The Textile Industry And The Rise Of The Japanese Economy

Gary R Saxonhouse was one of the world’s leading scholars on Japanese economy. Born in New York City in 1943, he attended Yale University, where he received his PhD in Economics in 1971. In 1970, he joined the Faculty of Economics at the University of Michigan, where he remained throughout his career. The selection of his published papers that comprises this two-volume publication is a testimony and tribute to his remarkable accomplishments and influence, which were cut short by his untimely death in November 2006, following a battle with leukemia. Volume I contains a selection of his published papers that have been instrumental in enhancing the understanding of Japan's modern economic history, focusing particularly on the Japanese cotton-spinning industry. Volume II features a selection of his published papers that look at how Japan's technology and innovation were key in promoting Japan's economic success; how its economy was shaped by its comparative advantage and related policies; and how its macro-financial policies were implemented in the course of its economic growth after World War II.

Makes Japanese sources accessible in English Although much of the work on Japanese economic history is inaccessible to Westerners, many of Japan's leading economic historians have published widely in English. Combined with the work of Western economists who can utilize Japanese-language sources, this series assembles a wide range of English-language articles on the key issues in Japanese economic development. Individual volumes cover the interwar period, postwar reconstruction and growth, the textile industry, demographics, agriculture, trade, and the rise of commerce and "protoindustry" in the Tokugawa era. An information-packed classroom and research resource An introductory essay in each volume discusses the significance of the articles, compares various economic development in Japan with those in other countries, and puts studies in the context of similar studies in Europe. A versatile research resource, this 7-volume set is a veritable gold mine of hard-to-find information and data from diverse sources and a godsend to everyone interested in comparative economic and social history. Professors will appreciate the collection because it gives them instant access to less familiar English-language sources and is an easy way to introduce students to doing their own research. Students will appreciate the many articles as a mother lode of information for reports and papers. Researchers will be pleased by the coverage of more than three centuries of Japanese history and life. Available individually by volume. 1. Japanese Prewar Growth (0-8153-2705-6) 280 pages 2. The Interwar Economy of Japan (0-8153-2706-4) 320 pages 3. Historical Demography and Labor Markets in Prewar Japan (08153-2707-2) 248 pages 4. The Textile Industry and the Rise of the Japanese Economy (0-8153-2708-0) 392 pages 5. Japan's Economic Ascent (0-8153-2709-9) 376 pages 6. The Japanese Economy in the Tokugawa Era, 1600-1868 (0-8153-2710-2) 384 pages 7. Agricultural Growth and Japanese Economic Development (0-8153-2711-0) 368 pages

Most of Japan's leading textile firms date back to the turn of the century. Unlike many of their Western competitors, however, Japan's larger companies have survived the "decline" of a sector consumed by fierce international competition. Providing the fullest English-language account of Japanese textiles, Dennis L. McNamara explores the entire sweep of the industry, from factory to high-fashion brokerage to policymaking circle. Tracing the strategies by which the textile industry has survived, he provides a distinctive view of Japanese capitalism in a climate of change. McNamara reconstructs a world riven by the competing interests of state and capital, firm and industry, labor and management, mill and merchant. We encounter giant "mogul" companies and upstart independent "mavericks"—such firms as Toray, Toyobo, Itochu, Tsuzuki, Kondobo, Onward, and Renown—all hustling to restructure for survival. Drawing on extensive interview data as well as recent Japanese and English-language work in political economy and social anthropology, McNamara describes a dynamic of competition between moguls and mavericks in a turbulent business torn by divisions but bound together by compromise. He finds that, despite enormous international pressures, the industry has maintained much of its market share, largely because state bureaucrats and leaders of major firms have managed to create a cooperative politics of adjustment. A corporatist structuring of interests, he concludes, has helped to moderate decline and maintain stability, permitting survival among the moguls without preventing the successful participation of mavericks.

During the period of industrialisation in Japan from the 1870s to the 1930s, the textile industry was Japan's largest manufacturing industry, and the country's major source of export earnings. It had a predominantly female labour force, drawn mainly from the agricultural population. This book examines the institutions of the labour market of this critical industry during this important period for Japanese economic development. Based on extensive original research, the book provides a wealth of detail, showing amongst other things the complexity of the labour market, the interdependence of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, and the importance of gender. It argues that the labour market institutions which developed in this period had a profound effect on the labour market and labour relations in the postwar years.

This open access book provides an in-depth examination of Japan's policy responses to the economic challenges of the 1980s and '90s. While MITI's earlier role in promoting rapid growth has been addressed in other studies, this volume, based on official records and exhaustive interviews, is the first to examine the aftermath of rapid growth and the evolution of MITI's interpretation of the economy's changing needs. Covering such topics as the oil shocks, trade conflict with the United States, and the rise and collapse of the so-called bubble economy, it presents a detailed analysis and evaluation of how these challenges were interpreted by government officials, the kinds of policies that were enacted, the extent to which policy aims were realized, and lessons for the longer term. This book is recommended especially to officials of countries concerned about the challenges that follow on high economic growth and to readers interested in Japan’s contemporary economic history.

This book shows how, during the period of the Japanese economic miracle, a distinctive female employment system was developed alongside, and different from, the better known Japanese employment system which was applied to male employees. Women, Work and the Japanese Economic Miracle describes and analyses the place of female workers in the cotton textile industry, which was a crucially important industry with a large workforce. In presenting detailed data on such key issues as recruitment systems, management practices and the working experience of the women involved, it demonstrates the importance for Japan's postwar economy of harnessing female labour during these years.