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1. A Brief Introduction
Japan was a country that defied all odds and became a world power after losing a devastating war. In the 30 years after World War II the Japanese economy grew at an incredible rate, so much so in fact that Japan became the second largest economy in the world. Japan managed to successfully enact an economic system wholly different than that of the United States and because of it Japan experienced incredibly rapid growth over a period of roughly 30 years. During that period of financial power, exports were booming, the standard of living was rising, and technology was thriving. This period of growth however, did not last; in the late 1980s the bubble burst. In 1991 and again in 1997, Japan’s stock index, the Nikkei, plummeted causing economic growth to come to an abrupt halt. Suddenly, the very institutions that Japan was praised for now came into question. Previously Japan had “a powerful bureaucracy guiding the economy, close government-industry ties, ‘lifetime’ employment, a main bank system, and dense inter-firm networks,” but now these institutions were thought to have failed and Japan would need to fundamentally alter their ways. (Vogel, 2006) One opinion, according to Steven Vogel, is that the Japanese model should try to mirror the model of the United States. (S. K. Vogel, 2006) Interestingly enough, Ezra Vogel (in 1979) essentially suggested the exact opposite as Steven Vogel. Ezra suggested that Japan would be a viable mirror for the United States, that is, the United States should try to emulate the Japanese System. Japan at that time had been doing extremely well. Ezra describes how Japan had restructured traditional institutions whereas the American system was designed two centuries ago for a...
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...ast asian miracle: Four lessons for development policy. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 9, 219-269.
Posen, A. S. (1998). Restoring japan's economic growth. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.
Sud¯, & o, S. (2002). The international relations of japan and south east asia : Forging a new regionalism. London; New York: Routledge.
Sugimoto, Y. (1997). An introduction to japanese society. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Vogel, E. F. (1979). Japan as number one :Lessons for america. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Vogel, S. K. (2006). Japan remodeled :How government and industry are reforming japanese capitalism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Yagi, K. (2004). Decentralization in japan. The 21st Century Center of Excellence Program “Policy Innovation Initiative: Human Security Research in Japan and Asia”,
...rnational position.” (Weisner, 20) After defeating China in the First Sino-Japanese War and Russia in the Russo-Japanese War the balance of power in East Asia transformed and Japan was acknowledged as a major regional power.
In 1900 Britain was in many respects the world’s leading nation, enjoying a large share of world trade, a dominant position in the international money market, and possessing a far flung empire supported by the world’s most powerful navy. Japan was a complete contrast, sharing with Britain only the fact that it too was a nation of Islands lying off the shore of a major continent. Until the 1860s it had possessed a social and economic structure more akin to that of feudal, rather than twentieth century, Europe. By the 1990s, the positions were almost reversed. This paper sets out to examine the contrasting democratic political systems of the two nations and to explore the social and democratic consequences of the changes that have occurred.
Sayle, Murray. “Japan Goes Dutch”. London Review of Books. Vol. 23 No. 7 (5 April
...feat of Japan in World War 2). With the changes of the nature of power, Japan by balancing out aggressive economic policies and a quiet military buildup, was able to build herself up to become a prominent player in the international sphere today. In closing, while Japan’s policies today in general have been skewered towards the arguments of the ‘Gentleman’, increasingly Japan has considered more realist concerns of security in the escalation of tensions of the East Asian geopolitical sphere. Chomin’s Discourse has nonetheless served as a prophetic blueprint for more than a century of Japan policy-making.
We are living in an increasingly globalized world where flows of capital, people, goods, and services transcend national borders and countries become more connected through economic ties facilitated through improved communications, efficient means of transportation, and advanced technologies. As a matter of fact, globalization has advanced in the twenty-first century just as technology and IT developed facilitating greater economic ties and reducing political barriers to international movements of trade, capital, etc. Since the westernization and modernization period of the Meiji Restoration in the late nineteenth century, Japan has experienced “a tension between tradition and modernity” in terms of the adoption of foreign ideas, institutions, and values. This applies to the various processes associated with globalization, cultural nationalism, and the technological culture that has developed in modern day Japan.
Tsuzuki, Chushichi. The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan, 1825-1995. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Questia. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
The U.K. and Japan seem natural subjects for comparison. British and Japanese observers alike have long been fascinated by the many parallels (and the even more numerous divergences) in the histories of these two island nations. Particularly interesting about these two was the "economic role reversal” which occurred between Japan and Britain over the course of the twentieth century. In 1900, the United Kingdom was the world's dominant colonial, financial and naval power, as well as a center of industrial production and technological innovation. Japan was a mere up-start, a precocious and aspiring, but still unthreatening, economic competitor in East Asia. The beginning of the twentieth century, and more accurately the 1950s, saw Japan and Great Britain’s economic “role” reverse. Although Britain has enjoyed healthy growth rates and rising standards of living over the past 100 years, it has been progressively eclipsed by Japan as an economic superpower and an international model. Indeed, Britain's accomplishments have paled in comparison to Japan's meteoric rise: while Japan has emerged as the outstanding economic "success story" of the twentieth century, Great Britain's relatively modest performance has been both discouraging and confounding.
...ty for one that better suited its capitalistic tendency. That opportunity came in1868 when the Meiji imperial rule was able to overthrow the Tokugawa regime, setting off a political, economic, social and cultural change that transformed Japan. As Japan embraced modernity with full force, some began to realize the negative impact of modernization on the rural life, social structure and most importantly on its culture, blaming it on the western influence on its modernization. Thus as Japan neared World War II, it embraced a new sense of modernization, one that was separate from westernization, creating a nationalistic and fascist government policy. Japanese society is characteristic of plurality and opposing value systems coexisting. As new ideals and institutions arise, Japan sees itself transforming and changing at the hands of internal and external forces.
...nt acknowledge the collapsed of bubble economy in 1993. Many problems were not solved. The wholesale price in Japan is falling 4.2 percent every years and the Gross National Product decrease 2 percent every years (Watkins). Japan’s economy is still in trouble after the end of bubble economy. One of the major problem is the government did not try to fix the cause of problem. The government tries to quick fix the economy turn down (Watkins). It orders the public sector financial institutions to buy stock from stock market to raises price. The bank industry suffer heavy lose because people were unable to pay their loans (Watkins). Some bank cannot pay their employees with money; they have to pay them with unsold company inventory (Watkins). The Japanese government does not encourage companies to reduce their labors, but this put companies to financial risk (Watkins).
In conclusion, I tried to explain what experienced in Japan during the first years of rapid economic growth in terms of its social consequences. According to my argument, I tried to show imbalances which occurred with economic development in post- war Japan. In other words, economic development cannot appear as linear social development. Post- war Japan has witnessed positive and negative social consequences after implementing economic recovery. Therefore, we can say that society cannot always embrace economic development positively. Economic transformation brings its own waves and thus society fluctuates regarding its embracement. Japanese society received its share with this economic recovery during post- war period.
So, if Japan does not “belong” to Asia, does it belong to some other amorphous collection of nations, namely Europe or the West? Certainly in the modern post-WWII era Japan has seen phenomenal economic growth, even to the point of threatening the US as the primary global economic power during the height of the “bubble economy.” Some credit this success to the changes implemented during the US occupation. Undoubtedly without US assistan...
Stockwin, J. A. Chapter 7: Who Runs Japan? In Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Resurgent Economy (4th ed., pp. 46-72). London, The United Kingdom: Blackwell.
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...
Second, the Japanese social system, which has looked highly on across-the-board equality, has generated a bloated public sector and inefficient resource allocation. Typical examples are excessive regulation, overprotection, lack of self-reliance, and the "convoy" system. To cope with these problems, a new system needs to be built in which all production factors such as capital, labor, and land should be best allocated in a more efficient way through fundamental reforms in the public sector and full utilization of the market mechanism.