Research: Asia's Leading Goose: Japan's Journey - Essay Example

This essay will seek to expound the causes of Japan decline in economy and also expound on measures that could have been adopted by the Japanese government in order t restore the country economy. Some of the factors that resulted in the economic recovery of Japan were: good economic fundamentals that provided an excellent foundation for the economy; excellent system of education that was adopted by the country after the second world war which ensured that the economy was supplied with effective man power; high quality of the products that were being manufactured by the country at a low production cost and a high rate of savings among the Japanese population (Isaacs, 2001).

Japan also had a high level of economic freedom that attracted foreign investors into the country and its economic system was superior in relation to most of the countries in the world as it was regarded as a superior form of capitalism. Despite this growth that was experienced by the Japanese economy after recovering from the devastating effects of the Second World War. Japan has experienced a steady decline in its economy from the start of the early 90s and this has resulted in the country experiencing an economic recession lasting over the years until the year 2006 where the economy started showing signs of recovering.

The first cause that led to the decline in the economy was the Economic and political structure that Japan adopted after the war. This structure was characterized by several factors such as: indirect regulation of the economy by the state whereby the state issued economic incentives such as loans for activities like research and development, there was also government regulation on the issuance of loans to the vital companies or industries. This was done through the relevant ministries such as that of International Trade and Development and Ministry of Finance.

The government also made efforts meant to protect failing industries that were regarded as “industrial bigwigs” by forming business cartels in order to safeguard employment. Furthermore the Japanese government adopted a welfare system of society to protect its citizens from any form of harsh economic effects. Initially, these political and economic structures adopted by the government after the war had a positive impact on the Japanese economy. For instance, the loans that were awarded to the companies for the purpose of research and development ensured that these companies produced quality goods and the goods produced by Japanese companies were among the most superior in terms of quality and affordability.

This was evidenced by the global popularity of Japanese products such as Sony, a label that was associated with some of the highest quality of electronic products that existed in the market at that time. The degree of state control through planning activities ensured vital transitions in the industry were carried out in a smooth and orderly manner. For example, the transition from the heavy industrial based production of the seventies to the efficient computer and electronics based production economy in the 1980s.

In the early 1990s, these characteristics that had boosted the Japanese government are the ones that made it to slow down. This resulted in low productivity and low economic growth rate which registered a figure of around one percent for a couple of years. This trend has persisted through the years and presently