I have been in the think tank business for more than a decade. My objective in joining the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), a Tokyo-based think tank founded in 2009, was to train and send ambitious and competent young men and women to the government's decision-making body as political appointees.
The idea of introducing a political appointment system in Japan was conceived before I left government service in 2005. It was becoming ominously clear as early as 20 years ago that "the best and brightest" of fresh university graduates had found a new social contract and would no longer continue to join the government bureaucracy.
It was easily predictable back then that sooner or later the day would come when the bureaucracy would no longer function as well as before. The best and the brightest university students would now start cashing in on their talent right after graduation — becoming lawyers, joining foreign consulting firms or starting up their own businesses.
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