Country Analysis - Japan

Japan is a small island nation off the coast of Eastern Asia. Despite its size, Japan has proved to be formidable both economically and militarily. Since the expedition of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 opened up the past feudalistic and reclusive Japan, this nation has expanded and adopted many imperialistic policies as well as taken a more aggressive military stance. Japan has changed in many ways, but has also continued upholding traditional practices throughout 1853 and 1941.

In the present, Japan is a military and economic superpower with strong influence. However, it was not always like this. In the early 1700s, Japan isolated itself from the world and greeted foreigners unfortunate enough to shipwreck in Japan with hostility. In the 1850s, the United States attempted to make contact with Japan to establish a treaty. The U.S. knew even though Japan was hostile, it was weak compared to a western power. Although the U.S. was stronger than Japan, it was nowhere close to being as strong as other western powers such as Brittan or France and was struggling to keep up. Japanese hostility, U.S. power struggles, and Japan’s isolation all led to the inevitable Japanese and U.S. conflict.

The main challenge about trade is the long-term condition of Japan. Although Japan performs well now, it is a receding market. There is a significant challenge for Japan in the future. It is facing a dwindling work population, as the average populace gets older. This provides a serious risk as if the workforce reduces in size so does the production. And production is one of the main factors that make Japan wealthy. In addition, even though it is the second largest economy in the world it will face high expenditure. This is a serious issue if not properly taken care of. However, a country with one of the highest GDP’s in the world is unlikely to mistreat

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

Economically, Japan is one of the most highly developed nations in the world. Japanese brand like Toyota, Sony, Fujifilm and Panasonic are famous across the globe. One common pattern which is followed by Japan from the very beginning is to import raw materials and processed them to make finished products which are sold domestically and exported. Agriculture and transportation are the highly developed industries in Japan. Japan’s main agricultural product is rice and most rice eaten in Japan is home grown. Shinkansen, or bullet trains ,are

Before America, Japan was the main power in the Pacific. This was apparent until the United States defeated them with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Up until the late 1960’s, America was the most prominent and dominating manufacturer of the world. However in today's world, America is still an extremely powerful trading country, it has become more of a rentier country. China became the United States’ main outsource for manufacturing because it was exponentially easier and much more inexpensive. Before, America made most of everything in-country such as steel. However, with the United States recovering from the war, it was forced to outsource some of its manufacturing workload to other countries, mainly China. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s, the world was going through the Great Depression. America had struggled through this period of economic downfall. However, Japan emerged earlier than other countries because its economic success came from government deficits used to expand Japan’s heavy industry and military. Many other smaller Pacific nations saw Japan as an invincible power that no Western nation could overcome. Yet, after their war campaign against America, Japan was left crippled. Japan’s main supplier of oil, the United States, regulated trade with Japan do to their recent military actions. Left with no option, Japan

While the Depression initially hit Japan hard by showing that half of all factories were closed by 1931, children in some areas were reduced to begging for food from passengers on passing trains, and farmers were eating tree bark therefore active government policies quickly responded. Under the 1930s minister of finance, Korekiyo Takahashi, the government increased its spending to provide jobs, which in turn generated new demands for food and manufactured items, yielding not only the export boom but also the virtual elimination of unemployment by 1936. Indeed, Japan made a full turn toward industrialization after 1931, its economy growing much more rapidly than that of the West and rivaling the surge of the Soviet Union. Production of iron, steel, and chemicals soared. The spread of electric power was the most rapid in the world. The number of workers, mainly men, in the leading industries rose sevenfold during the 1930s. Quality of production increased as assembly-line methods were introduced, and Japanese manufacturing goods began to rival those of the West. Japan also initiated a series of new industrial policies designed to stabilize the labor force and prevent social unrest. Big companies began to offer lifetime contracts to a minority of skilled workers and to develop company entertainments and other activities designed to promote hard work and devotion. By 1937, Japan boasted the

Japan’s unemployment rate of about 4% opposed to the U.S. unemployment rate of close to 10%. Even the financial debt to GDP ration is an advantage, and debt in the private sector has not increased unlike the U.S. and European countries, (Time, 2009). In addition, since Japan is a huge exporter and with the U.S. demand going downward, the international balances and growth declined especially as the dollar value dropped and the yen surged. •

The initial spell of the implementation of the Dodge Plan caused Japan to enter into recession, which resulted in an increase in

In the years immediately following the second Great War, Japan was struck by what some would call an “economic miracle”. This miracle allowed for the industrialized nation of Japan to regain its foothold in the economic sectors of Southeast Asia. Essentially, after the war, the U.S. called for “unconditional surrender and for Japan to be stripped of most of its empire, occupied by allied troops, and demilitarized. Japan would then be integrated into the world economy, and its economic viability would be guaranteed through free trade”

Prior to World War Two Japan had been going through an economic crisis and was having issues with its government. The Japanese society was very militaristic and prideful making it a key power in world affairs. Their people have a strong and deep seated loyalty to their country.

     Over the past fifty years Japan has seen significant changes in all aspects of its society and the way it interacts with the outside world. For example, despite suffering a defeat in World War II, Japan soon became one of Asia’s greatest economic powers. In Japan in Transformation, 1952 - 2000, Jeffrey Kingston focuses on various aspects of change in Japanese society and politics in the period after World War II. These include the effect of the US occupation, analysis of postwar politics, the economic boom, changes in demographics, the treatment of women, and foreign policy and security issues.

The deregulation of financial markets catalysed by Globalisation worldwide has impacted on the amount of trade within the Japanese economy beneficially allowing easier access to foreign currencies, facilitating a higher flow of goods between nation, by relaxing laws that severely prevented foreign buying of currency, and floating the yen. These drivers have helped boost Japan's trade and recovery from its recession. Technology has allowed finances to be traded and communication to be near to instantaneous. This has increased dramatically the amount of FDI into Japan largely thanks to the numerous strategies the Japanese government has taken to promote economic growth and hence development. Finance and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have increased as a direct result of globalisation doubling from $63 billion in 2001 to $144 billion in

The onset of Super Endaka in 1995 summed up to an already existing situation of global recession (1991), with price pressures, posted production and sales declines. Moreover, trade barriers in Europe prevented Japan's firms to expand and compensate for the US losses, where the price effects of yen appreciation were most severe. This time, the challenge posed by the new exchange rate shift was even harder than the first one.

Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, is an island in East Asia in the Pacific Ocean. Its capital is Tokyo and the national language is Japanese. Japan is considered a great power and is a member of both the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The country enjoys a highly skilled work force and is considered to have one of the most highly educated countries in the world. At one point, the 2000s, Japan also laid claim to providing 4 of 5 top circulated newspapers in the world. (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2017) (OECD, 2017)