Japan

In the years following World War II, government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) helped Japan develop a technologically advanced economy. Two notable characteristics of the post-war economy were the close interlocking structures of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors, known as keiretsu, and the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force. Both features are now eroding under the dual pressures of global competition and domestic demographic change. Japan’s industrial sector is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. A tiny agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Usually self sufficient in rice, Japan imports about 60% of its food on a caloric basis. Japan maintains one of the world’s largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades, overall real economic growth had been spectacular - a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s, averaging just 1.7%, largely because of the after effects of inefficient investment and an asset price bubble in the late 1980s that required a protracted period of time for firms to reduce excess debt, capital, and labor. The Japanese financial sector was not heavily exposed to sub-prime mortgages or their derivative instruments and weathered the initial effect of the recent global credit crunch, but a sharp downturn in business investment and global demand for Japan’s exports in late 2008 pushed Japan further into recession. Government stimulus spending helped the economy recover in late 2009 and 2010, but Tokyo is warning that GDP growth will slow in 2011. Prime Minister Kan’s government has proposed opening the agricultural and services sectors to greater foreign competition and boosting exports through free-trade agreements, but debate continues on restructuring the economy and funding new stimulus programs in the face of a tight fiscal situation. Japan’s huge government debt, which is approaching 200 percent of GDP, persistent deflation, and an aging and shrinking population are major complications for the economy.

$4.338 trillion (2010 est.)

$4.211 trillion (2009 est.)

$4.442 trillion (2008 est.)

$5.391 trillion (2010 est.)

3% (2010 est.)

-5.2% (2009 est.)

-1.2% (2008 est.)

$34,200 (2010 est.)

$33,100 (2009 est.)

$34,900 (2008 est.)

65.64 million (2010 est.)

5.2% (2010 est.)

5.1% (2009 est.)

NA%

38.1 (2002)

24.9 (1993)

20.3% of GDP (2010 est.)

196.4% of GDP (2010 est.)

192.9% of GDP (2009 est.)

-0.9% (2010 est.)

-1.4% (2009 est.)

0.3% (31 December 2009)

0.3% (31 December 2008)

1.72% (31 December 2009 est.)

1.91% (31 December 2008 est.)

$5.541 trillion (31 December 2010 est)

$5.162 trillion (31 December 2009 est)

$18.3 trillion (31 December 2009)

$14.56 trillion (31 December 2008)

$16.39 trillion (31 December 2008 est.)

$13.32 trillion (31 December 2007 est.)

$3.378 trillion (31 December 2009)

$3.22 trillion (31 December 2008)

$4.453 trillion (31 December 2007)

rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish

among world’s largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles, processed foods

7.5% (2010 est.)

957.9 billion kWh (2008 est.)

925.5 billion kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

132,700 bbl/day (2009 est.)

4.363 million bbl/day (2009 est.)

380,900 bbl/day (2008 est.)

5.033 million bbl/day (2008 est.)

44.12 million bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

3.539 billion cu m (2009 est.)

94.67 billion cu m (2009 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

90.29 billion cu m (2009 est.)

20.9 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

$182.3 billion (2010 est.)

$142.2 billion (2009 est.)

$735.8 billion (2010 est.)

$545.3 billion (2009 est.)

transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals

China 18.88%, US 16.42%, South Korea 8.13%, Taiwan 6.27%, Hong Kong 5.49% (2009)

$636.8 billion (2010 est.)

$501.6 billion (2009 est.)

machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials

China 22.2%, US 10.96%, Australia 6.29%, Saudi Arabia 5.29%, UAE 4.12%, South Korea 3.98%, Indonesia 3.95% (2009)

$NA (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.024 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)

$2.246 trillion (30 June 2010)

$2.231 trillion (31 December 2008)

$161.4 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$147.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$831.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$738.5 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

yen (JPY) per US dollar - 88.67 (2010), 93.57 (2009), 103.58 (2008), 117.99 (2007), 116.18 (2006)