Why is Japan the second richest country in the world?

[Rensenhito]

Japan has:

no natural resources

mostly mountains, not great agricultural land (only 1% permanent crop, out of 11% arable)

smaller population than Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria

is in an active earthquake zone

mostly destroyed by the bombing in WWII

many near by invasion threat, such as Russia, USA and China

5th largest military expenditure in the world (~US$50billion)*, but officially no military

lower productivity than France, Ireland, Canada, etc, and ranks 22 in the world*

*stats are always arguable, don't take them for the truth, as long as they do sound roughly reasonable just go with it.

so, why is Japan the second richest country in the world?

I can argue against most of these.
Agriculture, in case you haven't noticed, is not really a huge money-making industry anymore. It's all in the technology, and Japan is on the cutting edge of the cutting edge there. Every other country is years behind them. Except maybe South Korea.
Oh, and by the way, Tokyo is the MOST DENSELY POPULATED city in the world. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only cities to be mostly destroyed by the bombings in WWII. Since then, they've built the cities back, MUCH better than they were before. That's why there are hardly any old buildings in Hiroshima / Nagasaki.
And maybe the reason they have the 5th largest military expenditure in the world is because they HAVE so many nearby invasion threats. Just a thought.

 

[InifniteWit]

Why would the US invade their naval base in the pacific? The US pacific fleet is based in Japan, its not under danger from being invaded.

 

[internutt]

Japan invented HDTV. Technology would not be the same without Japan. Companies like SONY and Nintendo really paved the way technologically. Even Japanese cars are a massive export. Small, good looking and cost effective. Not to mention robotics and anime.

Japan have a serious working culture, a culture that has reaped many rewards technologically and economically.

EDIT: Japan have no need for military. First of all because of the VJ Day surrender with America, yet also because of Japan's exports. Only a completely idiotic nation would think to attack the nation that produces and perfects technology. It would ruin every economy worldwide along with the nation's economy who attacked them.

 

[johnman]

"Mostly destroyed by bombing in WW2"

Are you kidding me? I hate to say this, but lol.

Go and read some history on the strategical bombing of Japan.

More people were killed in ONE night of conventional bombing in Tokoyo (80,000) than the nuclear attack on Hiroshima (70,000 odd)

 

[Socdk]

Technology I guess... I don't know much about it, but I would also say that they rely and buy goods fabricated in their own country and don't import a bunch of technology from the outside. This plus they export a lot of the same technology equals big $.

 

[johnman]

Sorry for the double post but ill put in my responses for this

Japan has:

no natural resources- agreed its a big rock

mostly mountains, not great agricultural land (only 1% permanent crop, out of 11% arable)- true but its the center of asia great location, its the path to the west

smaller population than Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria- population won't matter check the Age Dependency Ratio first THEN check population totals

is in an active earthquake zone- they've built around it

mostly destroyed by the bombing in WWII- Was built back up by the US' post war plan

many near by invasion threat, such as Russia, USA and China- this is totally wrong.... Japan HAS THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONRY and is backed by the the United States, if you mess with Japan you mess with the US and all its allies

5th largest military expenditure in the world (~US$50billion)*, but officially no military -
huge nuclear stockpile, has a military force, and big ass navy (was largest navy in ww2) and today holds dominion over much of the pacific

lower productivity than France, Ireland, Canada, etc, and ranks 22 in the world*- depends on what productivity, for agriculture hell yah, why grow there when its cheaper to import from china but on an industrial level. no not at all.

*stats are always arguable, don't take them for the truth, as long as they do sound roughly reasonable just go with it.

so, why is Japan the second richest country in the world?

Japan has no nukes
Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles (非核三原則 ,Hikaku San Gensoku?) are a parliamentary resolution (never adopted into law) that have guided Japanese nuclear policy since their inception in the late 1960s, and reflect general public sentiment and national policy since the end of World War II. The tenets state that Japan shall neither possess nor manufacture nuclear weapons, nor shall it permit their introduction into Japanese territory. The principles were outlined by Prime Minister Eisaku Satō in a speech to the House of Representatives in 1967 amid negotiations over the return of Okinawa from the United States. The Diet formally adopted the principles in 1971.
From wikipedia

 

[KapnKerfuffle]

From Time magazine:

"Japan's labor force is one of the most unproductive in the industrialized world. And not by a little. According to the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development, a government-affiliated research center, Japanese laborers are 40% less efficient than Americans, 20% less efficient than the French and 11% less efficient than the Germans. The Japanese lag behind not just Britons and Swedes as well. But where will the humiliations end? The Italians and Spanish, too."

Source http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501021209-395413,00.html

What I gathered from the article, their automobiles and electronics have rocketed them to the top for a while, but everything else is not so hot.

 

[Shul Cooper]

"smaller population than Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria"
Ah, but you're forgetting: the population density is over 300 persons per square kilometer. That's 100 times as dense as the US

This indicates the massive amount of population packed into urban areas: Tokyo is about 2000 square kilometers. That, the fact that almost all of the money they spend goes into their navy (they don't need an army), and the relatively low agricultural population all mean that most of their population is an urban workforce.

As if that wasn't enough, they have an amazing recycling program ( http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/international/asia/12garbage.html ) and a very peculiar mentality. If you know anything about Japanese history, you know that they love to take others' technology, study it, and then make it better. That's why they have some of the best steel and neoprene (rubber) in the world.

Lastly, they have a whole continent of developing countries to invest in. They are a more centralized and capitalistic society than the rest of Asia, which is why they developed faster than other countries there.

As for raw materials, Mexico is full of oil, gold, and timber, but they rely so much on exporting basic materials that their economy is not nearly as developed as that of the US or Japan.

 

[goodman528]

I can argue against most of these.
Agriculture, in case you haven't noticed, is not really a huge money-making industry anymore. It's all in the technology, and Japan is on the cutting edge of the cutting edge there. Every other country is years behind them. Except maybe South Korea.
Oh, and by the way, Tokyo is the MOST DENSELY POPULATED city in the world. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only cities to be mostly destroyed by the bombings in WWII. Since then, they've built the cities back, MUCH better than they were before. That's why there are hardly any old buildings in Hiroshima / Nagasaki.
And maybe the reason they have the 5th largest military expenditure in the world is because they HAVE so many nearby invasion threats. Just a thought.

1) Read up on the strategic bombing of Japan in WWII, some cities were more devastated by conventional bombing than Hiroshima and Nagasaki was by the nuclear bomb.

2) Agriculture was very important in the historical development of any nation, this is the basis of a nation.

3) Japan is not the most advanced country in the world. USA is. Compared to USA and Europe, Japan still lags behind in many areas. Chip design for example, with Intel, AMD, ARM, and TI, etc, dominating the processor market. Aircraft is another example.
S. Korea is a second rate country at best, it's economy and technology is comparable to Taiwan.

 

[internutt]

Japan invented HDTV.

René Barthélemy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_high-definition_television_system]. A Frenchman. 737i definition in 1949.

I stand corrected. I was only aware that SONY put a lot of money into HDTV R&D, presumably with other big companies at the time.