What if Japan Got Its Act Together?

What if Japan Got Its Act Together?

On Jan. 10, Japan's new government unveiled a $117 billion stimulus package, meant to jumpstart an economy that long ago ran out of gas. Japan's economy has been stuck in what its people call the "lost decades" since the early 1990s, when the stock market and real estate prices collapsed and the country entered a period of economic anemia. Japan has not gone through great hardships: Even without economic growth, most Japanese enjoy good public services, little social decay, and a low crime rate compared with the United States and Europe. But as the "Era of High Growth," as the boom days of the 60s, 70s, and 80s are known in Japan, is receding into distant memory at home, Japan's stock has crashed overseas. Gone are the days of "Japan as No. 1: Lessons for America," the title of a best-selling 1980 book, or when Chinese leaders went on pilgrimage to Japan to study the secrets of economic development. Few Japanese corporations enjoy global prestige, and the once-mighty Tokyo Stock Exchange is now seen as a hopeless backwater.

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