Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Economic and Social History, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Economics), language: English, abstract: Japan with its 126.8 million inhabitants is the unique example of a Non-Western economy achieving an equal standard of living with other Westerncountries. On top of that, the Japanese economy is the second largest in theworld. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Japans has been $ 4.7 trillions inthe year 2000. This makes Japans economy about 2.5 times larger than theGerman one measured in Dollars.1 In the light of Japans extraordinary role inworld economics, it would be very interesting to look at the background ofJapans historical development of economics. Unfortunately there is non or littleknowledge in Germany about this. The picture, we have here, is ofteninfluenced by cliches such as the Japanese imperialism, the pervasivegovernment bureaucracy and the impressing Japanese economic growth. However, the economy in Japan is no longer growing. There are structuralproblems. We have to ask the question how the Japanese Model can go on. Iwill therefore give an overview about the Japanese economy and itspossibilities in the future. The start of modern economic growth in the 1870s is closely connected withthe opening Japans to the rest of the world. To understand this development,we have to take a closer look at the economic history before 1854. Thus, mystarting point of the historic development is the so-called Tokugawa period. After that, I will talk about the different phases of the Japanese economichistory up to this date. Out of the sheer volume of the single phases, we canonly consider the most important events, and determining factors of any onedevelopment. After we have viewed the historical phases, we will introduce theperspectives of the Japanese economy. We will on one hand look at the futuredevelopment within Japan and on the other hand at the economic possibilitiesinternationally. 1 World Bank (2001)
