...Some historians refer to Japan’s social, economic, and political advancements during the late 19th century and early 20th century as the “Meiji Miracle.” During the 1860’s the Tokugawa shogunate was at its weakest point and it would soon fall after the shotgun abdicated his power. In 1868, the Meiji regime was established under Mutsuhito in Edo, or modern Tokyo. Previously during the Edo rule; the weak Tokugawa rulers were forced into signing unequal treaties with various Western powers. The Meiji emperor and his advisors soon realized that Japan must change and initiate reforms in order to prevent the Western powers from dominating Japan. The Meiji rulers would soon embrace western technologies, industries, and lifestyles to initiate modernization policies that would forever alter Japanese politics, society, and economics. The Meiji would begin their political reform by stripping the daimyo of titles to the land in 1871. To maintain peace among the daimyo the Meiji rulers made the former daimyo regional governors over their prefectures. By doing this, the Meiji rulers were able to successfully remove the daimyo from holding full possession of the land without major resistance. The Meiji government would continue to modernize Japanese politics by establishing a parliament and constitution based on the Western government. The use of a constitution sparked a debate on among the officers and intellectuals of which form of parliament was more beneficial. The politicians favored...
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...[pic] TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 INTRODUCTION 5 KONGO GUMI ENVIRONMENT 7 Feudal Japan 8 The Restoration of Edo 8 The Meiji Restoration 9 World War 1 12 The Mid War Period 13 World War 2 15 The Occupation of Japan and Post War Reconstruction 16 The Economic Miracle 17 The Lost Decade 18 Global Financial Crisis 19 Natural Disasters 20 Abenomics 21 STRATEGIES KONGO GUMI USED TO SURVIVE TURBULENCE 23 Kongo Gumi in the 20th Century 23 Meiji restoration 23 The Mid War Period 24 World war 11 24 KONGO GUMI WOULD HAVE SURVIVED IF: 25 WOULD KONGO GUMI HAVE SURVIVED IF IT MADE IT THROUGH TO THE ABENOMICS ERA? 26 LESSONS FROM KONGO GUMI 27 CONCLUSION 28 REFERENCES 31 Appendix 1 – Infographic of Japan’s timeline EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kongo Gumi was a success as it operated in a stable industry. The belief system has survived for thousands of years and has many millions of adherents. With this firm foundation, Kongo had survived some tumultuous times. The temple construction had until recently been a reliable mainstay, contributing 80% of Kongo Gumi's $67.6 million in 2004 revenues. The story of Kongo Gumi suggests that firms should blend elements of conservatism and flexibility. This means that firms should stay in the same business for more than a millennium and...
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...that despite the vast geographical distance and cultural, racial differences, as well as the different time periods involved, Japanese and European intentions were very similar, and that these similarities contributed to the weakening of Imperialism as a doctrine. To do so, this essay will be examining the reasons for the Japanese conducting policies of imperialism, when they expanded, what methods they use to expand and the systems of government. Japanese Imperialism will be compared to those of a well known European power active in the region, Britain. J.A Hobson’s seminal work Imperialism: A Study puts forward the idea of the ‘Economic Taproot of Imperialism’. A taproot is the largest root in some plants and is the plant’s primary source of nourishment. Military aggression is simply capitalist expansion. He described it as “As one nation after another enters the machine economy and adopts advanced industrial methods, it becomes more difficult for its manufacturers, merchants and finaciers to dispose profitably of their economic resources and they are tempted more and more to use their Governments in order to secure for their particular use some distant undeveloped country by annexation and protection…It is admitted by all businessmen that the growth of the powers of production in their county exceeds the growth in consumption, that more goods can be produced than can be sold at a profit, and that more capital exists than can find remunerative investment. It is...
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...Eurclpc at the Outhrcak ol' the War Beginning of the Cold War Let Us Srlnl Up Key Words Ans~versto Check Your Progress Exercises 30.0 OBJECTIVES In this Unit you will learn about : changes introduced in intcrnalional relat!ons due to industrializaiion. continuities that came to be establislled between the two world wars as a single. unintcrrupted process, and the ideological factors that kcpt the groupings in the wars identical in both cases. 30.1 INTRODUCTION We have so far discussed the nature and conscquences of industrial capitalis~nand tlle consequent rise of nlodern politics. In the earlier Units. the growth of nation-states and thc nature of i~nperialist rivalries have also been discussed. We understand yo11 arc now bcttcr placed to see the two world wars as culmination of these diverse proccsses. Industrialization had signalled in fact the growth of new states that conlpeted with each other for global domination: and in the absence of riicclianis~iisfor peacefiil resolutions of internatiooa\ rivalries, armed conflicts on an al~llostglobal scale becanle incvit;ible. Since Europc had tdzological already been divided into ideologically defined camps, the war also ass~~rncd dimensions. In the first World War ideology was still in the background Rut the Socolld World War definitely saw tlie alliance of liberal democracy and sociali:;!n opposed to 1lie rightist dictatorial regimes. Interestingly the War did not fiilfil tlle objeciive of either campannihilation of the...
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...Japan’s Motorcycle Wars alexander.indd 1 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM alexander.indd 2 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM Jeffrey W. Alexander Japan’s Motorcycle Wars alexander.indd 3 An Industry History 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM © UBC Press 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 54321 Printed in Canada with vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Alexander, Jeffrey W. (Jeffrey William), 1972Japan’s motorcycle wars : an industry history / Jeffrey W. Alexander. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7748-1453-9 1. Motorcycle industry – Japan – History. 2. Motorcycling – Japan – History. I. Title. HD9710.5.J32A43 2008 338.4’762922750952 C2007-907431-6 UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been...
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...A Direct Test of the Theory of Comparative Advantage: The Case of Japan Author(s): Daniel M. Bernhofen and John C. Brown Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 112, No. 1 (February 2004), pp. 48-67 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/379944 . Accessed: 10/02/2012 10:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Political Economy. http://www.jstor.org A Direct Test of the Theory of Comparative Advantage: The Case of Japan Daniel M. Bernhofen and John C. Brown Clark University We exploit Japan’s sudden and complete opening up to international trade in the 1860s to test the empirical validity of one of the oldest and most fundamental propositions in economics: the theory of comparative advantage. Historical evidence supports the assertion that the characteristics of the Japanese economy at the time were compatible with the...
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...The Globalization of International Financial Markets: What Can History Teach Us?* Michael D. Bordo Rutgers University and NBER Paper prepared for the conference “International Financial Markets: The Challenge of Globalization.” March 31, 2000. Texas A and M University, College Station Texas. * For valuable research assistance, I thank Antu Murshid. 1. Introduction Globalization has become the buzz word of the new millennium. It is viewed as the cause of many of the world’s problems as well as a panacea. The debate over globalization is manifest both in public demonstrations against the WTO in Seattle in the Fall of 1999 and the IMF and World Bank earlier. It also has led to a spate of scholarly and not so scholarly books on the subject.1 Until three years ago the consensus view among economists on the issue of the international integration of financial markets was very positive. The benefits of open capital markets stressed include: optimal international resource allocation; intertemporal optimization; international portfolio diversification and discipline on policy makers.2. However, the recent spate of crises in Latin America and Asia has led some to argue that the costs of complete liberalization of financial markets for emerging countries may outweigh the benefits.3 The paper focuses on the globalization of financial markets from the historical perspective of the past 120 years. In Section 2, I summarize the empirical evidence on the international integration of financial...
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...Japan in Asia: A Hard Case for Soft Power by Thomas U. Berger Thomas Berger is an associate professor of International Relations at Boston University. he concept of ‘‘soft power’’—defined by Joe Nye as ‘‘the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than through coercion’’1— has proven a seductive one for Japan. Since the concept was popularized in the 1990s, Japanese scholars and policymakers have enthusiastically taken it up, eagerly exploring how Japan’s soft power resources could be exploited to burnish Japan’s image in the world and help reshape its environment in subtle but important ways. Some—perhaps encouraged by the new attention given to the popularity of Japanese anime and manga, and by the general buzz about ‘‘Cool Japan’’—have even described Japan as a ‘‘Soft Power Superpower.’’2 It sometimes seemed, in more overheated moments, that Pokemon and Sailor Moon would conquer the world, succeeding where the Imperial Army and Navy had failed.3 That soft power would prove attractive is unsurprising. Although Japan has considerable hard power resources, it has shown great reluctance to actually use them in the way that students of international relations would T 1 The idea was originally advanced by in Joseph Nye, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power (New York: Basic Books, 1990). He has since expanded on the concept in Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004). 2 See the very useful volume by...
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...Development in Developing Countries: Lessons from Korea and Japan Byoungki KIM Abstract Infrastructure is indispensable to achieve the main development targets in developing countries, such as urbanization, industrialization, export promotion, equitable income distribution, and sustainable economic development. Late developing countries can benefit from previous development experience provided they choose the right model1. However, the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth is still frequently debated. This paper will examine the experience of Korea and Japan in infrastructure development for economic growth to acquire some valuable lessons that infrastructure development contributes to economic development in developing countries. 1. Introduction The lack of infrastructure is hindering the economic growth in many developing countries2. Infrastructure investment has the effects of contributing to increase the productivity and it is expected to contribute to future economic growth in developing countries where infrastructure is still insufficient. Therefore, infrastructure development is one of the most integral parts of the public policies in developing countries. Supporting infrastructure development in developing countries by advanced countries is extremely important field. This can be inferred from the fact that many international organizations such as World Bank and OECD are actively promoting the improvement of infrastructure by providing various support...
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...Chapter 1: The business systems of Asia Variety in the regional and general features Civilizational traditions • Confucianism • Taoism • Buddhism • Islam • Catholicism Historical external influences • Colonies • India establishing trading connections, mostly in South East Asia • Chinese who left China and settled as business people in the countries around the rim of the South China sea Periods: 1. 1945-1975 After the retreat of colonial powers, countries needed to reestablish their identity and political structures → hostility + Maoist experiments in China 2. 1975-1997 Relative calm period, stable growth, export to foreign countries, rise in FDI a. Mao’s death: collapse of communism → socialist market economy b. Japanese miracle c. Impressive growth of the South-Korean economy 3. Ersatz capitalism → Asian crisis in 1997: inefficient use of capital was covered up by the availability of easy money from governments, optimistic foreign investors lured by the emerging markets. The system could not keep up the pretence as it became sensitive to a downturn in the economic cycle which hit the region in 1997. → End of easy money and beginnings of reforms. 4. After 1997, reforms: • Improvements to accountability and disclosure in the financing of industry • Reduction of favoritism and corruption during control of licenses and capital • Opening of markets to foreign competition • Adoption of international standards in accounting, trading, IPR • General rise...
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...E SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past Sharon Hartman Strom, Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform Michael Adas, ed., Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History Jack Metzgar, Striking Steel: Solidarity Remembered Janis Appier, Policing Women: The Sexual Politics of Law Enforcement and the LAPD Allen Hunter, ed., Rethinking the Cold War Eric Foner, ed., The New American History. Revised and Expanded Edition E SSAYS ON _ T WENTIETH- C ENTURY H ISTORY Edited by ...
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...South Carolina Social Studies Academic Standards Mick Zais, Ph.D. State Superintendent of Education South Carolina Department of Education Columbia, South Carolina State Board Approved Document – August 18, 2011 Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1 Social Studies Standards Page Format .............................................................................................5 Grade-Level Standards for Social Studies Grades K–3 Kindergarten. Foundations of Social Studies: Children as Citizens ...............................................7 Grade 1. Foundations of Social Studies: Families........................................................................12 Grade 2. Foundations of Social Studies: Communities ................................................................17 Grade 3. South Carolina Studies ..................................................................................................22 Grades 4–5 Grade 4. United States Studies to 1865 ........................................................................................29 Grade 5. United States Studies: 1865 to the Present ....................................................................36 Grades 6–8 Grade 6. Early Cultures to 1600...
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...THE GREAT RECESSION Since publication of Robert L. Hetzel’s he Monetary Policy of the Federal Reserve (Cambridge University Press, 2008), the intellectual consensus that had characterized macroeconomics has disappeared. hat consensus emphasized eicient markets, rational expectations, and the eicacy of the price system in assuring macroeconomic stability. he 2008–2009 recession not only destroyed the professional consensus about the kinds of models required to understand cyclical luctuations but also revived the credit-cycle or asset-bubble explanations of recession that dominated thinking in the nineteenth century and irst half of the twentieth century. hese “market-disorder” views emphasize excessive risk taking in inancial markets and the need for government regulation. he present book argues for the alternative “monetary-disorder” view of recessions. A review of cyclical instability over the last two centuries places the 2008–2009 recession in the monetary-disorder tradition, which focuses on the monetary instability created by central banks rather than on a boom-bust cycle in inancial markets. Robert L. Hetzel is Senior Economist and Research Advisor in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, where he participates in debates over monetary policy and prepares the bank’s president for meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee. Dr. Hetzel’s research on monetary policy and the history of central banking has appeared in publications...
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... The Forces for Change is a framework to help you understand today’s radically changing world and synthesize the breadth of complex, fast changing, interdependent factors Are all changes bad? Change can be uncomfortable and awkward but it can also be positive. FORCES OF CHANGE AND THEIR ACCOMPANYING VALUES FORCES OF CHANGE & ACCOMPANYING VALUES Turbulence Intellectual capital, Intellectual propert, ,information sharing Networking, innovation, R&D INFORMATION AGE K-Economy GLOBALIZATION DEVELOPMENT Autonomy, Pride, Dignity Independence, Indigenization “CultureBound” Customer Focus; Speed, Responsiveness; Continuous Learning; Accurate & Up-To-Date Information Quality; Value Added; Cost Effectiveness; Humanization; Ecological Specialisation; Objectivity; Materialism; SystemsOrientation MODERNIZATION WESTERNIZATION Individualism; Secularism; Freedom Of Expression; Consumerism INDUSTRIALIZATION Mechanization; Rational Thinking; Bureaucracy; Efficiency; Productivity; Mobility; Discipline; Mechanical Time Orientation; Reliability Stable 1800 AGRICULTURAL Revolution Time line Simple division of labor, labor intensive, Collectivism, sharing 2000 FORCES OF CHANGE & ACCOMPANYING VALUES Turbulence Intellectual capital, Intellectual propert, ,information sharing Networking, innovation, R&D INFORMATION AGE K-Economy GLOBALIZATION DEVELOPMENT Autonomy, Pride, Dignity Independence, Indigenization “CultureBound” Customer Focus; Speed...
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...THE END of POVERTY Economic Possibilities for Our Time JEFFREY D. SACHS THE PENGUIN PRESS N E W YORK 2005 THE PENGUIN PRESS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc.. 375 Hudson Street. New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) - Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India ' Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, NewZealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) - Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright ©Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005 All rights reserved Page 397 constitutes an extension of this copyright page, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Sachs, Jeffrey. The e n d of poverty / Jeffrey Sachs. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59420-045-9 1. Poverty—Developing countries. 2. Developing countries—Economic policy...
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