61211    It is not the sort of age where bureaucrats should control business and industry.

61212    But from the point of view of some segments of the business world, it is comfortable to be under government control since this tends to mean there will be no new entrants in their business fields and thus competition will be limited.

61213    However, in this case, the hard tasks of management tend to get slighted, and the quality of service falls.

61214    Consumers lose a lot in the bargain.

61215    The government has said that before March of this year it will prepare a "5-year plan for promoting the loosening of regulations."

61216    The Prime Minister, too, has, quite laudably enough, given his encouragement, saying that he "plans to come to grips with the matter, even placing at stake the fate of the cabinet."

61217    Including the process of preliminary investigations, we are closely watching for results.

61218    If we reach the stage where the "loosening of regulations" is no longer just a slogan but is entering a stage of specific action, there will be more examples in the business world of parties who show a passive attitude or even outright opposition.

61219    If links are made with certain segments of the bureaucracy and Diet members who are beholden to special interests, one could see a rebuilding of "special interest triangles" involving politicians, bureaucrats, and business elements.

61220    Certainly there are many factors that will entail a certain amount of "pain," but we must not allow these reforms to end up just as reforms to benefit certain special interests.

61221    By putting deregulation measures into practice, we will advance toward an "economic society" that is imbued with the principle of self-responsibility.

61222    Can that not be said to stand on common soil with the rest of the world and to be a means leading to greater vitality in Japan's economy?

61223    Nakauchi Isao, President and CEO of the Daiei company, has expressed his concern by saying: "It won't do to let deregulation become just a temporary fashion."

61224    Fukukawa Shinji, the new head of the Dentsu Communication Institute Inc. where he succeeds Mr. Amaya, has similarly said: "One should squeeze out the arguments at every level of discussion."

61225    In both cases what is being advocated is caution against having only superficial discussions.