ABSTRACT
Japanese officials have high hopes for technology leadership in the regional economy. State planners in 2006 declared their ambitions for Japan as the “world’s innovative center,” contributing to the technological development of the East Asian region (METI 2006a). The goal is reminiscent of Akamatsu’s “flying geese” thesis of Nikkei networks filtering technology down the various layers of production sites across the region in what Japanese officials considered to be a mutually beneficial pattern of industrial growth. Changing patterns of trade and investment have pioneered new types of knowledge exchange in the region. Some question how “benign” this new nexus of trade and investment might be for Japan and her partners.
