening, I had awfully pleasant time with my former colleague of MOFA, who’ s now in charge of economic affairs. He’s always been a nice guy and tells me what happens in the house. Since I’m globalist based on my mother country, Japan, and have nothing to do with official duties in the traditional meaning any more, I actually don’t need to gather such internal information. However, I just love to take pleasure in listing to gossips and untold internal affairs of the house. Since diplomacy is basically done behind doors, only those who have personal connections such as mine are allowed to enjoy themselves. As a former diplomat of Japanese MOFA, I have such an advantage to update what’s going on in the ministry.

This time, I had the feeling that the majority of MOFA’s officials have been becoming fully unsatisfied step by step with what they’re instructed to do at desk. Of course, you can find “unsatisfied guys” in any offices, wherever they are working. Nevertheless, the point is it occurred to me, “This time is different”. Even though diplomacy is sometimes a very, very tough job, works aren’t paid fully in the house compared, for example, to the financial world. What’s still left, is just jealousy and desire to succeed. Based only on them, all the members of the house are motivated to do hard works every day. It’s just crazy, but true indeed. Like rats in laboratory, they have to keep on running, running and running. Never stop. The game never ends.

I myself found out it was just a machinery that made the “best and brightest” of the Japanese society mentally disabled and incapable of connecting themselves with the outer world. Therefore, I voluntarily dropped out and began to stand on my own feet. At that time, elder colleagues scoffed and never believed my success in the business world. While my business has been expanded gradually, the number of former colleagues, who begin to admire me, has obviously risen regardless of their ages.

Now that the so-called “ABENOMICS” stagnates and makes us believe the moment of truth in terms of “GOJ’s default” might be approaching, my former colleagues seem to wake up and begin to find way-out. Some of them seeks possibilities to be elected in the forthcoming general elections in July, while others find jobs in academia. Of course, there are countless examples of Japanese diplomats who simply dropped out and became labor force in the private economy. Besides MOFA, you can find similar phenomena in METI, where almost 20 young career officials are said to wait for being approved to drop out. It’s a kind of irreversible disaster in Japanese bureaucracy, which will lead the whole society to stagnate further.

Heading to G7 leaders’ summit in Ise/Shima in July, the Japanese diplomacy is vanishing in terms of human resource management. This is just the very beginning of an ending story. Once Japan will show the reality of her default within (maybe) two years, you won’t be able to keep the “best and brightest” guys at desk of Japanese diplomacy any more. Even officials above director and DG levels in the house are building up frustration and said to fight against each other in Year’s end party, being irrational and resentful. Yes, this is the reality of Japanese diplomacy, which erodes.

PM Shinzo ABE and his chief of staffs, Mr. SUGA, never understand and know it, while they love to build up new (incompetent) organizations such as NSC and other intelligence units one after another in spite of financial and HR shortage. It’s only their own “political” legacy that matters to them. National interest per se is left behind.

Well, let’s see when the Japanese diplomacy will collapse soon. Sincerely hope my former colleagues won’t rebel against the “political” leadership by saying, “Give me more money. Give back decent life to me”. Stay tuned.