Sun Also Sets: Limits to Japan's Economic Power

by Bill Emmott

Overview

A noted expert in the field of economics analyzes Japan's rise to economic power and its perceived threat to American interests, arguing that Japan's current economic status will not continue into the twenty-first century.

The U.S. harbors increasing unease—and outright hostility—about Japan's newfound wealth and growing technological dominance. Bill Emmott offers a compelling portrait of modern Japan, and shows why, contrary to current projections, the Japanese will not retain economic preeminence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780671735869
Publisher:	Touchstone
Publication date:	04/15/1991
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

William John Emmott a journalist, author, and consultant best known as the editor-in-chief of The Economist newspaper. Emmott has written fourteen books and worked on two documentary feature films. He co-founded the Wake Up Foundation, an educational charity dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers facing Western societies.

Editorial Reviews

Emmot, former Tokyo correspondent for the why do we ital the here but not, say, The New Yorker?gs/good point. Economist , here offers one of the most sensible books on the Japanese economy to appear in memory. He shows that Japan's economic power derives from an enormous capital surplus amassed through a high savings rate (16% compared to U.S. 3%-5%) and an excess of exports over imports. The surplus has financed Japanese industrial expansion abroad but has driven the Tokyo real estate and stock markets sky high, perhaps dangerously so. These surpluses have peaked and will disappear over the next decade, argues Emmot, because ``Japan is becoming a nation of consumers, of pleasure-seekers, of importers, of investors, and of speculators.'' In the meantime, the fall of the dollar is helping to bring America's trade deficit down. The book provides an antidote to the Japan-bashers. Author tour. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Recent books have warned of American vulnerability to Japan's economic prowess, for instance, Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins's Selling Out: How We Are Letting Japan Buy Our Land, Our Financial Institutions and Our Future ( LJ 5/1/89). Emmott, formerly the Tokyo correspondent for the London Economist , here reviews the economic and political arguments in a readable and balanced way. He concludes that present Japanese strength is short-term, and that consumerism in the rising generation, an aging population, and a speculative itch, as well as basic economic factors , soon will right the international balance. Scrutinizing Japan's position in world politics, Emmott further concludes that ``Only if America fails to lead will Japan have to initiate.'' This is an engaging journalistic review of an important current topic.-- Charles W. Hayford, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill.

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