Rebuilding Japan

Nick Gibson — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 01:10:12 +0000

A quick glance at the financial estimates of damage caused by Japan's recent quake is unsettling:

$247 billion: Japanese Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano's estimate of the cost to rebuild Japan

$235 billion: World Bank estimate of what it will cost to rebuild Japan

$100 billion: Cost of rebuilding after the 1995 Kobe earthquake

$33 billion: Work Bank estimate of amount private insurers might pay for reconstruction

$12 billion: World Bank estimate of Gov't funds needed from the current Japanese budget

$1 trillion: Japan's stockpile of foreign reserves

10 percent: Amount Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index fell

390,000: Number of Japanese who remain homeless

9,080: Official death toll from the disasters

13,561: Number of Japanese still reported missing

$4.9 billion: Total claims for life insurance from the disasters

$339 billion: Amount of life insurance Japanese bought in 2009 (17% of world total)

$1.2 billion: Amount insurer Swiss Reinsurance estimates it will lose from the disasters

544,000: Tons of seafood handled annually at Tokyo's Tsukiji central fish market

$5.4 billion: Value of all that seafood

70 percent: Drop-in customers at Tsuikiji since the March 11 earthquake.

1 year: Minimum period of time for the fish market to recover, according to Tsukiji officials

To address the displacement aspects of the crisis, a mix of public and private sector development is currently underway, providing temporary, prefab shelter to house residents rent-free for at least two years. While these two sectors will shoulder a substantial part of the physical rebuilding efforts, just as significant is the role that the 'third sector' must play in providing a psychological lift.

In his recent column for Bloomberg Businessweek, Rick Wartzman, Drucker Institute's Executive Director, looks to Japan's nonprofit sector as an essential agent of relief in the nation's rebuilding efforts. Without the 'I make a difference' mindset, "a nation very soon begins to fall apart," asserted Drucker before an audience in Tokyo in 1994. "It loses its heart, its soul. We need a sector in which an individual can make a difference, can make a commitment. We need the nonprofit sector."

In addition to the physical relief that Japanese NGOs are providing in the aftermath of the quake, there is a longer term need for the psychological relief that a strong social sector provides. The beneficiaries of such relief, according to Drucker, are not those obtaining the services. Rather, it is those who are giving them. By rediscovering their rich tradition of community service, Japan can best seize the future.

One compelling illustration of the "I make a difference" mentality is set to hit Japanese theaters this June. The movie tells the story of Minami Kawashima, a student who unexpectedly becomes the manager of a dejected high school baseball team in Tokyo. Interestingly enough, the key factor in Minami's ability to positively influence the team is her discovery of a copy of Drucker’s classic Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. For a nation in need of a little inspiration, sometimes simple stories like these can go a long way towards reawakening a sense of hope. If the next generation can grab hold of this mentality, a bright future yet remains for the Land of the Rising Sun.

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Rebuilding Japan