Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Economy of Japan

The economy of Japan is the third largest in the world by nominal GDP the fourth largest by Purchasing Power Parity and is the world's second largest Purchasing Power Parity According to the International Monetary Fund the country's per capita GDP (PPP) was at $35,855 or the 22nd highest in 2012. Japan is a member of Group of Eight. The Japanese economy is forecasted by the Quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment conducted by the Bank of Japan.
Japan is the world's 3rd largest automobile manufacturing country, has the largest electronics goods industry, and is often ranked among the world's most innovative countries leading several measures of global patent filings. Facing increasing competition from China and South Korea, manufacturing in Japan today now focuses primarily on high-tech and precision goods, such as optical instruments, Hybrid vehicles, and robotics.. Beside the Kanto region, the Kansai region is one the leading industrial clusters and the manufacturing center for the Japanese economy.
Japan is the world's largest creditor nation, generally running an annual trade surplus and having a considerable net international investment surplus. As of 2010, Japan possesses 13.7% of the world's private financial assets (the 2nd largest world) at an estimated $14.6 trillion. As of 2013, 62 of the Fortune Globle 500 companies are based in Japan.
Overview of economy: In the three decades following 1960, Japan ignored defense spending in favor of economic growth, thus allowing for a rapid economic growth referred to as the Japanese post-war economic miracle. By the guidance of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, with average growth rates of 10% in the 1960s, 5% in the 1970s, and 4% in the 1980s, Japan was able to establish and maintain itself as the world's second largest economy from 1978 until 2010, when it was supplanted by the People's Republic of Japan. By 1990, income per capital in Japan equalled or surpassed that in most countries in the West.
However, in the second half of the 1980s, rising stock and real estate prices caused the Japanese economy to overheat in what was later to be known as the Japanes asset price bubble caused by the policy of low interest rate by Bank of Japan. The economics Bubble came to an abrupt end as the Tokyo Stock Exchange crashed in 1990–92 and real estate prices peaked in 1991. 
Growth in Japan throughout the 1990s at 1.5% was slower than growth in other major developed economies, giving rise to the term Lost Decates. Nonetheless, GDP per capita growth from 2001-2010 has still managed to outpace Europe and the United States. 
But Japan Public-Dept remains a daunting task for the Japanese government due to excessive borrowing, social welfare spending with an aging society and lack of economic/industrial growth in recent days to contribute to the tax revenue. Japan had recently embraced the new strategy of economic growth with such goals to be achieved in 2020 as expected. The modern ICT industry has generated one of the major outputs to the Japanese economy. Japan is the second largest music market in the world (for more, see Japan Hot 100). With fewer children in the aging Japan, Japanese Anime industry is facing growing Chinese competition in the targeted Chinese market. Japanese Manga industry enjoys popularity in most of the Asian markets.
Although many kinds of minerals were extracted throughout the country, most mineral resources had to be imported in the postwar era. Local deposits of metal-bearing ores were difficult to process because they were low grade. The nation's large and varied forest resources, which covered 70 percent of the country in the late 1980s, were not utilized extensively. Because of political decisions on local, prefectural, and national levels, Japan decided not to exploit its forest resources for economic gain. Domestic sources only supplied between 25 and 30 percent of the nation's timber needs. 
Agriculture and fishing were the best developed resources, but only through years of painstaking investment and toil. The nation therefore built up the manufacturing and processing industries to convert raw materials imported from abroad. This strategy of economic development necessitated the establishment of a strong economic infrastructure to provide the needed energy, transportation, communications, and technological know-how.
Deposits of gold, Magnesium, and silver meet current industrial demands, but Japan is dependent on foreign sources for many of the minerals essential to modern industry. Iron ore, copper, bauxite and alumina must be imported, as well as many forest products.

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