- Japan is a major economic power in the world.
- The Japanese economy grew very quickly from the 1970s to the 1990s. Much
of this growth was the result of increases in worker productivity.
This higher productivity was due mainly to: increased capital (machines,
etc.) per worker, advance in technology, a highly educated and skilled
labor force, supportive government policies and a good world trade
environment. Japan's miracle economy of the 1960s and 1970s
may be a thing of the past as the nation copes with problems of lower
growth.
- Economic growth has raised the standard of living of the Japanese people
to that of the United States and higher. Income is more evenly distributed
in Japan than in the United States.
- Like the United States, Japan's economy has moved from manufacturing
towards services. Its companies have successfully used the countries
of Southeast Asia as pools of low cost labor. The change to a more
service economy also shows changing tastes of Japanese consumers.
- Japan is densely populated as well as one of the most populated
nations in the world.
- The amount of land in Japan suitable for agriculture is insufficient
to produce enough food for Japan's large population. As a result, Japan
imports most of its food from other countries.
- Japan lacks many raw materials needed for industry and energy, such
as oil, coal, iron ore, copper, aluminum and wood. Japan must import
most of these goods.
- In order to pay for these imports, Japan must export a variety of manufactured
goods to other countries. Major Japanese exports include electronic
equipment and cars.
- Trade with other countries (international trade) is therefore very
important to Japan.
- The goods that Japan has exported have changed over time, from agricultural
products to manufactured goods, textiles, steel, and cars. Japan is
no longer competitive in agriculture because it has little farmland.
Today simple manufacturing is too expensive because of the high wages
paid to Japanese workers. Japan is also less competitive in energy
intensive industries such as petrochemicals and aluminum since the
country has few domestic energy resources.
- Japan purchases oil from the Middle East. Since the price of oil rose
in 1973, Japan has spent more money on oil than any other imported
product. Middle Eastern countries cannot use all of the products Japan
needs to sell or trade for the oil it uses, so Japan must sell its
products elsewhere.
- When a country sells more to one nation than it buys from it, the trade
between the two countries (bilateral trade) is not balanced. In a world
where many countries trade with each other, it is natural for countries
to run bilateral trade deficits with some countries and bilateral trade
surpluses with others. This is because trade encourages nations to
specialize in the production of the things they produce well and to
import those things they can not produce as well as some other country.
- The more specialized a nation becomes the more likely it is to run
a trade deficit with the nations that supply the inputs (oil and raw
materials in Japan's case), and to run trade surpluses with countries
that buy the final products. This pattern holds particularly well for
Japan. Japan buys coal and other raw materials from Australia and uses
these resources to make high technology items. It can not sell enough
of its finished products to Australians to pay for the raw materials
it buys from them. So, it runs a trade deficit with Australia, which
it pays for by running trade surpluses with other nations, for example,
France.
- Japan and the United States are very important trading partners. However,
there is an imbalance in their trade. This is part of the pattern mentioned
above. Japan is using its trade surpluses with the United States to
pay for its trade deficits with the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Nations) nations.
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