As Tokyo seeks to boost its economic security, policymakers are tapping into household wealth and assets to advance industrial ambitions
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAnthony RowleyAnthony Rowley is a veteran journalist specialising in Asian economic and financial affairs. Published: 4:30pm, 9 May 2026In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations.
Tokyo’s move, announced last November, to designate 17 strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, nuclear fusion, aviation, shipbuilding and energy development, among others, attracted scant international attention and is ostensibly driven by economic security considerations. The real motives go deeper.
Minoru Kiuchi, minister in charge of Japan’s growth strategy, has suggested that “investment that leads to growth is overwhelmingly lacking”, and the Takaichi administration seems to be making credible efforts to address the deficit.
