- Table View
- List View
Japan and the Global Economy: Issues and Trends in the 1990s
by Jonathan MorrisFirst published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Japan and the Great Divergence
by Penelope FrancksThis text offers an accessible guide to the ways in which our growing knowledge of development in early-modern and modernising Japan can throw light on the paths that industrialisation was eventually to take across the globe. It has long been taken as read that the industrial revolution was the product of some form of 'European superiority' dating back to at least early-modern times. In The Great Divergence, Kenneth Pomeranz challenged this assumption on the basis of his evidence that parts of eighteenth-century China were as well placed as northern Europe to achieve sustained economic growth, thus igniting what has been called 'the single most important debate in recent global history'. Japan, as the only non-Western country to experience significant industrialisation before the Second World War, ought to provide crucial - and intriguing - evidence in the debate, but analysis of the Japanese case in such a context has remained limited. This work suggests ways of re-interpreting Japanese economic history in the light of the debate, so arguing that global historians and scholars of Japan have in fact much to say to each other within the comparative framework that the Great Divergence provides.
Japan and the Growth-Equity-Small Government Impossible Triangle: Lessons from the United States and the Nordic Economies (Europa Economic Perspectives)
by Jun SaitoThis volume examines and analyzes the current situation of, and the future prospects for, the Japanese economy, particularly in the context of inequality. The country's economy is facing the ageing and the shrinking of its population, both of which will reduce the potential growth rate, which has already become very low. By introducing a new policy framework, namely the `Equity-Growth-Small Government Impossible Triangle', based on reviewing, comparing and contrasting the policies of the United States, the Nordic economies and Japan, the book proposes a policy direction that could be pursued by Japan. If Japan wants to sustain growth while preventing inequality to widen and preserve an egalitarian society, there is no other choice but to further promote globalization and innovation and, at the same time, surrender preserving a small government by reforming itself to become a dynamic and resilient welfare state. The volume will be an invaluable resource for students, professionals and researchers with an interest in economics, inequality, the Japanese economy and comparative economic policies.
Japan and the Middle East: Foreign Policies and Interdependence (Contemporary Gulf Studies)
by Satoru Nakamura Steven WrightThe book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence, political economy and foreign relations of Japan’s relations with the Middle East, with an emphasis on its relations with the states in the Gulf Region. It offers both country specific case studies and thematic chapters, providing comprehensive study on Japan’s relations with the Gulf and the wider Middle East. Japan enjoys a strategic partnership with the Arab Gulf countries in terms of its energy trade, yet this has morphed into a wider trading relationship with the wider Middle East. The book studies Japan’s relations with Israel, Egypt and Turkey, covering security, the oil sector and the LNG sector Middle East. This will allow this book to go beyond its rich analytical and empirical content.
Japan And The United States: Economic And Political Adversaries
by Leon HollermanThe current economic policy debate between the United States and Japan, increasingly assuming the attributes of an adversary proceeding, has roots in divisive issues that have simmered for years. In this first book to specifically address these issues, U.S. and Japanese scholars, government officials, and business executives provide a basis for und
Japan: Betting on Inflation?
by Julio J. RotembergThe case focuses on the challenges still confronting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the end of 2013, a year after he has been in office. It also gives an overview of Japan's earlier economic performance, focusing primarily on the period after it suffered a stock market and real estate crash in 1989-1992. During his first year in office, Abe introduced three sets of policies designed both to reverse the deflation that had plagued Japan since around 2000 and to increase the Japanese growth rate. The first of this three-pronged approach consisted of appointing a central bank governor who committed himself to raising the inflation rate and who vastly expanded the Bank of Japan's balance sheet in an effort to accomplish this. The second involved a fiscal policy plan whose initial thrust was expansionary, but which also sought to reduce future budget deficits. The last one involved a series of microeconomic reforms aimed at expanding GDP and labor productivity. These included initiatives aimed at increasing female labor force participation to compensate for Japan's aging population, reforms of the electric power sector directed at reducing electricity costs, and efforts designed to promote the "health and longevity sector." The case ends by discussing Abe's foreign policy challenges, including Korea's and China's reactions to visits by Japanese officials to the Yasukuni shrine.
Japan Decides 2014: The Japanese General Election
by Robert J. Pekkanen Ethan Scheiner Steven R. ReedCollecting original and high-quality analysis by top scholars from Japan, the United States, Australia, and Europe, this volume analyzes the results of the 2014 election, examining each of the major political parties, central policy issues, campaign practices, and considers how the results were used as a mandate for massive policy reform.
Japan In Crisis
by Bong Youngshik T. J. PempelThis volume, stemming from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, observes that for Japan to 'rise again' would mean recovery not only from the triple disaster--the March, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown--but from 20-plus years of economic stagnation, political fumbling, and deterioration in Japan's regional and global influence.
Japan in the 1960s: Ten Years of Turning Points (Inside East Asia)
by Robert D. Eldridge Jason M. MorganEldridge and Morgan set a new paradigm for East Asian contemporary historiography by viewing the decade of the 1960s as hermeneutically powerful. From street battles over Japan’s security treaty with the United States, to a peace treaty with the former Japanese territory of South Korea, to Japan’s hosting the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1960s in Japan was a decade of turning points. This book is the first to see the 1960s as a historical subject in its own right and argues that the specificity and internal complexity rooted in East Asia during this period showed how East Asians were dynamic agents in shaping the decade. In this volume, contributors consider Japanese responses to a 1961 coup in the Republic of Korea; the Satō Eisaku administration’s approach to nuclear deterrence and to the question of Okinawa’s return from American control; U.S.-Japan intellectual exchange during the Cold War; support by Japanese businesspeople for the Self-Defense Forces; the “soft power” of Japanese cinema in the 1960s; Japan’s understanding of 1960s United Nations peacekeeping operations; changes in “national polity” discourse in the 1960s; the Dalai Lama’s 1967 visit to Japan; economic development in and cultural exchange between 1960s Japan and Spain; Japan’s science and technology interactions with the United States; and the earliest known, and suspected, cases of North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens. Much of the information in this volume has never appeared in English before.This is an important volume for historians, political scientists, sociologists, and other scholars specializing in the twentieth century and those interested in cutting-edge history-writing about a transformative 10-year period in East Asia.
Japan Inc. on the Brink
by Susan CarpenterThis book contends that structural reforms, the essential third arrow in Abe's 'Abenomics', will not happen. As a result, Abenomics is merely a combination of reckless monetary policy and ambiguous fiscal policies which will fail to regenerate Japan's fragile economy and cut sovereign debt.
Japan Post Bank: Current Issues and Prospects
by Akira UnoThis book provides a comprehensive view on how regional financial institutions should be operated in order to restore Japan’s fiscal health. It points out that, even though the Japan Post Bank has been partially privatized, the old mandatory deposit system still virtually exists between the bank and the government. This makes the bank’s asset portfolio heavily weighted toward Japanese government bonds and creates a bottleneck to restoring fiscal health. The book also demonstrates how this system and the low interest rate policy keep the bank’s return on assets (ROA) low and expose the bank to an interest rate risk and credit risk. While shedding light on the true nature of these problems, this work looks into the best ways regional financial institutions can be operated for the sake of regional economic revitalization. The process would involve integrating the three privatized public financial institutions (i.e., the Japan Post Bank, the Shoko Chukin Bank, and the Development Bank of Japan) and splitting their operations into different businesses and regional companies as well as reorganizing more than 100 regional banks. The author analyzes total assets and ROA of different types of financial institutions (public and private financial services) in Japan to obtain an overall view. Then, using ROA as an assessment indicator, he looks into ways to optimize their portfolios to make the most of individual financial assets, especially deposits, from a welfare economics point of view and formulates a theory for optimization. Financial institutions can optimize their ROA by using individual deposits and savings for total optimization to maximize their return on investment. If the share of total assets by type of financial institution is optimized through mergers or vertical integration between different types of financial institutions, and if ROA is optimized overall as a result, the structure of financial institutions by type in Japan can be optimized.
Japan Prepares for Total War
by Michael A. BarnhartThe roots of Japan's aggressive, expansionist foreign policy have often been traced to its concern over acute economic vulnerability. Michael A. Barnhart tests this assumption by examining the events leading up to World War II in the context of Japan's quest for economic security, drawing on a wide array of Japanese and American sources. Barnhart focuses on the critical years from 1938 to 1941 as he investigates the development of Japan's drive for national economic self-sufficiency and independence and the way in which this drive shaped its internal and external policies. He also explores American economic pressure on Tokyo and assesses its impact on Japan's foreign policy and domestic economy. He concludes that Japan's internal political dynamics, especially the bitter rivalry between its army and navy, played a far greater role in propelling the nation into war with the United States than did its economic condition or even pressure from Washington. Japan Prepares for Total War sheds new light on prewar Japan and confirms the opinions of those in Washington who advocated economic pressure against Japan.
Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry are Reforming Japanese Capitalism
by Steven K. VogelAs the Japanese economy languished in the 1990s Japanese government officials, business executives, and opinion leaders concluded that their economic model had gone terribly wrong. They questioned the very institutions that had been credited with Japan's past success: a powerful bureaucracy guiding the economy, close government-industry ties, "lifetime" employment, the main bank system, and dense interfirm networks. Many of these leaders turned to the U. S. model for lessons, urging the government to liberate the economy and companies to sever long-term ties with workers, banks, suppliers, and other firms. Despite popular perceptions to the contrary, Japanese government and industry have in fact enacted substantial reforms. Yet Japan never emulated the American model. As government officials and industry leaders scrutinized their options, they selected reforms to modify or reinforce preexisting institutions rather than to abandon them. In Japan Remodeled, Steven Vogel explains the nature and extent of these reforms and why they were enacted. Vogel demonstrates how government and industry have devised innovative solutions. The cumulative result of many small adjustments is, he argues, an emerging Japan that has a substantially redesigned economic model characterized by more selectivity in business partnerships, more differentiation across sectors and companies, and more openness to foreign players.
Japan, the Sustainable Society: The Artisanal Ethos, Ordinary Virtues, and Everyday Life in the Age of Limits
by John LieBy the late twentieth century, Japan had gained worldwide attention as an economic powerhouse. Having miraculously risen from the ashes of World War II, it was seen by many as a country to be admired if not emulated. But by the early 1990s, that bubble burst in spectacular fashion. The Japanese economic miracle was over. In this book, John Lie argues that in many ways the Japan of today has the potential to be even more significant than it was four decades ago. As countries face the prospect of a world with decreasing economic growth and increasing environmental dangers, Japan offers a unique glimpse into what a viable future might look like—one in which people acknowledge the limits of the economy and environment while championing meaningful and sustainable ways of working and living. Beneath and beyond the rhetoric of growth, some Japanese are leading sustainable lives and creating a sustainable society. Though he does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all cure for the world, Lie makes the compelling case that contemporary Japanese society offers a possibility for how other nations might begin to valorize everyday life and cultivate ordinary virtues.
Japan, the System That Soured: The Rise And Fall Of The Japanese Economic Miracle
by Richard KatzAfter seven long years of economic malaise, it is clear that something has gone awry in Japan. Unless Japan undertakes sweeping reform, official forecasts now warn, growth will steadily dwindle. How could the world's most acclaimed economic miracle have stumbled so badly? As this important book explains, the root of the problem is that Japan is still mired in the structures, policies, and mental habits of the 1950s-1960s. Four decades ago while in the "catch-up" phase of its economic evolution, policies that gave rise to "Japan, Inc". made a lot of sense. By the 1970s and 1980s, when Japan had become a more mature economy, "catch-up economics" had become passe, even counterproductive. Even worse, in response to the oil shocks, Japan increasingly used its industrial policy tools. not to promote "winners", but to shield "losers" from competition at home and abroad. Japan's well-known aversion to imports is part and parcel of this politically understandable, but economically self-defeating, pattern. The end result is a deformed "dual economy" unique in the industrial world. Now this "dualism" is sapping the strength of the entire economy. The protection of the weak is driving Japan's most inefficient companies to invest offshore instead of at home. Without sweeping reform, real recovery will prove elusive. The challenging thesis articulated in this book is receiving widespread media attention in the United States and Japan and is sure to provoke continuing debate and controversy.
Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History
by William Wayne Farris<p>Japan to 1600 surveys Japanese historical development from the first evidence of human habitation in the archipelago to the consolidation of political power under the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is unique among introductory texts for its focus on developments that impacted all social classes rather than the privileged and powerful few. In accessible language punctuated with lively and interesting examples, William Wayne Farris weaves together major economic and social themes. The book focuses on continuity and change in social and economic structures and experiences, but it by no means ignores the political and cultural. Most chapters begin with an outline of political developments, and cultural phenomena―particularly religious beliefs―are also taken into account. In addition, Japan to 1600 addresses the growing connectedness between residents of the archipelago and the rest of the world. <p>Farris describes how the early inhabitants of the islands moved from a forager mode of subsistence to a more predominantly agrarian base, supplemented by sophisticated industries and an advanced commercial economy. He reveals how the transition to farming took place over many centuries as people moved back and forth from settled agriculture to older forager-collector regimes in response to ecological, political, and personal factors. Economics influenced demographics, and, as the population expanded, the class structure became increasingly complex and occupational specialization and status divisions more intricate. Along with this came trends toward more tightly knit corporate organizations (village, city, market, family), and classes of servants, slaves, and outcastes formed. <p>In reflecting the diversity of traditional Japan’s economy and society, Japan to 1600 is well suited for both undergraduate and graduate courses and will be a welcome introduction to Japan’s early history for scholars and students of other disciplines and regions.</p>
Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring
by Frances Rosenbluth Michael F. ThiesWith little domestic fanfare and even less attention internationally, Japan has been reinventing itself since the 1990s, dramatically changing its political economy, from one managed by regulations to one with a neoliberal orientation. Rebuilding from the economic misfortunes of its recent past, the country retains a formidable economy and its political system is healthier than at any time in its history. Japan Transformed explores the historical, political, and economic forces that led to the country's recent evolution, and looks at the consequences for Japan's citizens and global neighbors. The book examines Japanese history, illustrating the country's multiple transformations over the centuries, and then focuses on the critical and inexorable advance of economic globalization. It describes how global economic integration and urbanization destabilized Japan's postwar policy coalition, undercut the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's ability to buy votes, and paved the way for new electoral rules that emphasized competing visions of the public good. In contrast to the previous system that pitted candidates from the same party against each other, the new rules tether policymaking to the vast swath of voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Regardless of ruling party, Japan's politics, economics, and foreign policy are on a neoliberal path. Japan Transformed combines broad context and comparative analysis to provide an accurate understanding of Japan's past, present, and future.
Japanese Agriculture: A Comparative Economic Analysis
by Cornelius van der Meer Saburo YamadaFood prices in Japan are extremely high by international standards, and its agricultural sector is beset by low productivity. This book determines what the real level of Japanese agricultural productivity is by comparing it with other developed countries and with less developed countries. Japan has set itself the goal of catching up with the European Community in agricultural productivity, and so the book makes an extended comparison of Japanese and Dutch agriculture to try and determine the likelihood of this happening. Extended inter-country comparisons with Taiwan and the United States are also undertaken. The book analyses how various political and economic factors have interacted to prevent Japan achieving high agricultural productivity at the same time as it was experiencing remarkable growth in its industrial productivity. Solutions to the current problem are suggested and the book concludes by discussing the relevance of Japan's experience to other developing economies.
Japanese and German Enterprises: Comparison of Industrial Cocentration System and Business Management
by Toshio YamazakiThe objective of this book is to analyze and compare the processes of corporate expansion of postwar Japan and Germany. It examines the evolution of distinctive Japanese and German business management styles through the adoption of American management methods, thereby establishing a system of industrial concentration in contrast to the US de-concentration policy. This is the first time that the book draws on a range of topics related to business administration, including the concentration of enterprises, management and production systems, management education, marketing, organizational structure, and corporate governance. The book compares the Japanese and German models. Japanese enterprises developed a management style that was suitable for American and Japanese markets, in part due to the underdeveloped Asian markets. Meanwhile, German enterprises established a management style for European markets. The book considers the specificities of the Japanese management model, predicated on thorough cost reduction and few product defects. In contrast, the German management model placed a premium on differentiation based on product quality and functionality, with a particular focus on core markets and the skills of the workforce. The book posits that corporate expansion was a determining factor in the regionalization of each country. Japan underwent a transformation toward "Asianization," which depended on production and markets in Asia after the 1990s. Germany, on the other hand, consistently pursued "Europeanization" after the war in two complementary ways: (1) a heavy reliance on the European region and (2) the endeavor to advance European integration. Transformations in business management are analyzed using the author's two original frameworks: (1) The term "total system of business management" denotes the fundamental conditional structures that regulate and define the established methods of business management within the confines of capitalism in a specific country. (2) The term "reframing" is used to explain the adaptation, modification, and adjustment of one country's particular management style to another nation. These arguments reframe how we understand the historical processes of corporate expansion and provide milestones for a comparative study of management through common factors and characteristics of management.
A Japanese Approach to Stages of Capitalist Development: What Comes Next? (Palgrave Insights into Apocalypse Economics)
by Robert AlbrittonThis book offers a novel treatment of one of the most important and long-standing research agendas in critical political economy: the theorizing of stages of capitalist development. Albritton advances the work of Japanese economist, Kozo Uno, to explore capital accumulation and its ideological, legal and political supports, not only in the stages of mercantilism, liberalism and imperialism, but also in the post-World War II capitalist stage of consumerism. The power of Albritton’s adoption of this Japanese approach resides in the crisp clarity it achieves over the way stage theorizing of capitalism draws on both economic theory and historical analysis.In the new, fully revised edition, written with Richard Westra, two new chapters are added. One meticulously examines the tendencies of capitalism euphemized as globalization and financialization which followed the crisis of the stage of consumerism. The other deals with current threats to civilization posed by burgeoning militarism, environmental destruction and climate apocalypse. The concluding chapter argues for the necessity of major social change to ensure a liveable future for humanity. The book will be of interest to researchers and students of political economy and the history of economic thought, as well as a wider audience interested in the transformation and crises of capitalism.
The Japanese Art of War: Understanding the Culture of Strategy
by Thomas ClearyMilitary rule and the martial tradition of the samurai dominated Japanese culture for more than eight hundred years. According to Thomas Cleary--translator of more than thirty-five classics of Asian philosophy--the Japanese people have been so steeped in the way of the warrior that some of the manners and mentality of this outlook remain embedded in their individual and collective consciousness. Cleary shows how well-known attributes such as the reserve and mystery of formal Japanese behavior are deeply rooted in the ancient strategies of the traditional arts of war. Citing original Japanese sources that are popular among Japanese readers today, he reveals the hidden forces behind Japanese attitudes and conduct in political, business, social, and personal life.
The Japanese Automotive Industry: Model and Challenge for the Future? (Michigan Papers in Japanese Studies #3)
by Robert E. ColeThe Japanese Automotive Industry
The Japanese Banking Crisis
by Ryozo HiminoThis open access book provides a readable narrative of the bubbles and the banking crisis Japan experienced during the two decades between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. Japan, which was a leading competitor in the world’s manufacturing sector, tried to transform itself into an economy with domestic demand-led mature growth, but the ensuing bubbles and crisis instead made the country suffer from chronicle deflation and stagnation. The book analyses why the Japanese authorities could not avoid making choices that led to this outcome. The chapters are based on the lectures to regulators from emerging economies delivered at the Global Financial Partnership Center of the Financial Services Agency of Japan.
The Japanese Banking Crisis of the 1990s: Sources and Lessons
by Akihiro Kanaya David WooA report from the International Monetary Fund.