May 2014

Angela Mara Pcsi Araujo

INTL 2990-001: Study Abroad to Japan
ePortfolio Signature Assignment

o Where did the Japanese people come from?
o What are some of the special characteristics of the Constitution of Japan?
o What is the reason for Japans economic strength after World War II?
Answer
o What is the reason for Japans economic strength after World War II?
After the World War II, the concept of citizens self-government was incorporated to a
greater extent. In accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the Local Autonomy Law,
Japans local governments gained broad recognition of their autonomy and self-standing, both at
the formal level and at the operational level in terms of their actual dealings with the central
government. However, Japans postwar economy developed from the remnants of an industrial
infrastructure that suffered widespread destruction during the war. The reasons for this include
high competitive strength of Japanese industry that increased steadily, with exports growing. But,
it had had its falls, such as the second oil crisis in 1979, this is known as the burstingof the
bubble economy. Later, the share of manufactured goods in the Japanese industry to other
foreign countries in continents such as Asia: China, among others and the West: the United States,
contributed to increase its economic status. Japans governmental organ, The Diet, has important
functions, such as approving the national budget, ratifying international treaties, and setting in
motion formal proposals for amending the constitution. Also, the economic aid from the United
States and the prosperity in Japan that was occasioned by the Korean War in 1953, allowed the
Japanese industry to begin to recover from the devastation of the war. And by the late of 1960, its
economy was more than self-sustaining, the United States being its primary trading partner.
Therefore, Japan experienced an era of unprecedented prosperity in economy between the 1960
and the early 1990, because the annual economic growth was three times as much as in other
industrialized countries. However, the fascination with the West continued and the Japanese
began to adopt the term of internationalization reflecting both their capacity for and their
membership in the world community economically. The Japanese government as well as private
industry began to accelerate the drive for diversified markets and resources in the mid-1980s;
partly because in response to protectionist trends in nations in North America and Europe with
which Japan had accumulated huge trade surpluses and changes due in Japans internal social and
economic conditions. Indeed, Japan was being the spak plug of economic growth in Southeast
Asia in particular because it provides them with substantial amounts of capital to invest for the
developing of their own countries. The Japanese economy must respond to market as well as
social and political changes to stay vibrant. The so called regional Yen Bloc because of the
dominance of the Japanese currency, the yen, had been created and was revealed in the late 1990
when sluggishness in the Japanese economy contributed to dramatic downturns in the economies
of surrounding countries. An interesting fact is that other Asian countries improved their
economies as well when they began copying the Japanese model. In consequence, there exist
what are called the 10 commandments of Japans economic success, which are the following:
1. Some of Japans entreched business conglomerates, called zaibatsu, were broken up by order of
the U.S. Occupation commander after the World War II; therefore allowing competive businesess
to get a start. Similarly, the physical infrastructure these include roads, factories was destroyed
during the war. This, being a blessing in disguise, for it paved the way for newer equipment and
technologies to be put in place quickly.
2. The United States, seeing the need for an economically strong Japan in order to offset the
growing attraction of Communist ideology in Asia, provided substantial reconstruction aid. For
instance, as an example, Sony Corporation got started with help from the Agency for International
Development (AID) an organization to which the United States is a major contributor. Mazda
Motors got its start by making Jeeps for U.S. forces during the Korean War.
3. Japanes industry looked upon government as a facilitator and received useful economic advice
as well as political and financial assistance from the government planners. In this regard, it is
important to note that many of Japans colleges and universities government service always
having pride of place among career choices. Also, the advice and help coming from the
government were fairly consistent over time, because the same political party, the Liberal
Democratic Party, remained in power for almost the entire postwar period.
4. Japanese businesses selected an export-oriented strategy that stressed building market share
over time immediate profit.
5. Except in certain professions, such as teaching, labor unions in Japan were not as powerful as in
Europe and the United States. This is not to suggest that unions were not effective in gaining
benefits for workers, but the structure of the union movement individual company unions rather
than industry-wide unions moderated the demands for improved wages and benefits.
6. Company managers stressed employee teamwork and group spirit and implemented policies
such as lifetime employment and quality-control circles, which contributed to group morale. In
this they were aided by the tendency of Japanese workers to grant to the company some of the
same level of loyalty traditionally reserved for families. In certain ways, the gap between workers
and management was minimized. As a result, because of changing internal and external
conditions, many Japanese firms are now abandoning the lifetime employment model in favor of
employment by performance models.
7. Companies benefited from the Japanes ethic of working hard and saving much. For most of
Japans postwar history, workers labored six days a week, arriving early and leaving late. The
paychecks were carefully managed to include a substantial savings component generally
between 15 and 25 percent. This guaranteed that there were always enough cash reserves for
banks to offer company expansion loans at low interest.
8. The government spent relatively low of its tax revenues on social-welfare programs or military
defense, prefering instead to invest public funds in private industry.
9. A relatively stable family structure, this refers to few divorces and substantial family support for
young people, many of whom remained at home until marriage at about age 27, produced
employees who were reliable and psychologically stable.
10. The government as well as private individuals invested enormous amounts of money and
energy into education on the assumption that in a resource-poor country, the mental energies of
the people would need to be exploited to their fullest.
However, some of this conditions for success are now part of immutable history, but
others are open to change as conditions of Japanese life change. And an example of this is the
practice of lifetime employment. In other words, selecting the right strategy for the right era has
perhaps been the single most important condition for Japanese economic success.
Now, referring to cultural characteristics or aspects, in despite of all of these conditions,
Japan would have never achieved economic growth or success without its people possessing
certain social and psychological characteristics or aspects, many of which can be related or traced
to various religions, these are referred to religious or ethical philosophies that have suffused
Japans 2,000-year history, Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and other
philosophies of living have shaped the modern Japanese mind. And some of the Japaneses
specific characteristics that are involved in this subject are the imitative, which refers to their
capacity to imitate the superiors, rather than representing inability to think creatively, actually, it
constitutes a reason for Japans legendary success. But, it is important and relevant to note or
keep in mind that this mimicry of conformity is more based on respect for the superiors qualities.
The preventive, this means Japanese families, governments, companies, and individuals as well,
generally prefer long-range planning, and they greatly prefer foreknowledge over postmortem
analysis. This means well or proper testing of the manufactured products or goods, and the
concern of prevention trickles down to even the smallest details. The pragmatic, rather than
pursue a plan because it ideologically fits some preordained philosophy, the Japanese try to be
practical on most points. To pragmatism was also added the Japanese tendency to work for the
common rather than the individual product. Still, there is the fact that for many years the
Japanese were able to get inexpensive loans from banks because these owned plenty of peoples
saved earnings to loan out for business or other purposes. The obligative, by this, it means that the
Japanese have a recognized great sense of duty toward the people around them. Unlikely to the
Westerners, that are considered as untrustworthy friends because they do not keep up the level of
close, personal communications that the Japanese expect of their own friends. However, the
Japanese attitude toward work is approaching that of the West, this can be seen because many
Japanese companies are now allowing employees to set their own flexible work schedules, for
example. The inquisite, the Japanese are strong devoted people for obtaining knowledge and learn
about the foreign.
After World War II, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the Local
Autonomy Law, Japans local governments gained broad recognition of their autonomy and self-
standing, both at the formal level and at the operational level in terms of their actual dealings with
the central government. However, although they are considered autonomous entities, as the
source of their funding and orientation comes from the central government, it is the central
government which exercises control in various ways. Approximately 60% of the countrys total
public expenditures are channeled through local governments. A system of local consumption
taxes was instituted in 1997 as a means of increasing local government financial resources in order
to promote local autonomy. The Trinity reforms were carried out on the local tax system
between fiscal 2004 and 2006. As a result, local taxes are gradually rising, and in fiscal 2007 they
accounted for 43.3% of all local government revenue. Local allocation taxes are used by the
central government as a means of adjusting local financial administration with a view to ensuring a
certain level of administrative equality throughout the country. Each year the cabinet must put
together a document giving the total estimated amount of revenue and expenditures of the local
governments for the next fiscal year. This document must be made public and submitted to the
Diet. Ordinarily called the local finance plan, it becomes the main guideline for local government
financial operations. Approximately 60% of the countrys total public expenditures are channeled
through local governments.
Having achieved high economic and industrial growth since World War II, Japan has
become one of the wealthiest nations in the world. However, the standard of living has hardly
been exceptionally high since the collapse of the bubble economy around 1989. The per capita
income of Japan, an economic superpower, has been increasing annually. However, the key
challenge is to achieve a high standard of living for every Japanese. Diligence is considered a virtue
in Japan, as reflected in the motto Catch Up and Get Ahead. The Japanese have worked hard to
build up the economy. The five-day work week is not yet as widespread as in other industrially
developed countries, and generally holidays are taken infrequently. Many companies have put less
emphasis on overtime and have tried, instead, to reduce working hours since the collapse of the
bubble economy.
Japans education system played a central role in enabling the country to meet the
challenges presented by the need to quickly absorb Western ideas, science, and technology in the
Meiji period (1868-1912), and it was also a key factor in Japans recovery and rapid economic
growth in the decades following the end of World War II.
In the early years of the 21
st
century, however, Japanese society is facing many challenges
as a result of changing cultural norms, advances in science and technology, economic
globalization, and a difficult business environment. The direction to be taken in this endeavor is
the subject of much debate in the government, the education community, and Japanese society as
a whole.
Since the mid-1990s, the percentage of male and female irregular or part-time workers
among all working income-earners has grown considerably, from around 20.0% in 1996 to about
34.4% in 2011. Deregulation has accelerated this trend by greatly increasing the range of job
categories in which companies can use temporary dispatched workers in place of regular
employees.
In addition to the bureaucracy, Japanese politicians have learned on big business to
support their policies of postwar reconstruction, economic growth, and social reform. Business has
accepted heavy taxation so that social-welfare programs such as the national health plan are
feasible, and they have provided political candidates with substantial financial help. In turn, the
government has seen its role as that of facilitating the growth of private industry. The close
working relationship between big business and the national government is an established fact of
life in Japan, and despite criticism from countries with a more laissez-faire approach to business, it
will undoubtedly continue into the future, because it has served Japan well. Whether Japan can
make the structural changes necessary to remain competitive in the new global economy remains
to be seen. In 1999-2000, the government injected more than US$62 billion into the economy (the
ninth such stimulus package since the recession started in 1989), yet the economy remained
sluggish. Many blamed the snail-paced decision-making process as a factor that made it difficult
for companies to quickly take advantage of new opportunities within the marketplace. These are
of course some of the factors that slow or disrupt Japans economic growth.
In the postwar years of political stability, the Japanese have accomplished more than
anyone, including themselves, thought possible. Japans literacy rate is 99 percent, almost 90
percent of all households own their own automobiles, and in many other ways Japan remains
firmly in the top category of advanced nations. Nationalized health care covers every Japanese
citizen, and the Japanese have nearly the longest life expectancy in the world. In other ways, Japan
has improved life for its people. For instance, the average size of Japanese homes, once criticized
by Westerners as too small to live in, has been increasing every year until it is now about the same
as the average size of European homes. Home ownerships also compare favorably or even exceed
other industrialized nations: 60 percent of homes are owned in Japan compared to 66 percent in
the United States, 53 percent in France, and 38 percent in Germany. Japans success has been
noted and emulated by people all over the world.
With only half the population of the United States, a land area about the size of great
Britain, and extremely limited natural resources (it has to import 99.6 percent of its oil, 99.8
percent of its iron, 86.7 percent of its coal, and about 60 percent of its food), Japan has
nevertheless created one of the largest economies in the world. But there are problems on the
horizon. There is great concern over the amount of public debt, some 225 percent of GDP in 2009,
the highest in the world.
A less immediate but potential serious issue is the decline in population. Japans
population is actually going down each year. While many people think that fewer people in Japans
crowded cities would be a relief, the reality is that the nation is going to have a difficult time
keeping its economy going without new entrants into the labor force.
Also, Japan has substantially increased its gift-giving to foreign governments, including
allocating money for the stabilization or growth of democracy in Central/Eastern Europe and for
easing the foreign debt burden of Mexico and other countries.
What Japan has been detesting to do, however, is remove the structural impediments
that make it difficult for foreign companies to do business in Japan. For example, 50 percent of the
automobiles sold in Iceland are Japanese, which means less profit for the American and European
manufacturers who used to dominate car sales there. Yet because of high tariffs and other
regulations, very few American and European cars have been sold in Japan. Beginning in the mid-
1980s, Japan reluctantly began to dismantle many of these trade barriers, and the process has
been so successful that Japan now has a lower overall average tariff on nonagricultural products
than the United States, its severest critic in this arena.
However, Japanese people worry that further opening of their markets may destroy some
fundamentals of Japanese life. The rice, for instance, costs much more in Japan than it should,
because the Japanese government protects rice farmers with subsidies and limits most rice
imports from abroad. The Japanese would prefer to pay less for rice at the supermarket, but they
also argue that foreign competition would prove the undoing of many small rice farmers, whose
land would then be sold to housing developers.
Stagnation in the Japanese economy has slowed foreign direct investment (the United
States and China are number one and number two in inflow of foreign investment money), but
Japan is determined to recapture its role as Asias number one business hub. Many foreign firms
have generated, and continue to generate massive profits from their Japanese operations. In the
case of the United States, the profit made by American firms doing business in Japan in a single
year is just about equal to the amount of the trade imbalance between Japan and the United
States. Japanese supermarkets are filled with foreign goods as well, and the radio and television
airwaves are filled with the sounds and sights of Western music and dress. Japanese youths are
likely to eat McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken rather than in traditional Japanese
restaurants, and many Japanese have never worn a kimono nor learned to play a Japanese musical
instrument. It is clear to many observers that Japan already imports much more from the West
than the West does from Japan. But as for the next several decades, Japan, albeit increasingly
looking over its shoulder at the new China, will continue to shape the pace and nature of
economic development, too.
Despite the devastation of the World War II, Japans economy eclipsed some European
economies by the mid-1960s. For several decades, it has been the second-largest economy in the
world, having just recently been bypassed by China. The countrys infrastructure is among the
most modern in the world. Offshoring of the smokestack industries has become commonplace.
Public works have produced high government debt, and a tenacious recession has weakened the
economy, but Japan will continue to be a major player in Pacific Rim affairs.
To complete this subject, the following are some statistics referring to the economy of
Japan:
Currency: ($ U.S. Equivalent): 87.78 yen = $1
Per Capita Income/GDP: $34,000/$4.31 trillion
GDP Growth Rate: 3.9%
Inflation Rate: -0.7%
Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Labor Force by Occupation: 70% services; 26% industry; 4% agriculture
Population Below Poverty Line: 15.7% (2007)
Natural Resources: fish
Agriculture: rice; sugar beets; vegetables; fruit; pork; poultry; dairy and eggs; fish
Industry: metallurgy; engineering; electrical and electronics; textiles; chemicals; automobiles; food
processing
Exports: $765 billion (primary partners United States, China, South Korea)
Imports: $637 billion (primary partners China, United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia)
To conclude, the Japanese achieved their phenomenal success thanks to their hard work,
advanced planning, persistence, and great amounts of outside financial help.