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1- Éditorial

Japan has long considered South-East Asia as a key strategic area and a top priority in its trade and economic diplomacy. It is arguably even more the case today. ASEAN remains one of the fastest growing regions of the world, with huge needs for new infrastructure investments. It has also become a major focal point of the competition between China and Japan. Malaysia, the strongest economy of ASEAN after Singapore, is seen today by both countries as an increasingly important partner. The high-speed rail (HSR) project launched recently by the governments of Malaysia and Singapore, and which will create a one and a half hour link between the two capitals by 2026, is one of the hotspots of the ongoing economic power struggle between Tokyo and Beijing.

The spectacular economic development of Malaysia (Malaysia recorded an impressive average growth of 5.7% between 2009 and 2015) was strongly influenced by the Japanese model. The famous “Look East policy” initiated by Dr. Mahathir in the early eighties has generated a large influx of Malaysian students in Japanese universities and companies. Japan is still today the second foreign investor in Malaysia (behind Singapore) and the third trade partner of Kuala Lumpur (after China and Singapore). Around 1.400 companies are part of the impressive Japanese economic footprint in Malaysia.

The Malaysian success story and the rapid economic diversification which has supported it are presented today by the World Bank as a model to be followed by emerging countries. It also opens up an interesting field of study and research for European economists. An international conference entitled “Malaysian Capitalism in comparative perspective” was organized last November in Kuala Lumpur by the Khazanah Research Institute, which is sponsored by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of the Malaysian Government. The event brought together Malaysian, French and international experts and it touched upon a great variety of topics, ranging from labor market and migrant workers to capital accumulation or Islamic finance.

The discussions cast an interesting light on the differences between the economic models of Asia and Europe. It also highlighted one common feature which France shares with Malaysia as well as Japan: the strong role of state-driven policies in economic development. This conference showed the great potential and value of interdisciplinary scientific exchanges between European and Asian researchers, an area in which France and Japan could possibly play a more active role with the support of the EHESS.

La campagne d'appel à candidatures 2018 pour les chaires Banque de France, Michelin, Valéo, Renault, Air Liquide est ouverte jusqu'au 31 mars 2017. Les thèmes de recherches proposés par les Chaires sont les suivantes :

Chaire Banque de France : "Macroéconomie et politique économique : leçons de l’expérience japonaise"

Chaire Michelin : "Politiques publiques d’innovation au Japon"

Chaire Valéo : "Usages de l’automobile et des nouveaux services de mobilité au Japon, en Corée et en Europe"

Chaire Renault : "Technologies innovantes pour une mobilité durable"

Chaire Air Liquide : "L’alimentation et son impact en termes sanitaires et environnementaux. Existe-t-il une spécificité du régime alimentaire japonais traditionnel ?"

The new mobility services based on “sharing” (car-sharing or carpooling) are booming in both France and Japan. This phenomenon is clearly linked with an expansion of the new socio-economic style called the cooperative economy that rests on the fact that access to use prevails over property.

One of the characteristics of shared mobility is that the service is based on sharing a car (car-sharing) or a travel (carpooling) with strangers. Car-sharing is a system of sharing a vehicle between relatives, friends, but also strangers. Carpooling is sharing a trip with strangers. The practice of service rests above all on trust in others and the acceptability of unknown people. Although the number of shared mobility services is increasing in France and Japan (see Table), we can generally observe differences in the way these services are growing. For instance, in Japan, the car-sharing service B to C (Business to Consumer) is more developed (e.g. 846,240 subscribers and 19,717 vehicles in 2016) than the carpooling service, while in France both services are growing, especially the service C to C (Consumer to Consumer) is much more expanded in France than in Japan[[iv]]. We can for example observe the remarkable growth of the "Blablacar" carpooling service in France. Various factors like governmental policy, economical, social and geographical contexts can have an impact on the service development. In this research, I will analyze differences in the development of these services with a focus on social relationship, particularly the relationship with “strangers” form a sociological standpoint.

A strong yen—endaka—in Japanese— has repeatedly cause distress among Japanese policymakers and manufacturers. Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the yen has seen several episodes of strong appreciation, including in the late 1970s, after the 1985 Plaza Agreement, the early and late 1990s and after 2008. These appreciations have not only been associated with “expensive yen recessions”—endaka fukyo in Japanese—resulting from negaTative effects on exports, since the late 1980s the strong yen has also raised concern about a de-industrialisation of the Japanese economy.

Indeed, the share of manufacturing in total output has declined from 27.2% in 1980 to 18.5% in 2013, while employment in industry as share of total employment has declined from 34.6% to 27.4% between 1991 and 2015.

While the strong yen and its potentially de-industrialising effect has received much attention in the political and economic policy discourse in Japan, there has been surprisingly little research in the academic literature. As pointed out by Hamada and Okada (2009: 200), most research on Japan’s “lost decade” and hollowing out of the Japanese industry “have been broadly focused on its real and domestic aspects, such as total factor productivity (TPF), growth decline, non-performing loans, and governance.” Hamada and Okada (2009: 200) argue that monetary and exchange rate policy have played an important role in this, and that “Japanese industries endured a heavy burden” due to a greatly overvalued real exchange rate.