History and Perspective of Japanese Economy (1854-2000)

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Economic and Social History, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Economics), 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Japan with its 126.8 million inhabitants is the unique example of a Non- Western economy achieving an equal standard of living with other Western countries. On top of that, the Japanese economy is the second largest in the world. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Japans has been $ 4.7 trillions in the year 2000. This makes Japans economy about 2.5 times larger than the German one measured in Dollars.1 In the light of Japans extraordinary role in world economics, it would be very interesting to look at the background of Japans historical development of economics. Unfortunately there is non or little knowledge in Germany about this. The picture, we have here, is often influenced by clichés such as the Japanese imperialism, the pervasive government bureaucracy and the impressing Japanese economic growth. However, the economy in Japan is no longer growing. There are structural problems. We have to ask the question how the ´Japanese Model´ can go on. I will therefore give an overview about the Japanese economy and its possibilities in the future. The start of modern economic growth in the 1870s is closely connected with the opening Japans to the rest of the world. To understand this development, we have to take a closer look at the economic history before 1854. Thus, my starting point of the historic development is the so-called Tokugawa period. After that, I will talk about the different phases of the Japanese economic history up to this date. Out of the sheer volume of the single phases, we can only consider the most important events, and determining factors of any one development. After we have viewed the historical phases, we will introduce the perspectives of the Japanese economy. We will on one hand look at the future development within Japan and on the other hand at the economic possibilities internationally. 1 World Bank (2001)