Japan visit inspires dreaming.

• Author: Barry, Doug
• Position: How Japanese fisheries should inspire Alaska's fish industry

Tokyo is filled with gleaming office towers. One tower looks like a pile of ice cubes that the builder tossed in the air and let land at random. The asymmetrical design teases eyes accustomed to a world of mostly right angles.

Another tower has elevators with a moving hologram of a Japanese garden. Lighting is subdued to help relax passengers in momentary Zenlike repose.

Japan is dreaming about what the future will look and feel like. And Japan can afford to dream.

Another building houses the Center for Global Partnership, a branch of the Japanese government that opened its doors last April. The University of Alaska Anchorage was one of the center's first grant recipients. That grant enabled six Alaska teachers to travel to Japan in November to search for ideas on how to teach about Japan and its relationship with Alaska, and what this means for the future.

The name Center for Global Partnership says a lot about the new Japan. No longer content to live in America's shadow, the Japanese government sees Japan as a partner with the United States in a quest to manage the global economy. Having trade surpluses with almost every nation and mountains of cash with which to buy everything from fish-processing plants in Alaska to superstar recordings in Hollywood, the Japanese are reaping the fruits of their labor and good fortune.

It also may be generous of them to think of Americans as partners, since we owe them so much money. It's like the big winner at a poker game referring to the big loser as "partner." But we need to get away from macho, confrontational metaphors such as "winners" and "losers," "trade wars" and "level playing fields." Our metaphors influence the way we think -- and maybe the way we act.

Many Japanese believe that Japan should act as a "facilitator" of economic growth and development around the world. In this scenario, the United States will continue to provide the geopolitical guidance, while Japan pays a big chunk of the bills. All 50 states stand in line waiting to be "facilitated." Thirty states have offices in Tokyo; Alaska was the first.

At the Alaska state office, I learned from U.S. Embassy fisheries officer, Tomohiro Asakawa, that prices for Alaska salmon should be up a bit this year. His analysis is based on these factors:

* Chilean producers of pen-raised coho salmon, which reportedly helped drive down prices for Alaskan product last year, are losing their competitive position because of skyrocketing costs and...