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The paper analyses the impact of public capital on the Japanese manufacturing industries from 1970 to 1995. Unlike previous studies, which are based mostly on economy-wide analysis, this study is based on a disaggregated analysis at the industry level. A Generalized Leontief cost function is utilized to estimate the impact of public capital on nine manufacturing industries in Japan. The results indicate that public capital offers no insignificant contribution to the productive performance of these manufacturing industries except for Paper, Textiles and Transport. The paper also suggests that the bubble economy in the 1980s is the contributing factor behind this insignificant effect of public capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host country's economic growth is a widely explored issues in the existing economic literature. This study attempts to examine the role of foreign direct investment, capital formation, and expansion of female education on economic growth of Japan during the period 1971–2014, using time series observations. The study further makes a comparison regarding the association with FDI and economic growth with South Korea, another major OECD economy of Asia The study utilises the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds approach to cointegration to examine the long run causality association among the variables. Today, for sustainable economic development the social and institutional policy issues are important. The paper explores one such social issue, namely gender and economic prosperity. This paper has novel contributions in the current research on time series, econometric analysis for the following reasons: (1) it has investigated the relationship between economic growth, foreign direct investment and capital formation in a gendered differential framework (utilising the role of human capital formation among men versus women; (2) the study covers a long period and more recent time period (till 2014), which concurs with the upsurge of world FDI movements and (3) the study also explores the major structural breaks of the two economies and how economic growth is impacted thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the cultural sustainability discourse and discusses how community culture, community cultural capital and the elderly play a key role in helping communities sustain themselves over time. It argues that the elderly are resources, transmitters and multipliers of culture and a key driver in promoting ‘ageing-friendly’ cities. In particular, it investigates how creative, bottom-up urban design and place-making initiatives by the elderly take shape in diverse urban contexts. It takes two traditional shopping streets (shotengai) in Tokyo as case studies and seeks to clarify in the highly-developed, high-density, high-rise, large-scale urban context, how the two low-rise, small-scale shotengai have been sustainable and thriving over centuries; and how community culture and the elderly have played a role in developing and sustaining them. Through urban historical study, site surveys and street interviews, the paper addresses these enquiries and suggests ways to achieve a more ageing-friendly community in an Asian context aiming towards social and cultural sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper it is assumed that equity markets reflect the development of the overall economy of a country. Equity markets, among other factors, are considerably affected by factors such as inflation or deflation. Therefore, when inflationary or deflationary pressures appear, Central Banks try to manage those pressures in order to minimise their impact on the economy. In this paper, the case of Japan will be examined. Japan can be considered an example of a country which was under extended deflationary pressures for about three decades. In this study, the authors investigate different time frames for the Japan equity market. The research is based on Japan equity market (NIKKEI) returns. The authors aim to answer the question of whether the Japanese market complies with the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) for different time frames, as well as test analytically if Japan's stock market and economy have improved after the implementation of different attempts at Quantitative Easing (QEs), a Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) or a Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP) to curb deflationary impacts on the economy. The analysis and obtained results could be useful for risk and portfolio management, and could be extended to other markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework model for wellness tourism development in rural areas is developed in this paper, combining the concepts of integrative diversification, tourism product development, and an endogenous approach to innovation dynamics. Three spatial levels of wellness services are considered (establishment, destination, and the region where they are located) in order to identify the required resources, services to develop, stakeholders to involve, and a process to match the supply and demand in wellness tourism. The paper concludes with an exploratory application to the case of east Hokkaido (Japan), identifying crucial challenges for a diversification of wellness services based on the traditional onsen practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that competition policy, rather than industrial policy, generated the rapid economic growth in post-war Japan. It also reveals that Japan’s growth rate was lowered from the mid-1970s due to newly introduced industrial policies and paucity of further competition policy. The current Abe government recognises the need for competition policies in Japan to recover from the low-growth period. The paper describes the types of competition policy carried out under Abenomics, especially in National Strategic Special Zones.Abbreviations:METI: Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry NSSZ: National Strategic Special Zones [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines changes of the place that film has occupied in the public policy of the Japanese government, including not only cultural policy per se, but also industrial and economic policy. After describing some of the distinctive features of the Japanese film market, this paper discusses the inadequate basis of the government’s cultural policy for film. Film in recent years has received some attention as an industry with export potential, particularly with the rise of ‘Cool Japan’, the policy of promoting Japanese culture abroad as a tool for economic and diplomatic aims. In the chequered history of economic growth strategies and nation branding of recent years, the film industry has had some good news but received no serious attention either as a sector with economic significance or as a form of national culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the causal relationship between real exports and GDP growth in Japan using two recently developed causal modelling approaches. Using Japanese time series, the paper employed the augmented VAR methodology developed by Toda and Yamamoto to test for Granger non-causality. Then, a more recently developed technique of directed acyclic graphs (DAG) was also used in providing over-identifying restrictions on the innovations from a vector autoregression (VAR). In contrast to prior analyses, the application of DAG techniques allows for the examination of both contemporaneous and dynamic causal structure of the exports-productivity nexus. The empirical results reveal that the causal path between exports and GDP growth in Japan is bi-directional. Furthermore, other variables such as capital and foreign output are also significant determinants of productivity growth in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the opportunities presented by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to Japan to revitalize its trade policy, bolster economic growth, and increase participation in regional multilateral fora for the 21st century. Despite its strengths, Japan has continued to face problems caused by its economic, political, and strategic policies. The Japanese economy has been stagnant for the last several decades, and Japan needs to take bold steps to ameliorate this situation. Politically, domestic political paralysis has had a negative impact on Japan's alliances and partnerships and eroded Tokyo's ability to act as a major player in the increasing vital and important Indo-Pacific region. Connected to this, it is imperative for Japan to engage itself deeply in Asia in ways that increase strategic trust. This paper will also highlight the necessary reforms Japan must undertake to take full advantage of the benefits of the TPP, as well as what the TPP might mean for its relationship with both the US and other regional partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modernization theories contrast traditional and advanced societies. In the former, religion and group identification -- the identification with the ethnicity or the nation in particular -- are means of integration and sources of happiness. Technological and economic developments undermine this base of mechanical solidarity and bring out individualism, self-expression and autonomy as new values. Happiness is now reached, if the autonomous citizen can successfully realize her/his goals. As theories of individualism and collectivism typically regard independence and autonomy as values of the individualistic cultural frame, it should be lower in those societies where collectivism is still prevalent. This would explain why happiness is relatively low in Japan. The first sections of the paper show that the key variable of these theories -- i.e., the sense of autonomy -- is not only logically distinct from independence and individualism but also empirically uncorrelated with indicators of the latter concepts. Furthermore, autonomy increases at best weakly with modernization. Though it does not meet the assumptions of modernization theories, autonomy is nevertheless a strong predictor of life satisfaction. The positive influence of religion and national identification, by contrast, is relatively weak. The low sense of autonomy can explain the level of life satisfaction in Japan fairly well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership is the driving force behind development and the channel through which the characteristics to improve community capacity flow. Community agents are the mechanisms through which community actions are performed and through which development subsequently occurs. This paper discusses the role of community agents and their importance in both utilising and fostering community capacity to proceed with community improvements. The case of Himeshima, a small island of Japan, highlights the individuals, key institutions, and networks that guided the community from development through rural revitalisation. This paper demonstrates the importance of community agents and that community leadership is an outcome of community capacity development. Community leadership enables members of the community to take initiative according to their shared vision to facilitate the achievement of community objectives. This work contributes to the discussion on rural development, community capacity building, and leadership progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking an historical view, the paper considers how Japan has struggled to regulate development and examines the impact of land reform in the immediate post-WWII era. This is seen as a key institutional change that precipitated numerous political and policy shifts in subsequent decades and acted as a critical factor in shaping Japanese land use. The focus of the paper demonstrates how the political and economic transformation of Japan just prior to and after land reform in 1946 led to a situation where successive governments have tried but ultimately failed to intervene successfully in the development process, contributing to unsustainable outcomes derived largely from a sustained period of growth and economic development. In our view, this was supported by the legal framework reinforced under the Allied Occupation (1945-1951), alongside the outcomes of the land reform process. This has also led to a remarkably consistent set of institutional conditions. In order to highlight the impact of land reform the case of Japanese green belt policies between 1927 and 1965 are used to provide a more detailed account of the difficulties that planning and land use regulation has experienced in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of 'the rise of China' on the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and its implications for Japan. Japan has traditionally enjoyed a dominant position in the Bank, as it has enjoyed a dominant position in Asia. However, with the balance of power in the region tipping in China's favour, one might expect that this would be reflected in the ADB as well. This paper argues that despite the worsening Sino-Japanese relationship, the ADB has facilitated the development and maintenance of shared expectations between the two parties over the future direction of development assistance, representing an oasis of liberal institutionalism in a relationship increasingly characterised in realist terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banasick S. and Hanham R. Regional decline of manufacturing employment in Japan during an era of prolonged stagnation, Regional Studies. This paper uses a multivariate shift-share model to analyse the decline in manufacturing employment between 1990 and 2001 in Japan's industrial core and periphery, and in the country's prefectures. The model's regional effect indicates that regional context plays a variable role in shaping regional employment trends. Most prefectures in the periphery have dynamic regional contexts that tend to counter the negative effect of their industrial mix throughout the whole period. Between 1990 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, most prefectures in the core had depressed regional contexts that failed to counter their negative industrial mix effect. After 1997, industrial restructuring in the core created more dynamic regional contexts to moderate the decline in employment... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between structural changes and productivity performances of the manufacturing sector in the Japanese economy, the primary driver of productivity growth in Japan that absorbs a large fraction of the labour force. Using the shift-share analysis, we decompose the total labour productivity growth in Japan into two components: labour productivity growth and structural change across in the manufacturing sector to assess the interaction between them. The analysis provides greater detail on structural changes by classifying the manufacturing industries into four sectors according to the degree of technological sophistication: low-technology, medium-low-technology, medium-high-technology, and high-technology. We found that the superior productivity performance in the Japanese economy takes place most notably in the medium-high-technology sector, as results of fundamental structural change occurred in the late 1990s. This has brought a shift in Japan's comparative advantage from lower-technology to higher-technology manufacturing. Finally, some implications will be discussed with respect to this empirical finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, essentially since the Asian crisis of 1997-98, the economic integration of Northeast Asia has been marked by three overarching trends. Economic relations have become: 1) more institutionalized; 2) more "Asian;" and 3) more China-centric. These macro-trends are demonstrated and analyzed in the paper. But by way of anticipation, numerous counter-cutting facts need also to be kept in mind. In essence, recent trends, notable as they are, have by no means reversed three counter-realities: 1) economic ties are still largely driven, less by governments and formal arrangements, than by corporations in search of profits and production efficiencies; 2) despite growing economic interdependence across Northeast Asia and between that sub-region and Southeast Asia, Japan, China and South Korea remain heavily linked to global, and particularly US, markets; and 3) though China is an ever important hub in Northeast Asian trade and investment, Japan remains by far the most powerful economic player in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is hypothesized in this paper that the way by which a ruling elite extracts its resources significantly influences the evolution of state-related institutions. Specifically, if the ruling elite must construct a penetrating set of institutions to extract revenue and in order to encourage payment of taxes must also provide services in return (reciprocity), then states are likely to have institutions conducive to economic growth. Institutions restraining arbitrary decision making are likely to evolve and are likely to be effective. The process of economic and political development in Japan in the prewar period is used to illustrate this process. Specifically, the evolution of limited parliamentary democracy during this time period was the result of the process by which the ruling elite sought to extract revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Three main characteristics of Japanese-style ODA over the past 50 years and the basic principle of the support for “self-help efforts” mentioned in the Japanese ODA Charter are described in this paper. The role of ODA in generating development effectiveness is taken up and possible ways for Japanese participation in the PRSP system are examined. The paper concludes with the proposal that offering ODA benefits not only the recipient but also the one extending assistance and recommends that Japan take advantage of the opportunity to serve the public good and thereby know genuine happiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores empirically whether Japanese consumers became more prudent in the second half of the 1990s, a decade in which Japan registered historically low economic growth. Employing the methodology developed by Dynan (1993), this study uses micro-level data from the Family Savings Survey and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey to estimate the coefficient of prudence for Japanese households in the second half of the 1990s. The estimates reveal that the coefficient of prudence is positive and statistically significant in the 1998–1999 period. The obtained value for the coefficient of prudence is four, which is much higher than that estimated for US households (not significantly different from zero) or UK households (around 2). The estimated coefficient for young households is higher still, which is consistent with simulation studies conducted by Gourinchas & Parker (2002) showing that precaution is the most important saving motive for younger households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the article "Japanese Aid to Africa: Patterns, Motivation and the role of Structural Adjustment," by Howard Stein, published in the December 1998 issue of "Journal of Development Studies." It is reported that the article tries to expand the literature by creating and analyzing data on overseas development assistance (ODA) to each African country captured under four general categories during 1959-1994. The article further shows the inconsistency of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) with the method of Japanese economic development.

Although the Japanese economy is often seen as exempt from the crisis, it also has experienced wild business fluctuations and prolonged depressive industrial difficulties since 1973 much in common with other capitalist countries. Beginning from the preceding period of high economic growth, this paper examines the origins and the changing phases of the economic crisis in Japan. Then it analyses the factors for its persistent depression, such as a structural tendency to labour shortage, a competitive pressure by means of ME information technologies, and the difficulties of exporting industries. Despite its seeming strength in appreciated yen, trade surplus, and improved productivity in manufacturing, real wages have been effectively stagnant, and the social position of workers weakened. Economic unevenness has increased in many aspects, while the budget crisis has deepened. Thus, the seeming strength of the Japanese economy is actually coupled with distortion of its structure by exhausted and weakened working people. The paper condudes by discussing Japan's position in the international political economy as well as its recent political change against the background of its economic situation especially for working people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development is accompanied with changes in the intersectoral flows of intermediate goods. This structural change assumes certain patterns depending on the stage and nature of development of the economy. This paper examines such possible patterns and their implications on the basis of input-output analysis for the USA, Japan and India and suggests that the form of interaction between sectors is unilateral -- the matrix is either lower or upper triangular signifying the structure of the economy. It also measures the extent of structural change of the three countries and considers the employment implications of such change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan suffered a catastrophic disaster on March 11, 2011. The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear radiation leakage from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant devastated the northeastern part of the country and threatened the entire country and beyond with the risk of radiation. Nowadays, movements against nuclear power plants are emerging across the country. The crisis indeed provides a chance for Japan to forge a new energy policy. However, the activists' claims are not narrowly limited to such energy issues. They call for a fundamentally fairer society and propose alternative ways of life, regarding nuclear power plants as symbols supporting the economic development that Japan enjoyed over the post-Second World War period. As an ethnography, this paper documents the 60,000-citizen Goodbye Nuclear Power Plants (Sayonara Genpatsu) rally that mobilized in central Tokyo on September 19, 2011, as well as the Occupy Tokyo action on October 15, 2011, presenting the real voices of the rally participants against nuclear power. In particular, I will focus on the voices of youngprecariatparticipants, the major actors in the anti-nuclear rally who were generated from and revealed as the negative result of Japan's neoliberal economic policy, held since the 2000s. Further, I argue that their mounting anger might be a trigger for new post-neoliberal politics in post-Fukushima Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is well-known for its small number of lawyers. In the late 1990s, there was a justice system reform movement. This resulted in a governmental agenda to substantially increase the lawyers' number. The profession's population then rapidly increases. The pace of the reform has however recently been slowed down, although the full implementation of the reform and its target has not yet been achieved. Why had the number of lawyers remained small for five decades after the World War II despite Japan's economic development? Why was there a justice system reform movement in the late 1990s? Why has the pace of reform been slowed down recently? Who controlled/controls the size of the legal profession in Japan? This paper will analyse these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the midst of heightened apprehension of the climate risks to development, major donors in Africa have begun to take environmental issues seriously in their aid agenda by setting up various climate policy initiatives and programs. In keeping with the international donors' efforts, Japan has also emphasised the environmental issues in its development cooperation with Africa. The article aims to assess Japan's efforts to address sustainable as well as ‘climate-proof’ development for Africa by looking into the process of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD). Through contextualising the TICAD environmental agenda within Japan's overall greening process since the 1990s, this chapter argues for Japan's ‘common but differentiated’ environmental approach to Africa as presented for the TICAD process. The study introduces two key ‘green’ policy concerns, namely environmental ODA and climate change. Through analysing policy documents and speeches, it brings in debates on the major trends of Japan's environmental and climate ODA to Africa to examine the meaningfulness of the agenda as presented at TICAD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It appears that Japanese employment practices, once hailed as one of the secrets to Japan's 'miracle' of rapid economic development after World War II, are not keeping up with important changes in Japan's economy and society under deceleration of economic growth and aging of the population. Nevertheless, the current regulations protect the practices of lifetime employment security and seniority-based wages as a desirable work style. However, these practices not only deter labor market flexibility, but also entail social costs by creating a 'wall' that divides insiders and outsiders of firm-specific labor markets, and this leads to large wage disparities. Furthermore, these practices create an 'implicit packaged contract' between firms and their employees, allowing the firm wide discretion over employees' work style, including working hours and job placement. As more women pursue full-time careers, they are being forced into the difficult position of having to choose between their careers outside the home or their children. The difficulty of this decision has resulted in a rapidly declining fertility rate. This paper argues that Japanese employment practices need to be revolutionized to allow better work-life balance and an alternative lifestyle for an increasing number of dual-income families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison of total factor productivity (TFP) levels between the US and Japan for the period 1960-2004 and allocates the gap to individual industries. We carefully distinguish the various concepts of purchasing power parity (PPP) and measure them within the framework of a US-Japan bilateral input-output table. We also measure industry-level PPPs for capital, labor, energy, and materials inputs and output for 42 industries common to the US and Japan, based on detailed estimates for 164 commodities, 33 assets, including land and inventories, and 1596 labor categories. The US-Japan productivity gap shrank during three decades of rapid Japanese economic growth, 1960-1990. The Japanese manufacturing sector achieved parity with its US counterpart by the end of the period. With the collapse of the Japanese economic bubble at the end of the 1980s, the US-Japan productivity gap reversed course and expanded to 79.5% by 2004. This can be attributed to rapid productivity growth in the IT-producing industries in the US during the late 1990s and the sharp acceleration of productivity growth in the IT-using industries in the US during 2000-2004. Wholesale and Retail Trade emerged as the largest contributor to this gap, accounting for 25.1% of the lower TFP of the Japanese economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of creating liveable cities is emerging as a major policy priority around the world. Globalization, the emerging network society, increasing mobility, and the environmental, economic, health and social imperatives to create more sustainable and liveable cities have combined to increase pressures, primarily on local governments and actors to reinvigorate urban governance, urban planning and urban design. One essential aspect of this project is the improvement and vitalization of urban spaces. In this regard, Japan has significant challenges, stemming from its distinctive history of urban space management, its low proportion of public space in cities, and its aging and imminently shrinking population. At the same time, however, Japan has important opportunities and strengths stemming from its legacies of urban built form, the exceptional vigour of its place-based communities, and its rapidly aging and imminently shrinking population. This paper explores some of the opportunities and challenges facing attempts to build more liveable cities in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons behind and the nature of the intervention of non-local levels of government in local land management and economic development to assist the development of major tourism facilities. Two examples are provided of government intervention, one from Japan and one from Australia, and they show how state intervention may both stimulate tourism development and distort local development planning policy. It is concluded that, although the contents and policies of local development plans are available and may be followed to some extent, in both systems major project decisions are taken out of the hands of local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the mid-19th century, an increasing number of Japan's political leaders and scholars realized that Japan had to adapt and incorporate some elements of Western-style industrialization into their own political and economic order as the necessary means to remain independent of Western imperialism. The Opium War in China, and later the Euro-American bombardments of the domain capitals in Choshu and Satsuma demonstrated that trying to defend the realm with only an increased emphasis on coastal defense would ultimately fail to keep out the barbarians from the West. Sakuma Shozan, a samurai scholar from Matsushiro, proposed a dichotomous philosophy of `Eastern ethics, Western science' as the means to strengthen Japan both internally and externally, and allow Japan to maintain its independence. In this paper, I argue that Sakuma's dichotomous approach can be interpreted within a Hegelian dialectical paradigm. After the traditional order of Japan (Eastern ethics as Idea/Thesis) came into contact with the industrializing order of the West (Western science as Nature/Anti-Thesis), Sakuma believed a new order would be created in Japan (Synthesis) that combined an increased knowledge on the Eastern ethics of Neo-Confucianisrn with the `new' scientific knowledge of the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the last ten years, Japan and Germany--two post-war industrial superpowers--have fallen substantially behind their common rival, the United States. These two economies are now seen as major contributors to slowing down the global economy. This paper aims to examine the causes of the abrupt weakening of the manufacturing sector of Japan, particularly in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, while comparing their performances with those of the United States and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid industrialization and modernization of Japan in the first decades of the twentieth century preceded both the creation of 'development studies' as an academic sub-discipline and popular awareness in the West of development issues. Japanese achievements were therefore not analysed at the time according to specific expectations or models of development, as would be the case today, but rather were interpreted in the context of more general Western concepts such as 'civilization', 'modernization', and 'progress'. As Japan was the first non-Western country to adjust its economy and society successfully to modern modes of production, this process of assessing the changes taking place in Japan generated ideas that represented some of the first Western interpretations of non-Western development. This paper excavates some of these by sampling a broad variety of British contemporary source materials, including newsreels and radio broadcasts. It concludes that the process of interpreting Japanese social and economic change between 1900 and 1941 led to the creation of a number of paradigms of non-Western development. Two of the most important of these were the Darwinist-inspired idea of evolutionary development; and revolutionary development, which was posited as the opposite of the concept of natural progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines a view that the traditional stem family system was one of the preconditions for Japan''s modern economic development, focusing on labour markets and skill formation practices. The paper begins with a brief look at the Japanese stem family household formation rules. Then, exploration is made, first, on the self-employed, the largest sector of the early modern economy; second, the merchant house and its employment patterns as an origin of present day large corporations'' employment system and skill formation and human capital management practices; and third, workshop industries, which formed middle and lower layers of the manufacturing sector in the period of industrialisation. Finally, women''s marriage behaviour is examined in relation to labour markets, especially changes in real wages. All this is an attempt to go some way towards a better understanding of the ways in which the family economy and corporate firms worked in economic development, rather than to suggest an alternative hypothesis on the relationship between family and household factors and subsequent economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper sets out to examine the unique industrial relations systems of East Asian developing countries with special reference to Korea. Following the presentation of a framework of analysis, there is an assessment of environmental conditions, the strategy of the main actors and the changes to them arising from the progress of industrialization. Trade union organizations and collective bargaining in Korea are then examined. This involves special reference to an account of major differences between the Korean system and that of Japan. Outcomes of industrial relations and their recent changes are next discussed. Finally, the analysis is concluded with a review of prospects for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how Japanese postwar cinematic texts manifest and comment upon contemporary political and economic events, and considers the usefulness of cinema for a more complete historical understanding of the period. In particular, it argues for the significance offūzokueiga, or ‘films of customs and manners’ by analyzing a representative text of that genre, Kawashima Yūzō's 1956 filmSuzaki Paradise Red Light. Although Kawashima's film has been treated as an apolitical melodrama, a close textual analysis reveals it to be a counter-narrative to the success story of postwar economic recovery and growth that the Japanese state sought to promote. Key to this analysis is an examination of the urban space of the Suzaki neighborhood in Tokyo, as depicted in the film. Kawashima's tour of Suzaki addresses the issues of the economic stagnation within the metropolis, uneven development, and the liminal space ofmuen, or ‘no ties,’ which offers a brief refuge from an increasingly disciplined everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Japan's rapid post-war economic growth prompted Chinese leaders to look to their neighbour as they initiated market reforms from the late 1970s. How did movements of people and ideas between China and Japan occur, and what were their effects on Chinese enterprise policies? From the 1970s through the 1990s, Chinese officials, scholars, and enterprise representatives invited Japanese advisors to China, conducted myriad exchanges through associations like the Sino-Japanese Economic Knowledge Exchange and the Japan-China Economic Association, and actively studied Japan's economy and companies. Chinese policy-makers gained insights from Japan about market-responsive forms of corporate structure, organisational solutions to state ownership dilemmas, evidence that consolidation could aid economic performance and technological upgrading, and strategic commitment to building large state-owned enterprise groups. However, this episode of intense engagement between China and Japan generated neither unilateral 'diffusion' nor unitary influence. Instead, it reveals how China has developed its own path of economic development through what I term 'policy collaging': seeking, selecting, and creatively combining policy ideas and practices from international sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Japan's (1980s-90s) and China's (2000s-10s) overseas infrastructure promotion campaigns. We explain how developmentalism, i.e. the state's active engagement in economic development, has given rise to these two go-global campaigns, as the governments of both countries sought to expand industrial policy outward to compensate for domestic political economic problems. We explain how Japan, the go-global forerunner, influenced China, the go-global latecomer, and how China has formulated its own campaign strategies based on its distinct institutional and ideational settings as well as lessons derived from Japan's past policy practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigated the causality relation between biomass energy consumption and economic growth in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, the UK and the US by using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing method, and Granger causality test. The dataset covers the 1980-2010 period. For Canada, France, the UK and the US, the results of short-run causality determined the evidence that the conservation hypothesis is supported and the evidence of the growth hypothesis for Australia, Belgium, Finland and Japan. Strong causality results found the evidence of feedback hypothesis for the US, UK, and France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid economic development has caused considerable environmental problems in waste generation and treatment. One important reason for this is China's manufacturing exports to other countries such as Japan, a major trading partner. However, the contribution of such importing countries has not yet been fully explored. This study quantitatively examined how final demand in trade between China and Japan affects both countries' economies and waste generation. The results show that imports of final consumption goods from China to Japan induced enormous waste generation in China, while the wastes induced in Japan were negligible. Even if final demand exports from China to Japan are significantly economically beneficial to China, the cost to China from addressing the induced waste generation seems too much to make these exports worthwhile. To encourage constructive discussions, improvement of reliability and transparency of waste statistics in China that allows comparison with other countries would be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the short-run and long-run causal interactions between happiness and two economic variables in Japan, namely, unemployment and income. Results suggest that whilst more rapid economic growth and lower levels of unemployment are important in raising people’s well-being in the short run, it is the relative growth performance of the economy that matters in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), now in its fifth iteration, has significantly evolved both in its content and as a process. Over the years, successive conferences have placed emphasis on various aspects of African development, and there have also been attempts to make the conference and its spin-offs more inclusive. The fourth TICAD, held in 2008, signalled the most significant effort by the Japanese authorities to improve the effectiveness and impact of the TICAD process. This was against the background of Japan's continued economic troubles and increased domestic pressure to more efficiently use Japan's dwindling aid resources. As a result, while the product of deliberation with African stakeholders, the TICAD IV outcomes reflect many of Japan's domestic and strategic priorities. This essay takes stock of the principal outcomes of TICAD IV and their implications for Japan's economic cooperation with the Southern African region. It does so from the position that Japan's broad economic links with Southern Africa have followed a distinct pattern over the past 10 to 15 years. The essay reviews general tendencies in Japanese aid and investments to Southern Africa against the backdrop of developments in Japan's wider Africa policy. It discusses some of the prominent outflows of TICAD IV and concludes with an assessment of their implications for the subregion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Productivity is a key driver for economic growth and prosperity in any country. The pursuit of productivity growth requires an understanding of the factors affecting productivity. The trend of productivity growth, along with the possible factors underlying such growth across Europe, the US and Japan, is thus examined. In particular, there is a focus on comparing the productivity performance of the construction sector to that of other industries. Using the recently released EU KLEMS1 database,2 a growth accounting framework was adopted to assess the contribution of the following factors to productivity growth (during 1971-2005): capital, labour quality and total factor productivity (TFP). It was found that there is a general slowdown in labour productivity growth in total industries including construction across major OECD countries, with the exception of the UK. The differences in labour productivity growth between construction and total industries can be largely explained by construction's poor TFP performance. With the exception of the UK, TFP negatively contributed to labour productivity growth in the period 1990-2005, suggesting that the industry has become less efficient in combining the factors of production. That phenomenon seems to be consistent across all selected countries and warrants further investigation. Indeed a better understanding of the factors underlying productivity growth in OECD countries is a prerequisite for effective intervention of policy makers to support sustained productivity growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the economic development of Asia and the history of Japanese industrial policy. Initiatives launched by the Japanese government to increase its international presence in the late 1980s; Support given by the World Bank to Japan; Role of the Japanese foreign aid program in bailing out Japanese industry from the effects of the high yen.

Examines the basic economic factors underlying government decision on regional allocation of public investment in relation to the stages of economic development of Japan. Elements needed for regional economic development; Details on public investment; How income inequality and growth oriented economic policies have been taken into account for the determination of public investment allocation.

The article presents the study on the determinants of growth in small manufacturing firms in Kobe region, Japan. It is stressed that small manufacturing firms play a vital role in the growth of the economy. The result of the study suggests that the firm's size have a significant impact on its growth in small-scale manufacturing, with relatively bigger firms performing better than smaller ones. It was also found that firms with more skilled labor seem to have higher sales growth and indicated that sales growth of small-scale firms is, to some extent, industry- specific.

Often enough, the uniqueness of Japanese economic history has been analysed in terms of overarching ‘cultural’ imperatives. The following paper utilizes key episodes in the transition of the Japanese economy in order to suggest that its h impetus lay in the political economy of the nation's relations with Western science and technology and the subsequent developments whereby technological change became institutionalized. The power of the Japanese State—forged from a heady mixture of relative backwardness, fear, and militarism—was a necessary feature of national ‘response’, and therefore an integral ingredient of the process whereby Japan began to pose a serious challenge to the superiority of ‘Western’ modes of development and change. The learning process was not, predominantly, one of national acculturation. Rather, the Japanese leadership from the Tokugawa period onwards deliberately and overtly set out to assimilate Western science and technology within an institutional framework which would ensure self-sustained and increasingly independent economic development. We end with an approach to technological systems which may be considered of more general interest to historians of modern technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses various reports within the issue on topics including China's economic growth, economic relation of Japan to India, and economic stagnation in India.

The article provides an introduction to the journal "Inter-Asia Cultural Studies" of November 2003. The first paper, by Park Keunho, "The Vietnam War and the "Miracle of East Asia", focuses on South Korea and examines the relationship between the Vietnam War and the rapid economic development of Asia. "Okinawa's Postwar" by Toriyama Atsushi demonstrates how the mainland Japanese at the end of the Second World War forgot Okinawa and how the US took advantage of such Japanese national amnesia by turning Okinawa into its permanent military base. Tanaka Yasuhiro in his "The Media Representation of Okinawa" illustrates how the image of Okinawa as a southern paradise has been reproduced in the postwar Japanese media.