Japanese Economy by Leslie Lau

1. Japan is the most expensive country to live in and the fourteenth richest country in the world. About 12 million people of Japan live in Tokyo. It is an urban society with only about 6% of the labor force engaged in agriculture. Japan's labor force consists of approximately 67 million people, 40% of whom are women. The unemployment rate now is around 5%, still near the post-war high. In Japan today, most people work in factories. Most workers are treated very well. A large company would provide a house and school & and medical services for their employees. High sanitary and health standards produce a life expectancy exceeding that of the United States.
In Japan, rice is the most important food they eat. In every meal they have tea as their beverage. Teahouses are located in every town and city. Japanese people also eat pork, beef, and chicken. They eat vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes. People who live in Japan like there food as fresh as possible and don't like canned or frozen foods.

2. Today Japan is a capitalist country. It is a capitalist because it gives its producers, consumers, employers, and employees economic freedoms. Japan wasn’t always a capitalist country. Before western influences, it use to be an empire in which its economy was influence by governmental needs.





3. The Japanese economy wasn’t industrialized until the Treaty of Kanagawa. Before that Japan was isolated from western cultures and other influences. After the treaty of Kanagawa , Japan open its ports and began to modernize and industrialize. Its first step was sending 3,000 student to the United states and Europe to learn western culture. The government also built railroads, improved roads, and land for future industries. To promote industrialization, the government helped the private businesses in economic growth. Before the WWII, Japan has build an empire in parts of northern china, Taiwan and Korea. This had a major influences because Japan held a lot of raw materials and cut off a lot of sea lanes to reach Japan. Japan suffered the least from the Great Depression. After the Japan lost the war, it slowly recovered and became one of the most powerful economic countries. Japan’s economy slowed down in the 1990’s. It was known as the bubble economy. The price of goods were so high it was unbelievable. Then the prices were drop down which is known as the burst of the bubble. Japan recovered from that and now its one of the strongest economic countries next to the United States.

4. The Japanese is one of the strongest economy in the world. In 1998, it reported a GDP (gross domestic product) 481 trillion yens which is equivalent to 3.67 trillion US dollars. It is only second to the United States. Its main distribution s are cars, electronic devices, and computers. Despite its post-bubble economy, Japan had some sign of recovery such as an increase of stock prices and growth in revenue for some industry. While the bad loans problems in the mid 1990’s still plague the Japanese economy, It has shown some improvements. A major issue today is the privatization of the Japanese postal system which also provides insurance

5. The economy for the Japanese looks like it will improve from the 1990’s. A problem for the Japanese economy in the future is the low birth-rates and the higher elderly percentage will cause high taxes and more social security which will affect the next generation of Japan. This also japan because it will cause a low labor force. In the first half of 2005, the death rate exceeded the birth rate. Japan will also deal with business trends such as deregulation and globalization.