The Japanese Economic Crisis PDF
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THE JAPANESE ECONOMIC CRISIS Also by Jon Woronoff ASIA'S 'MIRACLE' ECONOMIES HONG KONG: CAPITALIST PARADISE INSIDE JAPAN, INC * JAPAN AS - ANYTHING BUT- NUMBER ONE JAPAN: THE COMING ECONOMIC CRISIS JAPAN: THE COMING SOCIAL CRISIS "JAPAN'S COMMERCIAL EMPIRE JAPAN'S WASTED WORKERS THE JAPANESE MANAGEMENT MYSTIQUE 'JAPANESE TARGETING THE JAPAN SYNDROME KOREA'S ECONOMY: MAN-MADE MIRACLE *THE 'NO-NONSENSE' GUIDE TO DOING BUSINESS IN JAPAN "POLITICS: THE JAPANESE WAY UNLOCKING JAPAN'S MARKETS (with Michael R. Czinkota) WORLD TRADE WAR Published by Macmillan The Japanese Economic Crisis Jon Woronoff Second Edition & ©Jon Woronoff !992. !996 All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W l P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Japan by Yohan Publications Inc. under the title Japan: The (Coming) Economic Crisis 1992 Published by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG2l 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world First Edition 1992 Second Edition 1996 ISBN 978-0-333-65827-7 ISBN 978-0-230-37568-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230375680 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 05 04 03 02 0 I 00 99 98 97 96 Contents Preface to the Second Edition 7 1. The (Coming) Economic Crisis What Is A Crisis? 11 When Is It Coming? 14 Ready Or Not 18 2. Economic Miracles and Mirages No More Growth Hero 23 Unsteady As She Goes 28 What Went Wrong? 32 Excuses, Excuses 37 3. Economic Super-Management Planning And Targeting, Sort Of 45 Financial Wizardry 50 Rearranging The Economy 54 4. The Little Train That Couldn't The Mighty Locomotive 61 The Cumbersome Wagons 64 A Two-Track Economy 68 5. Japan's Wasted Workers Productivity Peters Out 75 Contrast In Blue And White 79 Japan's Renowned (Mis)management System 84 Subsidies And Services 88 Ballot Boxes And Red Tape 92 6. Rich Nation, Poor People Only Rich On Paper 99 Profitless Companies 104 Pity The Poor Worker 110 Let The Consumer Pay 115 Government-Induced Waste 120 7. What Quality Of Life? Of Rabbit Hutches 127 And Workaholics 132 Spiritual Want 137 Old Age Insecurity 140 8. The Human Element Fails Eroding Work Ethic 149 Decaying Loyalty 154 Gaping Generation Gaps 160 9. Work Is No Fun The Company "Family" 169 Blue-Collar Blues 174 White-Collar Blahs 180 Working Women's Woes 186 10. Demise Of The Classless Society New Rich, New Poor 195 Whose Company Is This? 204 Birth Of An Aristocracy... 212 11. The Crisis Cometh So Far, No Good 219 What About The Future? 224 Rising, Setting Or Immobile? 228 Crime And Punishment 236 12. Postscript The "Bubble Economy" 243 Problems, Problems... 251 Time (Again) For Reform 261 Crisis Or COLLAPSE? 266 Bibliography 273 Index 281 Preface to the Second Edition When I wrote the predecessor to this volume, Japan: The Coming Economic Crisis, almost two decades ago, the idea of an economic crisis in Japan was deemed completely and utterly unrealistic. Even when I wrote the first edition of The Japanese Economic Crisis, while it was regarded as plausible by some, the majority still thought the idea was a bit farfetched. Now that this book is going into a second edition, just a few years later, the idea appears almost self-evident to all but the die-hards. Why does the idea of a Japanese economic crisis seem so much more realistic now? That is obvious. The great "bubble economy" of the late 1980s has burst and Japan has been con tending, and not terribly well, with its most tenacious postwar growth recession. Japanese companies have been plagued with one problem after another: low profits, loss of competitiveness, the heavy yen, hollowing out, and so on. The government has made repeated efforts to revive the economy, but one stimulus after another has petered out. Meanwhile, the average Japanese, whose willingness to work and sacrifice remains essential, is tired of striving so hard for so little. This would make for a crisis anywhere. But, in Japan, there is much more to it than that. For the very essence of the economy is vitiated. Despite considerable growth over the past decades, the Japanese still do not live in anything resembling a prosperous country. Their housing is quite ordinary (if not necessarily "rabbit hutches") and they work many more hours than their counterparts in other advanced countries (so they are still relative "workaholics"). Pressure from the company has disrupted their family life and their personal life and sapped the political system. Even though they apparently earn more than the rest of us, they spend much more and end up behind. With
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