In this role, he worked with Morizumi Yoshikiko (whom he recalled from France) to adapt and import the French concept of économie concertée, which the two men developed into a system of co-operation between the private and public sectors to revitalise Japan's own economy.
[4] In 1962, Sahashi proposed and championed a piece of legislation called the Tokoshin Hō, or "Draft Law of Special Measures for the Promotion of Designated Industries".
The Tokoshin Hō was strongly resisted by the financial sector and by commercial banks, and this opposition, together with factionalisation within the MITI, led ultimately to the collapse of the proposal.
[4] This breach of protocol caused outrage within the ministry, bringing its day-to-day operations to a standstill; the MITI Journalists' Club compared the situation to the February 26 Incident, in which a group of military officers tried to overthrow the government.
[7][8] Sahashi was a practitioner of aikido, and in 1972 wrote the book Shin no budō (The True Way of the Warrior), which was a diatribe against the increased emphasis on sport within the martial arts.