The Japanese Economy

The Japanese Economy

The prewar economy of Japan was a Socialist economy and the country was

ruled by an emperor up to WW2 and after WW2 it started to lean towards a mixed

market economy until what it is today although its government is Socialist it is

leaning towards a mixed market economy.

The Japanese economy is a mixed economy that leans towards market, it is

like this because almost all business are run by private corporations or people

and that is the market in the economy. And the reason that they are thriving and

are so competitive is because of the trade tariffs and quotas that the

government has in place. These regulations include heavy taxes on some products

and denial on some others for example: the way Japan will only let certain

foreign cars in to Japan and even then they are so heavily taxed that the

average Japanese person can¹t pay that much and will have to buy a Japanese made

car and at the same time in other countries they are selling their cars for less

than anyone else in that country and that is what they do with most of their

products and is how they get a trade surplus year after year.

Manufacturing is the most important economic activity in Japan it

accounts for about 28% of it¹s GDP. The Japanese people import more than half

of the products that they manufacture from other countries in their crudest form

and manufacture them into transportation equipment, iron, steel, chemicals,

petroleum and coal products and textiles. Most of these products are produced by

large corporations with many employees and the happier the employees are the

more it will be done.

An aspect of a market economy that Japan has is the way the companies

treat their workers. The way the Japanese treat their workers is so different

form the way we treat our workers here. The Japanese are so much more respectful

towards their employer( the exact opposite from other countries especially those

with a centralised economy) and often work for one employer until retirement.

Some of the special treatment that the workers receive is housing; some of the

companies namely Honda have a special housing unite for their workers and their

families and a company cemetery for all the workers and their families. Because

of this the employees work habits are much more productive and a larger profit

can be turned and they can get a jump on the competition.

In centralised economies very few lucturies are returned to the people

and in market economies most of them are, in Japan there are to kinds of people