The economic system of 'high-growth-period' Japan was characterized by various properties such as its unique banking system, industrial policy and lifetime employment. Juro Teranishi argues that since the 'bubble period' and the subsequent severe downturn of the economy during the 1990s, Japan's economic system has been undergoing extensive changes. This book is informed by a historical evaluation of the 'high-growth-period' economic system in comparison with the preceding Meiji-Taisho economic system, set within a framework incorporating the role of the government and the private sector economic system as well as the government-private sector interface. Factors are identified that determined the emergence of the Japanese economic system, and the nature of, and reasons for, its transformation. Juro Teranishi reveals how the 'high-growth-period' economic system emerged because of the failure of the Meiji-Taisho economic system to adapt to changes in exogenous conditions, and that it is now obliged to change in order to accommodate those changes that took place during the 1990s. The book also includes a valuable evaluation of the performance of the Japanese economic system in terms of not only the growth of GDP, but also income distribution. Juro Teranishi's book will appeal to scholars and students of the Japanese economy, institutional and financial economics, and corporate governance.

This book gives a coherent explanation of the socio-economic dynamics of Japan from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries by means of the evolution of internalized culture and the role of culture in the ordering of the market. The author argues that not only institutions but also culture matters in the ordering of the market and economic behavior. In the Occident, institutions have been pivotal in structuring and ordering the market economy and coordinating incentives of economic agents, as is emphasized by Douglas North. The author of this book argues that culture, defined as historically transmitted beliefs and values specific to each nation, may fulfill similar roles by establishing conventions and norms of behavior of individuals. Japan before the Meiji Restoration (1868) seems to be a typical case. The book presents an analysis of the formation of its internalized part of mental model, owing to religious reform in Buddhism in the thirteenth century and the consequent emergence of commerce-based growth driven by a decline in transaction costs in the Tokugawa Era, from the seventeenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. Institutions had been largely inefficient due to serious cultural conflicts among classes, especially between the samurai and aristocrats. The relative costs of establishing and enforcing institutions were low in the Occident where internalized beliefs were based on the concept of public, by and large common among individuals; by contrast, in Japan, where internalized beliefs were strongly influenced by others nearby, that differed significantly among individuals, the costs were high because of difficulty in sharing mental models. The economic development of the Occident owed largely to the development of industrial technology nurtured under the development of various institutional devices to coordinate activities, whereas the economic growth of Japan during the Tokugawa Era was caused by the decrease in transaction costs in commercial activities owing to the standardization of conduct nurtured through the deliberate development of culture and to the efforts of small producers enhanced by religious motivation. After the Meiji Restoration, Occidental institutions and industrial technology flowed into Japan rapidly, and the Japanese enthusiastically absorbed the Occidental cultural system crystalized in Enlightenment values. At the same time, the struggle of Meiji leaders to establish national integrity and spirit was an attempt to adapt imported Occidental institutions to the traditional internalized culture and to maintain the merits of historical tradition as much as possible. The book argues that it is not easy to implement fusion or substitution of traditional internalized culture with any "advanced" culture of foreign societies.

Contents:
Part 1: Financial Institutions and Financial Markets in Japan and East Asia
1. Can the Financial Restraint Theory Explain the Postwar Experience of Japan's Financial System? Masaharu Hanazaki and Akiyoshi Horiuchi
2. The Role of Long-term Funds for Economic Development: Empirical Evidence in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan Shin-ichi Fukuda
3. Japanese Economic Success and the Curious Characteristics of Japanese Stock Prices Randall Morck and Bernard Yeung
4. Japanese Securities Firms, Business Corporations, and Financial Institutions: A Comparison of their Investing Behavior Kenneth A. Kim and John R. Nofsinger
5. Financial Deregulations, Weakness of Market Discipline, and Market Development: Japan's Experience Mitsuhiro Fukao
6. Macroeconomic Effects of Capital Adequacy Regulation in Japan Heather Montgomery
Part 2: Issues in Governance of Corporate Sector and New Technology
7. The Financing and Governance of New Technologies Colin Mayer
8. The Benefits and Costs of Internal Markets: Evidence from Asia's Financial Crisis Stijn Claessens, Simeon Djankov, Joseph P.H.Fan, and Larry H.P.Lang
9. Large Shareholders and Banks: Who Monitors and How? Yishay Yafeh and Oved Yosha
10. Did Families Lose or Gain Control after the East Asian Financial Crisis? Anya Khanthavit, Piruna Polsiri, and Yupana Wiwattanakantang
11. The Determinants of Executive Compensation in Japan and the UK: Agency Hypothesis or Joint Determination Hypothesis? Katsuyuki Kubo
Part 3: Toward a New Design of Financial System
12. Towards an Incentive Compatible Financial System: Accounting and Managing the Non-Performing Loans Akio Kuroda and Koichi Hamada
13. Further Reforms of the JGB Market for the Promotion of Regional Bond Markets S. Ghon Rhee
14. Reflections on New Financial System in Japan: Participation Costs, Wealth Distribution, and Security Market-Based Intermediation Yukinobu Kitamura, Megumi Suto, and Juro Teranishi