Japanese Labor Market Essay

Japan is home to a lot of ancient cultural artifacts and yet serves as an example of the developed world samurais, high-speed trains, home to some of the world’s largest tech companies, and may evision Tokyo as a bustling fast paced city. Japan’s population is declining, this isn’t unusual in a time where developed countries are relying on less children.What is overlooked when describing the now 3rd largest economy on Earth is how it went from surrendering during WWII to becoming an industrial superpower. There have been many changes but one have remained constant, which is the collective drive to work and excel. It has heavily influenced the Japan we know today.

By the start of the great depression Japan had already began losing several major trading partners. Therefore their number of exports had decreased drastically, leaving many Japanese people unemployed . Famine had also began to take it's effect due to rice crop failure. To make matters worse Japan was running out of natural resources putting a halt to their industrial revolution. So in 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, China in hopes to start creating an Asian empire and obtain more resources such as oil, rubber and slave labor. As Japan began invading more areas of China and Asia they took pride in their successful war leaders and developed a collective consciousness of their military accomplishments. Soon the Japanese government was military operated and their passion and dedication to nationalism had

Women and those of lower classes in Japan would not get the opportunity to learn thus not helping out its country to the fullest potential. Americans also were taught more science and technology which created new findings in agriculture, transportation, and markets.

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

After centuries of living in seclusion to the outside world, the government knew that they needed the technological advancements that the West offered. The Industrial Revolution and growing urbanisation in Japan had intended to and succeeded in mimicking Western growth. Moreover, the Japanese were well-known for their diligence, discipline, perseverance, and hard work – this resulted in substantial economic development including increased shipping of commodities and a significant expansion of trade and handicraft industries. However, the political elite pocketed most of the profits through influence and corruption. Workers and farmers found it unfair that their patriotic and back-breaking labour only received a little wage in comparison, but with a state-controlled media and education system, they couldn’t make their voices heard. So overall, this collective and nationalistic open-mindedness for communal prosperity was beneficial for Japan as a whole, but the common people were disadvantaged with no access to basic human rights and a fair

The dropping an atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima resulted in one of the greatest destructions in history, but it is argued that the bombing was crucial to ending WWII. During the 1920s, Japan started to westernize and become more democratic with a two party system. Unions started to form and workers started to gain more rights. However, all of this started to change when the Great Depression hit Japan hard in the 1930s. The economy completely crashed and it caused people to start to doubt capitalism and democracy, especially among the wealthy class.

Just Before entering World War II, Japan had a lot of different issues to try and solve. It had started to depend more for materials like oil for new machines being made to make the creation level of merchandise faster, which makes for a more productive economy. They required oil from outside sources in light of the fact that their property did not have all these things enormously, since the nation was an island its regular assets were made up of rice and fish. Even with these troubles, Japan started to manufacture an effective realm with a strong mechanical establishment and a decent armed force and naval force. The military got to be included in the legislature, and this started to cause them harm. The general public started to see indications of control originating from a rough place this put the individuals in a controlled state, their fundamental rights were gradually being taken away. In the mid 1930 's, the Japanese Army had numerous little, detached fights with their neighboring people groups. The Japanese individuals spread their control to make their country bigger. In 1937, the contentions started again with the Chinese in the territory close. These contentions prompted a full-scale war known as the second Sino-Japanese War. This was viewed as a bleeding war, it proceeded until the last annihilation of Japan in 1945. This demonstrates the inward shortcoming of the Japanese individuals, with high

Numerous Japanese workers have depended on plantations owned by big corporations, they learned that they could not “advance themselves” through individualism and small business,” as on the mainland. Rather, as laborers, they adopted a strategy of “unionization, politics, and collective action.” Between the 1880s and the so-called Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1908, more than 150,000 Japanese came to the mainland. Those who immigrated to the mainland settled into a greater range of diverse economic positions, from farm labor and mining to shop-keeping and truck farming, than did those who immigrated to Hawaii. Some came under contract to employers, some under the auspices of relatives, and others on their

Japan as a country had been emerging as a world

The people of Japan knew that the time for change had come, and in 1868 a group of samurai overthrew the Shogunate. This eventually led to the rise of the Meiji Restoration in 1889. The western countries were much more advanced compared to Japan during the industrial revolution and if they were to become a global power, Japan would need to advance as well. The Meiji Restoration was brought up upon western ideology, which led to new advanced technology along with rapid social and economic growth and the formation of a national military. The Meiji restoration had occurred in the 19th century because Japan needed a change in order to advance during the industrial revolution. The restoration was the change, that eventually led Japan to become an international force. For decades the high tariffs of the unequal treaties affected my pay and my life. Though this new restoration has brought more jobs and better pay for us

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

The aftermath of war with Russia led Japan into lacking essential raw materials, land, and a full supply of food. (Ben Pi et al. SS 20IB) “Japan was an emerging industrial power in the early 20th century, but lacked sufficient domestic supplies of iron and coal to sustain its desired development. Japan, a nation of islands, believed that it was approaching its maximum density and had continued to cast hungry glances at the Asian mainland as a potential target of expansion.” (United States American

The idea that a nation could be concerned with its residents working too long provides a stark contrast for the typical malinger American sponging up welfare. As Americans, it is nearly impossible to appreciate the worth of a dollar as impecunious nations with far more labor-based jobs do. Contradictorily to the relinquished and profligate American citizen, the unwavering ambition and work ethic that surges like a solar flare throughout Japan highlights the nation highlights it as one of the most industrialized countries. Naturally, competition for jobs in such an economical nation is extremely high, and the best way to combat competition is to outwork and outlast all rivals. Thus, long work hours and unprecedented few work days, as opposed to the ubiquitous vacation days most companies offer their employees in America, force Japanese employees to work longer than required. In addition, overtime bonuses also bribe employers to spend their vacation days in overtime, along with the incentive of keeping their coworkers free from the umbrage of being forced to take on extra work to compensate from their absence and the doubt of their employer concerning the allegiance to their company.

To view a window into the future, take a look at Japan, where their population, who is advancing in age has brought the country’s once amazing economy to a standstill to the point where it will likely never truly recover.

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. •