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>Interestingly, back in the 1980s, we Americans thought Japan was going to take over in every market: automotive manufacturing, high tech and consumer electroni

>Interestingly, back in the 1980s, we Americans thought Japan was going to take over in every market: automotive manufacturing, high tech and consumer electronics, software, even space travel eventually. They were buying up iconic American properties like Rockefeller Center, and Japanese culture was all the rage. > >Then something strange happened in the '90s: the Internet. The Internet had nothing to do with it. Japan was simply in the midst of a titanic property bubble which subsequently popped: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_asset_price_bubble https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_asset_price_bubble

InclinedPlane 11y ago
That's only a part of it. Between 1960 and 1985 Japan's per capita GDP quintupled (even adjusting for inflation). That huge economic growth on the back of a strong manufacturing and high-technology base made Japan seem like it had unstoppable economic momentum. But, of course, it didn't. Japan's economy is still very large and very advanced but it stopped growing and hasn't been able to keep up with innovation in the rest of the world.
- crdoconnor 11y ago
  >That's only a part of it. Between 1960 and 1985 Japan's per capita GDP quintupled Yeah, and a lot of that was phony growth caused by debt and unsustainable asset price rises.