 This is not a story about Don Quixote who challenged a hugewindmill. This Don Quixote is a Japanese whole seller that has been challenging a huge enemy, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Don Quixote opened pharmacies at the midnight hour this August. The problem has been their sales method. They introduced a new system to 10 pharmacies in Tokyo, where the sales people sell medicine in accordance with the instruction of a pharmacist over the TV phone after pharmacist leave the pharmacy. However, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare complained that it violated the law which regulates that all medicine has to be sold at a pharmacy where a pharmacist resides permanently. To comply with the regulation, Don Quixote decided to provide medicine for colds, stomachaches, and analgesic problems for one night free to emergency customers on the 1st of September. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare claimed this was illegal and that it is not a matter of whether or not money was taken. It seems that the situation may develop into a lawsuit. People who have lived in the USA may know that ordinary medicine is available anytime at grocery stores or 24 hour businesses and pharmacies. Of course, Don Quixote does not intend to provide medicine for free, but it is trying to abolish the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, which has no substance. The movement towards deregulation is not limited to the medical field. After world war II, Japan introduced protectionism called the convoy-fleet system to the industrial world under the initiative of bureaucrat's. They have built barriers to entry and firm cooperation among same trade companies to protect the domestic industry from strong foreign funding. On the other hand, loyalty to companies based on a high academic career-oriented society and lifetime employment system, has supported this system from the inside as well. Thus, the system has operated at full swing and contributes to the development of the Japanese economy during high-economic growth times. However, since that system was designed to eliminate new-entry companies or to maintain order not to raise competition principle, the system that purports coexistence and co-prosperity has weakened the protected industries. Industries like finance, construction and real estate, have also brought evils, such as bearcats and private adhesion, A lobbyist-politician's raise, and the spread of factional politics. As a result, the industry that has achieved competitiveness in the international market, such as the automobile and semiconductor industry, has succeeded using the convoy-fleet system. On the other hand, the industry, which has been protected by the government has failed and has become a trigger of economic depression. Now, the reliance on the convoy-fleet system has changed and each company has been struggling to recover from the depression of its own effort. Though the pressure of deregulation used to come from foreign countries, today the voice that desires free competition has become stronger than ever. The background of the incidents that have swung Japan in a new direction, such as the Privatization of road public corporation, public-corporation-ing of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications nominal-ing of faction, there is a big surge which requires a transition from Japanese standards to global standards. End |
