How far have global influences changed the nature of the Japanese nation-state?What are the economic reasons that led japan to become a nation-state?Trade frictions
The general deterioration, and the very modest improvement in the trade balance after the yen rose in value after 1985, contributed greatly to strained economic relations. The United States had pressured Japan to open its markets since the early 1960s, but the intensity of the pressure increased through the 1970s and 1980s.
Tensions were exacerbated by issues specific to particular industries perhaps more than by the trade imbalance in general. Beginning with textiles in the 1950s, a number of Japanese exports to the United States were subject to opposition from United States industry. These complaints generally alleged unfair trading practices, such as dumping (selling at a lower cost than at home, or selling below the cost of production) and patent infringement. The result of negotiations was often Japan's agreement %26quot;voluntarily%26quot; to restrain exports to the United States. Such agreements applied to a number of products, including color television sets in the late 1970s and automobiles in the 1980s.
During the 1970s and 1980s, United States administrations had favored an issue-by-issue approach in negotiating such economic disputes with Japan. This approach ostensibly limited the areas of dispute. But it resulted in widespread negative publicity, at a time when changing economic and security circumstances were causing both countries to reevaluate the relationship. Notable outpourings of United States congressional and media rhetoric critical of Japan accompanied the disclosure in 1987 that Toshiba had illegally sold sophisticated machinery of United States origin to the Soviet Union, which reportedly allowed Moscow to make submarines quiet enough to avoid United States detection, and the United States congressional debate in 1989 over the Japan-United States agreement to develop a new fighter aircraft鈥攖he FSX鈥攆or the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Some innovative approaches emerged in the 1980s as United States companies strove to achieve greater access to Japanese markets. MOSS negotiations in 1985 addressed access problems related to four industries: forest products, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, electronics, and telecommunications equipment and services.
Problems of access to Japanese markets were among the motivations for the United States Trade Act of 1988, which included a provision calling on the president to identify unfair trading partners of the United States and to specify products for negotiation with these countries. In the spring of 1989, Japan was named as an unfair trading partner under this provision and three areas鈥攆orest products, telecommunications satellites, and supercomputers鈥攚ere selected for negotiations. This action exemplified the continuing mood of dissatisfaction over access to Japanese markets at the end of the decade. Nevertheless, Japan and the U.S. settled their disputes to Japan's advantage.
At the same time, the United States initiated broad talks concerning the structural factors inhibiting manufactured imports in Japan, in the Structural Impediments Initiative. These talks addressed such areas as the law restraining the growth of large discount store chains in Japan, weak antitrust law enforcement, land taxation that encouraged inefficient farming, and high real estate prices. Japan was still able to fulfill many of interests that further expanded its economy.
Trade friction notwithstanding, the Japanese have a strong appetite for consumer goods produced in America, though not as strong as that for Japanese consumer goods. Exporting to Japan is challenging, at best, and this has given rise to companies that facilitate exporting consumer goods to Japan. Specialized Companies have carved out niche markets to fill the Japanese demand for American consumer goods.
[edit] Frictions in the semiconductor industry sector
By the end of the 1980s, Japanese firms dominated world production and trade in certain segments of the semiconductor industry. In particular, they came to dominate the world market in dynamic random-access memory units (DRAMs). The Japanese share of the world merchant market for 1-megabit DRAMs at the end of the decade, for example, was estimated at 90 percent, while other estimates put the Japanese share of all semiconductor devices at 48 percent. Trade data showed that in 1988 Japan exported more than US$12 billion in semiconductor devices (and vacuum tubes), representing a dramatic increase from US$6 million in 1960 and just over US$2 billion in 1980. Semiconductor imports, however, totaled only US$2.2 billion in 1988.
The rise of Japanese competition and the decline in the world market share held by United States manufacturers, coupled with allegations of unfair trade practices, made semiconductors a contentious issue between the United States and Japan throughout the 1980s. The allegations included charges of dumping in the United States market and of import barriers artificially limiting the market share
