JAPAN’S ECONOMY 23 October 2013 by Sigrid Brevik Wangsness

I.Historical Perspectives Developments in Japan’s economy from roughly 1980 to 2010: The 1980s: “the golden era” = boom The 1990s and the 2000s: Two decades of sluggish growth, recessions and uneven recoveries = economic stagnation/slump

Japan’s Economy in the 1990s 1990: The stock market crashed Collapse of the bubble economy: The property market crashed, huge public debts, bankruptcies, government budgetdeficits, corruption scandals Deflation

Japan’s Economy in the 1990s What was at the core of Japan’s economic crisis? What is meant by “bad loans”? How did the Japanese government try to help the banks?

Japan’s Economy in the 1990s and 2000s “The Japanese model” (Discuss its weaknesses!) Other problems of the Japanese economy in the late 1990s Reforms implemented by the government in Japan Why such a slow recovery? Opinions differ…

Japan’s Economy in the 1990s and 2000s Many analysts blame the Japanese government for failing to boost demand but rather implementing a stop-go economic policy. Other analysts refer to certain aspects of the Japanese corporate culture as main reasons for the economic problems of the 1990s/ 2000s. Which?

II. Japan and China Explain the following statement from1998 and indicate why it may still be true: ”Japan was once feared for its economic might. Today it is feared for its economic weakness”. How dependent is Japan’s economy on China? Are they partners or rivals? (Read the article carefully, Compendium, pp )

III. The Present Situation The present state of the Japanese economy through economic indicators: GDP: 1.2% (Q2) (Prediction for 2013: +1.8%) Inflation: +0.9 (Aug.) (2013: +0.1) Unemployment rate: 4.1% (Aug.)

The Present Situation Current-account balance: +$48.5bn (Aug., latest 12 mos.) +1.1% of GDP 2013 Budget balance: -8.3% of GDP 2013 What is Japan’s gross debt (as % of GDP)? Where is Japan ranked on the list of the world’s top ten largest economies in 2013? (Compendium, p. 158)

The Present Situation Summarize the main ideas of the article “Japan’s master plan” in three sentences. What is “Abenomics”? What are the major challenges for Abenomics? (Compendium, p. 158) Is Abenomics working? Japan and Abenomics: “Taxing times” (Handout)

IV. The Japanese Culture When and what was “Japan’s triple disaster”? (Handout) Tsunami is a Japanese word in global use. Why do you think? On the whole, how did the Japanese people react to the disaster? Who were the culprits and who were the heroes in this tragedy?

The Japanese Culture Outline the main aspects of the Japanese business culture as Richard D. Lewis portrays it. (Compendium, pp. 7-9, 27, 34-35, 40-41, 50-51, 69, 70-73)