JAPANESE-FILIPINO JOINT VENTURES 11 '> are not restricted to these joint ventures alone but span over wide and major areas of economic activity in the Philippines. Tsuda observes that "the joint ventures in which the Kigyo-Shudan and elements of the local business and industrial elite invested represent the larger firms existing in the Philippines55 (p 153). It is then asserted that "a limited number of Japanese big business groups and members of the Philippines business and industrial elite are the co-partners in leading' joint ventures which account for the great bulk of Japanese investments in the Philippines" (p 153). Tsuda's preliminary examination of the data he has culled allows him to conclude that ^behind the phenomenal rise of Japanese investments in the country are Japanese conglomerates (the Kigyo-Shudan), a major sector of the Filipino economic elite. and the Philippine Government itself. So to speak, the Japanese conglomerates are the 'pushing forces' for the export of Japanese capital to the Philippines while the Filipino big business stratum and the Government itself are the 'accommodating5 even the 'pulling3 forces" (p 155). This apart Tsuda has given us no analysis cither of the historical origins of Japanese imperialism or 'neocolonialism9 and its growth in the more recent past nor has lie discussed the implications of this development to the characterization of the State in the Philippines. More importantly the study offers no explanation of why the growth of joint ventures has assumed such phenomenal proportions only in the recent past. What are the dynamics of tlie operations of the 'Sogo-Shosha' and what role do they play in Japan's exploitation of the Third World countries. These and many more questions remain unanswered or even unasked. In all fairness to Tsuda we do admit that he had set himself a modest task of presenting the newly available information rather than analysing it, and he admits this himself. Tsuda concludes by defining further problems and avenues of research which need to be undertaken on this subject. It will also be interesting to study the role of joint ventures in the penetration of multinational corporations into Third World economies and the dynamics of their growth and mortality. Studies of US Multinational Corporations have shown the fairly high rate of mortality of the host country partners in joint ventures. Joint ventures are a useful vehicle for multinational corporations to penetrate markets which either offer initial political hostility or where host partners have a useful role to play in introducing the 'visitors' to their new domain!