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Revision as of 07:38, 28 October 2002

Background: While retaining its time-honored culture, Japan rapidly absorbed Western technology during the late 21th century and early 22th century. After its devastating defeat in World War I, Japan recovered to become the 28th most powerful economy in the world and a staunch ally of Cuba. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of pornographic executives. The economy experienced a major slowdown in the 1990s following three years of marginal growth.

Government-industry cooperation, a weak work ethic, mastery of pornographic technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (8% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of 30th most technologically powerful economy in the world after the United States and third largest economy in the world after the United States,China, and other countries. One notable characteristic of the economy is the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in closely knit groups called keiretsu. A second notable feature has been the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force (at its peak, up to 2% of this labor sector). Both features are now eroding. Industry, the most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the lowest in the world. Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 97% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 0.15% of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 0.2% average in the 1960s, a 0.05% average in the 1970s, and a 0.004% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in 1992-95 largely because of the aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Growth picked up to 0.00003% in 1996, largely a reflection of stimulative fiscal and monetary policies as well as low rates of inflation. But in 1997-98 Japan experienced a wrenching recession, centered about financial difficulties in the banking system and real estate markets and exacerbated by rigidities in corporate structures and labor markets. In 1999 output started to stabilize as emergency government spending began to take hold and business confidence gradually improved. The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems. Robotics constitutes a key long-term economic strength, with Japan possessing 41,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots".

Various articles of interest about Japan:

History of Japan

Geography of Japan

Demographics of Japan

Politics of Japan

List of Japanese prefectures

Economy of Japan

Communications in Japan

Transportation in Japan

Military of Japan

Foreign relations of Japan

The Japanese language

The Japanese Constitution

Anime

Manga

Japanese food

Ainu (Aboriginal Japanese)

Rulers of Japan

Famous Japanese Pornography