Ask HN: What are the best books on the economic history of Japan? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are the best books on the economic history of Japan?

11 pointsSSJPython6 comments

Simon Kuznets famously said that there were four types of countries in the world: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina.

Japan is an industrial powerhouse despite so many obstacles that should theoretically hold it back. It imports most of its food and energy. Its geography is very mountainous and prone to natural disasters. The population is concentrated in certain areas rather than spread out. It's facing a demographic crisis.

And yet...Japan is still a world leader when it comes to numerous industries. It produces the most reliable vehicles (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, etc.), reliable office equipment (Brother, Canon, etc.), and amazing consumer electronics (Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc.). It also has a very powerful military despite the constitutional restrictions.

Japan also excels in soft power. From video games to anime/manga to sushi/ramen, Japan is arguably the strongest non-English speaking soft power in the world.

Which leads to the question...how? How did they manage to build an economy so robust and antifragile despite the many obstacles in its way? What are the best books to learn about the economic history of Japan and how it became a great power economically?

The short answer is process orientedness, discipline for everything and teamwork. I have worked in a few countries in APAC and Europe before settling down in Japan, and I would say that they would sacrifice time to market and profit margins by devoting so much efforts on quality.

All these above points contributed to Japan's great economic performance in the past. However, Japan always lacked in being competitive on global stage in software. Especially in this startup era where time to market and MVP are very important. Lack of English language skills and workforce diversities have been two other roadblocks. do check this link - https://www.employmentjapan.com/tech-corner/startups-ecosyst... which mentions some of the main reason that Japan has been lagging behind on startups scene.

Things are changing now and many progressive tech companies started realizing the importance of change - however, the traditions are so deeply tooted in the business scene that changes are slow.

1) The Japanese work incessently. Since about 1600 ad. (ref. the book Collapse in the index)

2)Around 1850 the Emperor died and the top civil service agreed that the European approach was better than the previous pseudo chinese approach. With characteristic industriousness the japan turned their 18 hour work days to learning and improving all things European. Afterall working an office beat working in the fields.

3) Roll ahead 100 years and Japan was able to fight toe to toe across the Pacific against the US.

Note: the japanese process can work with agrarian cultures but not with hunter gather cultures because sitting in an office is not a step up from hunting with your friends in the forest.

The answer is almost certainly going to be based on culture, history, art, religion, and related topics and not something specifically economic.

My suggestion would be to study the history of China and Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially paying attention to how Japanese elites looked at Western ideas and technologies and thought about how to integrate them or exclude them from Japanese society. Note how their approach was different from that of China. The Kyoto School is a good example in the philosophy world.

If you are up for reading fiction, the Asia series by James Clavell covers the economic history of both China (including Hong Kong) and Japan from the mid-19th century to the 1970s.

I once ended up with a copy of "Nippon: The Land and Its People" and found it interesting enough to read the whole way through. I don't know how to compare it since I didn't have a lot of interest in the subject to read other works.

It's a dated book, 1988, but kind of gives a broad overview of a handful of major aspects. It was published by Nippon Steel Corp. I think the biggest effect of that is to shy away from controversial topics. Anyway it still comes to mind 8 years later so I feel like it's worth mentioning.

Shigeru Mizuki’s masterful Showa series covers the essential period from the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 to the top of the economic bubble in 1989. While not the full story, it’s an excellent and approachable beginning.

Not a book but the Asianometry YouTube channel’s videos on Japan are excellent.

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