by Yoshiyuki Iwamoto
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Product Description
Japan's effervescent economy, charging ahead in the late 1980s under the stimulation of a 2.5% prime rate, shook American confidence...until the bubble burst in 1989, leaving banks saddled with over $200 billion in bad loans. Iwamoto shows how and why the lenders racked up all this uncollectible debt, who took advantage of whom, and how actions by business and government officials contributed to the crisis. Along the way, his illustrative examples share some of the flavor of business life in Japan including the academic cliques and mobster clans, the after-hours camaraderie, and the legendary "entertainment" that was used to evade inspections by the Ministry of Finance. The author then describes Prime Minister Kozumi's initiatives that halved the bad loans by March 2005 and inspired foreign investors to bring back their cash. With strong exports, increasing capital investment, and decreasing unemployment, Japan is truly on the upswing. Kozumi's party reaped the benefit with a landslide victory in the September 2005 general election, and he continues to push for further restructuring. The author goes on to identify and describe the 20 most successful companies in Japan this year and gives clues as to what makes them thrive. Many aspects of Japan's economy are highlighted in tables and statistics, from "Differences in Pay Scale by Type of Industry" to "Results at Seven Mega Banking Groups and Forecast for March 31, 2006," plus balance sheets of companies like Toyota, Shiseido, and McDonald's Japan. * The author is a US-educated Japanese businessman who has had a lengthy career in marketing and advertising for US firms doing business in Japan and for Japanese companies doing business abroad. His own company, MarBrain, applies an understanding of cultural differences to provide marketing plans and creative problem solving for small companies engaged in international business.
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Average Customer Review:
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Definitive Study of Japanese Economy, 2006-12-21
This book is exceptional in that it employs an approach rarely used by foreign scholars on Japan who rely heavily on macroeconomic data. JAPAN ON THE UPSWING is backed by forty years of the author's experience in marketing as well as by his expertise in science and technology. It is an easy read, free from pretense and jargon. Iwamoto minces no words when discussing policy makers whose fiscal mismanagement and multimillion-dollar deals with mobsters brought about a decade of financial depression for Japan.
American readers will learn how the bubble was created and why, after the bubble burst, many Japanese companies went belly-up. We also learn how Prime Minister Koizumi took over in 2002 and by getting tough helped in the recovery of such major companies as Sony, Panasonic, and Canon. Especially interesting, for example, is Panasonic's story of losing some $3.7 billions in 2002 and managing to report profits in 2005--net financial assets of over $6.5 billions.
Richly documented with a host of intriguing anecdotes involving racketeers, corporations, and government officials, this is a must read for anyone interested in Japan and its economy.
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