ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Economic Liberty and capitalism in Japan. It briefly explicates three major capitalisms in Japan: enterprise, social, and developmental. The enterprise capitalism is associated with the Anglophone world, such as the UK, but its most robust incarnation has been seen in the United States (US). Cultivated within a culture of the free market of classical liberalism and individualism, it prefers minimal state involvement and regulation, limited public ownership, and is suspicious of welfare programs, labor rights, and unionism. Though the individual is afforded great respect as a key socioeconomic unit, the political economic culture of social capitalism is better described as social democratic or even corporatist. The developmental capitalism is typified by Japan, with South Korea, Taiwan, and some other Asian nations emulating Japan's state-guided features. Imperialism, colonialism, and late modernization have forged a political economic culture that is highly nationalist and collectivistic.
