Introduction

‘Japan Inc.’ was a term used by the Western business community in the 1980s to describe the intimate ties between Japanese industry and the country’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry or MITI (known since 2001 as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI). This relationship, as well as the relationship between the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the finance sector, was commonly perceived to be the key factor in the resuscitation of Japan’s industrial complex directly after the war, for its rapid economic growth by 1972 and subsequent success in global markets by the late 1970s. On the other hand, it was also viewed as a system which perpetuated mercantile policies, unfair trade practices and institutional corruption. What was not understood at the time was that the elements in Japan Inc. together with the abiding support from the Japanese electorate promoted the rigidity of an archaic and inward system of government administration.