Japan is one of the economic leaders of the modern world. In the production of industrial goods (cars, ships, video recorders, industrial robots, etc.), the country occupies a leading position in the world.
Japan’s share of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) was 7.4% ($4841.6 billion) in 2000. The average annual GDP growth rate in the 80s in Japan was higher and more stable (4.1%) than that of its competitors in the United States – 2.2%, and in the rest of the most developed capitalist countries of the world – from 0.7 to 1.6%. In the early 90s, Japan continued to outpace most of the world’s leading powers in terms of gross national product (GNP) growth rates. However, the four-year depression of the world economy, the severe economic crisis in the countries of Southeast Asia, the mistakes made by the Japanese government, and the wrong methods of management could not but affect the country’s economic development. The consequence of these processes was Japan’s entry into a period of serious economic crisis since 1992. In 1992. industrial production fell by more than 8%. In 1993, the Japanese economy experienced zero growth, and in 1994 it was 0.6%. In 1995, the increase remained at the level of 0.5%. And only 1996 ensured Japan’s economic growth of 3.4%, a level that is characteristic of a mature market economy. Japan’s current economic problems are connected not so much with the country itself, which has a very powerful investment and intellectual potential, as with incorrect management methods. Due to a misunderstanding of long-overdue structural changes, Japan in the midst of the Asian monetary and financial crisis has become perhaps the most vulnerable link in the world system. The analysis shows that the period of high growth rates of the Japanese economy is behind, and in the twenty-first century the country’s economy will be characterized by low economic growth inherent in a mature market economy.
At the end of the twentieth century, Japan was characterized by the following structure of the national economy: agriculture, fishing, forestry and mining accounted for about 2.2% of GDP and 5.4% of labor resources; industry created 41.1% of GDP, 34.6% of the labor force was employed here; the service sector generated 56.7 per cent of GDP and accounted for 60 per cent of the labour force.
Japan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves reached $292 billion in 2000. Japan has no external debts, it has become the largest creditor in the world.
The development of Japan in the post-war period has always aroused increased interest, raised and raises a number of questions related to the reasons for the high growth rates of its production in the 60-70s, the production of high-quality goods, the ability to adapt relatively quickly to the changes taking place in the world economy. Japan’s neighbors, and, above all, the peoples of Asian countries, are concerned about the possibility of using the huge economic potential to turn this state into the strongest military power.