Japan's 'Lost Decade' : Causes, Legacies and Issues of Transformative Change

Understanding the 'lost decade' of the 1990s is central to explaining Japan today. Following a period of record high growth, the chronic downturn after 1990 raised fundamental questions about the course of the world's third largest economy. This crisis also presented Japan with the opportunity for transformative change. Changes have followed, some of them less than might be expected, and some of them far more sweeping than is generally realized.

This volume presents a wide range of international perspectives on post-bubble Japan, exploring the effects of the long downturn on the views of the Japanese business community, management practices, and national policies. To what degree has Japan's traumatic experience prompted basic reforms in terms of legal changes, corporate governance, business strategy, and the longterm national vision for the economy?

This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

W. Miles Fletcher III is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA. His previous work has examined Japanese political and intellectual history during the pre-war period, the history of Japanese trade policy, and the development of the cotton textile industry in modern Japan.

Peter W. von Staden is Senior Lecturer of International Business at Bristol Business School, part of the University of the West of England, UK. His research focuses on government and business relations in modern Japan. His previous work has examined the role of business in political decision-making in the early twentieth century.