Japan's dependence on the world economy

Japan's rehabilitation and growth since World War II have been extraor dinary. Partly because of its achieve ments, and partly in spite of them, Japan's economy is marked by new bottlenecks and structural difficulties in place of those prevailing in 1945. In particular, Japan is now more vul nerable than ever before on the inter national level. The author evaluates these developments and draws atten tion to their implications for the fu ture. In doing so, he makes a signifi cant departure from previous works on Japan's postwar foreign trade ex perience.

While Japan's structural problems have multiplied and its dependence on foreign trade has increased, it has been confronted with a rising barrier of restrictive practices from its prin cipal trade partners. Yet in order to affirm its status as an "advanced in dustrial nation," Japan has formally adopted a sweeping program of lib eralization in its own trade and pay ments.