--- title: Japanese Bureaucrats Crush Digital Economy Innovators image: https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/file-1604221642-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2010/03/japanese-bureaucrats-crush-digital-economy-innovators.html#maincontent) [ «  View All Posts ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog) # Japanese Bureaucrats Crush Digital Economy Innovators March 24th, 2010 1 min read By [David Meerman Scott](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) ![](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/file-1604221642-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg?width=250&height=205&name=6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg) Thirty years ago the "Japan Inc." partnership between government and industry created an economic powerhouse. Today, those same players are actively blocking innovators in Japan from creating similar success in the fast-growing, new digital economy. According to allegations in a case to be decided March 30, 2010 by the Tokyo District Court, government bureaucrats have engaged in seemingly corrupt practices to keep up-and-coming ecommerce companies from challenging fossilized brick-and-mortar incumbents. The situation involves [Kenko.com](http://en.kenko.com/), a company I [profiled on my blog](https://www.webinknow.com/2010/01/news2u-helps-kenko-become-number-one-online-healthcare-products-store-in-japan.html) earlier this year. [![GenriGoto_FCCJ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/file-1604221642-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg)](http://freshspot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-pi) Today at the [Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan](http://www.fccj.or.jp/), Kenko.com CEO [Genri Goto](http://twitter.com/genrigoto) spoke about the case. *"Is Japan going to build a new global future in the digital economy? Are we going to create a new wave of great companies? Or will this country just keep going down and down? Is Japan going to suffocate its own children just to prevent change? That’s what this is about!"* [![Huffpo](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/file-1604221657-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bae0970b-120wi.jpg)](http://freshspot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bae0970b-pi) Please check out more details about this in a story [I wrote about this today in the Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-meerman-scott/japanese-bureaucrats-crus_b_511029.html). **Comments (on the Huffington Post site) and tweets pointing to it appreciated. ** *FCCJ photo* [ David Meerman Scott ](https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott) David Meerman Scott is a business growth strategist, advisor to clever entrepreneurs who are building emerging companies, and the international bestselling author of a dozen books published in 30 languages. David’s high-energy keynote presentations, masterclasses, and virtual events educate, energize, and inspire. Connect: [mailto:david@freshspot.com](mailto:david@freshspot.com) Don't forget to share this post: ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott" }, "datePublished" : "2010-03-24T13:43:18.000Z", "headline" : "Japanese Bureaucrats Crush Digital Economy Innovators", "image" : [ "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hs-fs/file-1604221642-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2010/03/japanese-bureaucrats-crush-digital-economy-innovators.html", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/_Assets/Logo/david-meerman-scott.png" }, "name" : "David Meerman Scott" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#person", "@type" : "Person", "description" : "Marketing and sales visionary, international bestselling author of 12 books, keynote speaker in 47 countries, and advisor to emerging companies.", "email" : "mailto:David@DavidMeermanScott.com", "image" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/hubfs/DMS-Homepage-Featured.jpg", "jobTitle" : [ "Keynote Speaker", "Author", "Business Growth Strategist", "Marketing Advisor" ], "knowsAbout" : [ "Content Marketing", "Fandom Marketing", "Newsjacking", "Real-Time Marketing", "Public Relations", "Sales Strategy", "Business Growth" ], "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "sameAs" : [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Meerman_Scott", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeermanscott", "https://x.com/dmscott", "https://www.instagram.com/dmscott/" ], "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#website", "@type" : "WebSite", "author" : { "@id" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/#person" }, "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "potentialAction" : { "@type" : "SearchAction", "query-input" : "required name=search_term_string", "target" : { "@type" : "EntryPoint", "urlTemplate" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/search?q={search_term_string}" } }, "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "David Meerman Scott", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/author/david-meerman-scott" }, "dateCreated" : "2014-09-10T22:40:33", "datePublished" : "2010-03-24T09:43:18-0400", "description" : "", "headline" : "Japanese Bureaucrats Crush Digital Economy Innovators", "image" : [ "http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/413105/file-1604221642-jpg/blog-files/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a970bb85970b-250wi.jpg" ], "inLanguage" : "en-us", "learningResourceType" : "article", "name" : "Japanese Bureaucrats Crush Digital Economy Innovators", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://413105.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/413105/_Assets/Logo/david-meerman-scott.png" }, "name" : "Freshspot Marketing LLC" }, "timeRequired" : "1 minutes", "url" : "https://www.davidmeermanscott.com/blog/2010/03/japanese-bureaucrats-crush-digital-economy-innovators.html" } ```