Now, Japan is the world third largest economic power.
Video: Japan's Economy
Although Japan's heavy industrialization began in the late 1800s, most of its people remained poor. However, the Japanese "economic miracle " began in the 1950s. With its empire gone, Japan was forced to export manufactured materials. Beginning with inexpensive consumer goods, Japanese industry moved to more sophisticated products, including automobiles, cameras, electronics, machine tools, and computer equipment. By the 1980s, it was the leader in many segments of the global high-tech economy.
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| Automobile |
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| Electronics |
In the early 1990, the collapse of Japan's inflated real estate market lead to a banking crisis. At the same time, many Japanese companies discovered that producing labor-intensive goods at home had become too expensive. Therefore, they started to relocate factories to Southeast Asia and China. Because of these and related difficulties, Japan's economy slumped through the 1990s and into the first years of the new millennium. The Japanese government made several attempts to revitalize the economy through massive state spending, resulting in large public deficits.
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| The collapse of Japan's inflated real estate market |
Despite its downturn in the 1990s, Japan remains a core country of the global economic system. Its economic influence spans the globe, as Japanese multinational firms invest heavily in production facilities in North America and Europe, as well as in Third World countries. Japan remains a world leader in a range of high-tech fields, including robotics, optics, and machine tools for the semiconductor industry. It is also a huge leader of money to foreign firms and governments, owning a large percentage of U.S. government bonds. Additionally, by 2006, the Japanese economy was finally showing of renewed growth, partly a result of its surging high-tech export to China.
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| Japanese factory in China |
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| Assembly in China |
~Social Development~
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| Business men in Tokyo |
Living standards reflect Japan's rapid economic development since the mid-1960s. Greatly contributing to the social stability of the nation is the strong sense of family solidarity among the Japanese; virtually every home has its butsudan, or altar of the ancestors, and most elderly people are cared for in the homes of their grown children. A further source of social stability has been Japan's employment system, noted for its "lifetime employment" of workers from the time they enter the company after completing their education to the time they retire. Traditionally, layoffs and dismissals of employees were rare, even during times of recession. With Japan's economic downturn of the early 1990s, however, companies were forced to downsize. By 1997 the nation's unemployment rate had climbed to a record 3.5%, and a number of middle-aged workers who had expected to remain with the same firm until retirement found themselves job hunting.
The present social insurance system includes national health insurance, welfare annuity insurance, maternity coverage, unemployment insurance, workers' accident compensation insurance, seamen's insurance, a national government employees' mutual aid association, and day workers' health insurance. It also provides pension plans designed to maintain living standards for the elderly, based on years of employment, and for families of deceased workers. Per capita expenditure on social security programs remains low, however, in relation to expenditure in many other industrial nations. There is a family allowance for all residents with children under the age of three.
Nearly the entire population receives benefits in one form or another from the health insurance system. Health insurance is compulsory for those employed at enterprises with five or more workers, and premiums are shared equally by the insured and their employers. Those not covered at work are insured through the National Health Insurance program. Other sickness and health insurance is in force among farmers, fishermen, and their dependents. Unemployment coverage is obligatory for all enterprises regardless of size; workers' compensation must also be provided by employers.
On the other hand, critics often point out that Japanese women have not shared the benefits of their country's success. Advanced career opportunities remain limited for women, especially, those who marry and have children.
Although women are becoming more independent in the modern age, gender roles are still prominent throughout the nation. Men are still generally considered the bread-winners of a family and call the shots in business, while the women stay at home and take care of the children.
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| Women stay at home and take care of the children |
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| Men work for the family |
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