The Emergence of the Economic Superpower: 1980 to the Present

The second oil shock of 1979–80 did not affect the Japanese economy as severely as the 1973 oil crisis and recovery was fairly rapid. From 1980 to 1990 Japan enjoyed a respectable rate of economic growth, although this was sharply arrested by the onset of a new and unprecedentedly deep recession. In a number of spheres the decade following the second oil shock was one of significant changes and of severe difficulties. From 1982 to 1987, politics was dominated by Nakasone Yasuhiro, a politician who by Japanese standards possessed a charisma of almost unprecedented dimensions. During his five years as prime minister Nakasone set about a number of important domestic reforms and tried to define Japan’s role in the world more accurately. Meanwhile, the tainted relationship between Japanese politics and big money spiralled out of control, successive scandals visiting nemesis upon Japanese conservative politics. These scandals, combined with other political and economic difficulties, were responsible for a sea-change in Japan’s politics when, in the summer of 1993, the LDP split and lost a monopoly of government that had lasted for nearly four decades.