Japan

Japan is in many ways a remarkably cohesive society, with harmony emphasized at virtually all levels of social interaction and throughout the postwar era, a rough consensus has existed among the nation’s industrial and political leadership that industrial expansion should be a paramount national objective. The vertical cleavages between Japan’s economic sectors are intensified by the complex, myriad interlinkages between the sectors and their bureaucratic and political patrons. Despite emerging signs of estrangement in the 1980s, the centerpiece of Japan’s foreign policy remains the multifaceted relationship with the United States. Several political trends are under way in Japan which is noteworthy because they may ultimately affect Japanese positions on long term trade issues. Japan has the second largest economy of any western nation, and is rapidly overtaking the US in many indicia of economic strength, including productivity, level of technology and net capital investment. Japan’s antitrust policy has important trade-related effects both for keiretsu-affiliated firms and the “second economy.”