Japan’s Long Stagnation Is a Case Study for the Future of Western Capitalism
The major capitalist economies of Europe and North America have been experiencing low rates of economic growth and population increase. Japan has been in that position since the 1990s, and its experience offers some important clues about what the future holds.
Then newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president Shinzo Abe (second from right) shakes hands with his predecessor and other candidates during a presidential election meeting in Tokyo, Japan, September 20, 2006. (Tatsuyuki Tayama / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
During the 1980s, Japan seemed like it might overtake the United States to become the world’s largest economy. Long before he turned his attention to China, Donald Trump called for the United States to engage in a trade war with its Japanese challenger.
Yet since a property bubble burst in the early ’90s, Japan has become a byword for economic stagnation. That hasn’t prevented the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from maintaining its status as the most successful political party in the rich capitalist world.
Kristin Surak teaches sociology at the London School of Economics. She is the author of Making Tea, Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice and The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires. This is an edited transcript from Jacobin Radio’s Long Reads podcast. You can listen to the interview here.
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