Macroscope | Nissan’s old guard struck back against their ‘gaijin’ saviour, and Japan Inc may be the worse for it

The Empire has struck back. Japan Inc and Nissan Motor last week struck back against the French government, carmaker Renault and Carlos Ghosn.

The narrative spun by Nissan and apparently condoned by Japanese authorities is that the former high-flying head of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Motor alliance abused his position to enrich himself.

The truth appears to be rather different and it seems certain to come out as “L’Affaire Ghosn” unfolds. It threatens to do at least as much damage to the reputation of the government and industry alliance known as Japan Inc as to the man at the centre of the affair.

It has been said that Ghosn had become a national hero in Japan before he fell from grace. But that is next to impossible. No one can really be a hero in Japan unless they are of Japanese origin and, as the Japanese say, the “nail that sticks up gets knocked down.”

Ghosn is of Lebanese, French and Brazilian extraction, the kind of exotic mixture that sometimes produces outstanding people. In Japan, he is first and foremost a gaijin (foreigner) and the Japanese corporate world is not comfortable having foreigners show then how to do things.

Worse, from what former vice finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara described as being the “xenophobic” Japanese, Ghosn not only reigned supreme as head of the Nissan alliance but Renault (of which he remains chairman) still calls the shots within the partnership.