The Government, Industrial Relations and Economic Development in Japan

Abstract

Study of the Japanese industrial relations system has increased considerably in recent years. Particularly, there has been increased international concern about the question of how Japan could successfully reach the present level of industrialization in an Asian environment in which economic development is relatively low.¹ Present studies² suggest that the most notable characteristic of Japanese industrialization was, as Professor Lockwood pointed out, that both the traditional and the modern sectors co-existed for a long period of time and complemented each other. In its early stage the traditional sectors in agriculture, manufacturing and retail sales were the centre of quantitative economic development and made it possible to realize the ambitious modernization planned and promoted by the government. Even when the industrial revolution started in light industry and later when it extended to heavy industry, the traditional mode of production, though it partially disappeared, continued to exist side by side with modern industry and played an important role in supporting the development of the modern sector.