Abstract

The U. S . has a great deal to learn from Japanese telecommunications policy as well as from their policy-making and implementation process. The Japanese telecommunications policy regime, though hardly perfect, is well suited to a technologically dynamic, globally competitive industry. What Japanese policy has, and the U.S. sorely lacks, is a strategic sense of purpose and direction, a strong public consensus regarding that purpose, a coherent and consistent framework for achieving that purpose, and a consensual process for resolving conflicts and removing obstacles to that achievement. The article examines the history of the Japanese telecommunications industry and policy, and it describes the important lessons that the U.S. can learn from Japan's experience.