Japanese look to the government

[Angela Chong]

I found the discussion of Japan after WWII and the tremendous growth that took place in part because the government and business were working towards the same goals to be very interesting. The idea that the businesses would look to the governemnt for direction is quite different from the US way of doing things. Entrepreneurship is not very common in Japan, and there is a significant reliance on the government to guide business even today. Having the two aligned to the same goals does make reaching those goals more likely, but in terms of today's issues in Japan I wonder how this arrangement will continue? I was surprised to learn that Japan has borrowed 2 1/2 times their GDP, a figure that seems unsustainable. I wonder if this concerns the Japanese people? I know there is discussion of the aging population and what will happen in the future, but to have so much borrowed I don't know what will be done to solve this? I am concerned about our own dept in the US, and seeing what happened to Greece recently, it's scary to wonder how it will continue?