Banking Systems:Case study of Japan

From 1853 to 1941, Japan changed from being a reclusive, isolated nation that kept to itself to an imperialistic power openly attacking and conquering surrounding territories and peoples.

In 1858, another treaty was signed which allowed more sea ports and chosen cities could live in. The Japanese government knew that their country was not strong enough to defend themselves against foreign power. Japan could not keep its isolation policy without the risk of war.

The Feudal Period in Japan ended in a decline of central power, which led to the centralized feudal system of government in the Tokugawa Period in late 1500. There were three main leaders who helped reunite Japan including Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Oda Nobunaga was successful to an extent, but was not successful in uniting the entire country. After the country once again became reunited from Tokugawa Ieyasu, a second wave of cultural diffusion occurred from the Europeans. They introduced guns and Christianity in early 1600.

Japan at the turn of the century was clearly trying to westernize and change is isolated society into one more intellectually and scientifically involved with the rest of the world. When the Japanese open their ports to the western civilization food and merchandise were not the only things being traded. When ports were open the western way of living was integrated with the Japanese culture which gradually changed the way the

Before an American naval commander “opened” Japan, the country was extremely isolated. Interaction with other nations was limited. Trade was discouraged in society due to Neo-Confucian

There are various categories of banking; these include retail banking, directly dealing with small businesses and persons. Commercial and Corporate banking which offers services to medium and large businesses (Koch & MacDonald 2010). Private banking, deals with individuals, offering them one on one service. The last category is investment banking. These help clients to raise capital and often invest in financial markets. Most global banking institutions provide all these services combined. With all these institutions in existence within the same localities and offering similar services, there is a need to regulate the industry so as to protect the consumer and provide fair working environment for all banks (Du & Girma, 2011).

However, by Japan taking this course it isolated them leaving them with no alternatives for natural resources and funds from other countries than to turn to the bigger players in the global scheme, such as America and Germany. This ultimately led to disruptions in relationships between America and other allied countries due to Japans exit of the League of Nations. The consequence of Japans aggressive expansion into China forced America’s hand to cut off trade embargo of the resources essential to Japan such as oil, steel, rubber which the military relied on. This inevitably sparked the Japanese determination to stand their ground against foreign forces, which they have historical had a reputation for being a fearsome and determined country. This is clearly evident in the Pearl harbour attack demonstrating that they were a forced to be reckoned with. The surprise attack on the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 outraged the whole U.S. nation convincing America that the Japanese army and navy must be stopped.

Leading up to the events at Pearl Harbor, let’s talk about the Japanese; they were a rising power in the East. They renounced the Five Power Treaty they has signed in 1922 along with the US, Great Britain, France, and Italy, and began building their pathway towards an “Empire of Asia”. They “began an aggressive military build-up in anticipation of expanding its control on Asia” (Tindall, 2013). Sadao Araki, a general in the Japanese military is quoted having said, “It is Japan’s mission to be supreme in Asia, the South Seas and eventually the four corners pf the world.” Japanese leaders called this unquenchable thirst for power the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, or Co-Prosperity Sphere for short. The Co-Prosperity Sphere was a group of nations in Asia, led by Japan, who used propaganda to gain members. “The leaders spoke of “Asia for Asians,” the need to liberate Asian countries from

The events leading up to the Japanese’s entry in WWII occurred prior the start of the twentieth century. For over two hundred years Japan had been an isolationist country, the only contact with the Western world they had was through the Dutch in Nagasaki.

Before the advent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933 and the general conception of government safety nets, the United States banking industry was quite different than it is today. Depositors assumed substantial default risk and even the slightest changes in consumer confidence could result in complete turmoil within the banking world. In addition, bank managers had almost complete discretion over operations. However, today the financial system is among the most heavily government- regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. This drastic change in public policy resulted directly from the industry’s numerous pre-regulatory failures and major disruptions that produced severe economic and social

The Japanese were not unknown to attempts to have them enter the consumerist world of the 19th century. Michael R. Austin bring this up in his book Negotiating with Imperialism, “The boundary’s physical manifestation was the trading complex at Nagasaki, on the southern island of Kyushu…Nagasaki first and foremost was closed to whom the bakufu wished to keep out of Japan.” The bakufu was basically the government of the time that was command by the Emperor. He later describes how Japan slowly rolled out their trade to other countries prior to the west that were mostly in Asian. He later describes how that the Japanese were uneasy to open to the west due to cultural boundaries instead of the aforementioned physical

The Japanese economy had changed immensely as it became a place of free trade and importations from being a place where there was little to no foreign interactions a century ago. The japanese had implemented this closed door policy due to the unruliness of the Europeans in the 17th century and felt complacent in their situation. Although the Japanese government implemented a closed-door policy from 1639 to 1854, their rapid economic development after this period was due to their similar geographical conditions to England. Their location allowed them to reap the benefits of being imperialized because they were able to westernize and set up the foundation of a good economy. They had been able to live peacefully while absorbing technology and culture from the Eurasian countries, this help them develop their ‘foreign acceptance’ as they were used to taking technology from other countries.

The investment banks, and subsequent stock brokerage firms, was regulated by the Security and Exchange Commission. The banking entities, in this portion of the financial sector, were used to dealing in high risk business that were structured on the business’ equity and debt capital, instead of the commercial banks’ deposits of customers. The activities in this sector of the financial system were underwriting stocks and bonds, insurance markets, the investments in subprime debt markets and mortgages.

• Governance and oversight: Assessing business model and strategy changes and reinforcing the importance of sound corporate governance appropriate for the size and complexity of the individual bank. A specific focus will be on determining the adequacy of strategic, capital, and succession planning. Examiners will assess whether the plan is appropriate in light of the risks in new products or services. If applicable, examiners will assess the bank’s merger and acquisition processes and procedures.

The goal of financial regulation is to increase efficiency in the market, as well as enhance the market 's ability to absorb shock caused by financial instability. There are many reasons for financial instability, but it can be narrowed down to