ABSTRACT
World markets remain awash with manufactured products from Japan, despite its
‘lost decade’ of economic stagnation over the 1990s. Indeed, export markets have
been Japan’s lifeline preventing outright depression, and some now argue that
they provide a model for Japan’s resurgence over the medium term (Katz 2003).
Japanese goods also retain a reputation for excellent design and reliability. Yet
since mid-2000 a series of scandals has revealed serious quality control problems.
They have afflicted jewels in the crown of Japan’s export industries, as well as less
competitive sectors focused on domestic markets. This book outlines some
perspectives for appraising such developments, and issues of product safety more
generally, comparing especially Japan’s Product Liability Law (the ‘PL Law’,
No. 85 of 1994). Before setting out the general approach and plan for this study,
some conceptual challenges are illustrated by sketching in more detail the recent
problems, and the conflicting perspectives offered on them by the media and
academic commentary on Japan, its products and consumers, and its legal
system.
