Course Name Year Term Period Faculty / Graduate School All Instructors Credits
33844:[2025 Spring]Japanese Economy (E) 2025 Spring Thu3 College　Of　Economics NISHI HIROSHI 2

Campus

BKC

Class Venue

Rarcadia201

Language

English and Japanese

Course Outline and Method

This lecture explains the historical development of the Japanese economy after the Second World War and recent economic issues, mainly based on macroeconomic theory and statistical data.

First, we will learn basic macroeconomic theory on the role of goods, asset, and labour markets. On this basis, we will consider important issues in the Japanese economy (e.g. the Corona shock and current inflation).

Second, we will trace the history of the Japanese economy from the post-war reconstruction period through the period of rapid economic growth to the 1970s and 2010s, by dividing it into 10-year periods and explaining in detail how it has changed.

By doing so, we will understand how the structure of today's Japanese economy has been shaped by its history.

Student Attainment Objectives

Students will acquire:
(1)basic knowledge of the Japanese economic growth process.
(2)basic skills to analyse the Japanese economy with empirical data and economic theory.
(3)perspective on how contemporary economic and political issues are historically related to the past Japanese economy.

Recommended Preparatory Course

Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Japanese economic history are helpful as prerequisite subjects.

Course Schedule

Lecture/Instructor（When there are multiple instructors) Theme
Keyword, References and Supplementary Information
1

Introduction and guidance

 Class outline, grade evaluation, self-introduction of participants

2

Theoretical gateway to the Japanese Economy (1) Goods market

GDP, prices, and economic growth

3

Theoretical gateway to the Japanese Economy (2) Asset market

Money, financial system, and monetary poliy

4

Theoretical gateway to the Japanese Economy (3) Labour market

Wage, unemployment, and human resource management

5

Contemporary economic issue (1)

Causes and consequences of long-term deflation

6

Contemporary economic issue (2)

From long term deflation to sudden but chronically inflation?

7

Midterm exam

8

Japanese economy during the high economic growth period

Post-war recovery, period of high economic growth, plan to double income

9

Japanese economy of the 1970s

Stable growth period, inflation, and change in international regime

10

Japanese economy of the 1980s

Plaza accord, yen appreciation, bubble economy

11

Japanese economy of the 1990s

Bubble burst, lost decade, combined recession

12

Japanese economy of the 2000s

Export-led slow growth, global financial crisis, lost two decades

13

Japanese economy of the 2010s

Abenomics, Corona crisis, lost three decades?

14

Final exam

Class Format

Lectures and exams are generally delivered in face-to-face classroom style, but the first lecture (Class 1) is delivered via video on demand. When courses are zoom-based (or on-demand style), information will be posted on the course news page.

Recommendations for Private Study

(1) Students are expected to attend each class with good classroom etiquette.
(2) The class will be held in a typical lecture style. The teacher will use slides and a whiteboard to explain how to observe the Japanese economy. Students should take notes on the lecture points from the distributed lecture notes. Students should review the lectures with these notes.
(3) In the case of remote lectures, students will be notified in advance via manaba+R.

Grade Evaluation Method

Kind Percentage Grading Criteria etc.
Final Examination (Written)

Report Examination
(A report to be submitted by the unified deadline)

Exams and/or Reports other than those stated above, and Continuous Assessment　
(Evaluation of Everyday Performance in Class)		 100

Evaluation will be based on midterm exam (50%) and final exam (50%).

Grade Evaluation Method （Note）

Students must attend the course more than 10 times and 14 times in total.

Advice to Students on Study and Research Methods

The Japanese economy moves so fast that even if the topics in the lecture are up to date, they may be out of date shortly afterwards. To keep up with the latest economic developments, students are expected to read the newspapers every day.

Japanese economic history is important to understand the contemporary Japanese economy from a historical perspective, and both macroeconomics and microeconomics are useful to explore it from a theoretical perspective.

Textbooks

Textbooks （Frequency of Use, Note）

We do not use textbook.

Reference Books

Title Author Publisher ISBN Code Comment
The Japanese Economy, second edition Takatoshi Ito and Takeo Hoshi MIT Press 0262538245

Reference Books （Frequency of Use, Note）

Web Pages for Reference

How to Communicate with the Instructor In and Out of Class(Including Instructor Contact Information)

Learning Management System （manaba+R）,Talk with Students

Other Comments

Students are kindly asked to study in a quiet environment and to observe good classroom manners. In particular, we respectfully request that the following behaviour be avoided in the classroom:
・private talking
・being late
・entering and leaving without permission
・using smartphones and other devices not related to the class
・falling asleep at your desk
・eating in
・forgetting assignments
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