We trace Japanese firms’ behavior over the last decades using aggregate corporate balance sheet data. Financial health of Japanese corporate sector has improved and firms paid back significant amount of debt and rebuilt their liquidity buffers. They also expanded abroad while the pace of corporate investment moderated. Regarding the latter, model estimates on aggregate corporate investment over the post bubble period show that expectation about future profitability, in particular medium-term demand outlook, has been the major driver, implying that a successful implementation of structural reforms could have positive impact even in the near term by improving the medium-term demand outlook.

Japan Investment and Business Guide Volume 2 Business, Investment Opportunities and Incentives

Ultimate guide for conducting investment, export-import activity in the country. Strategic and business information, contacts, regulations and more. Updated annually

Debates regarding corporate governance have become increasingly important in Japan as the post-war model of bank-based, stakeholder-oriented corporate governance faces the new pressures associated with globalization and growing investor demands for shareholder value. Bringing together a group of leading scholars from economics, law, sociology and management studies, this book looks at how the Japanese approach to corporate governance and the firm have changed in the post-bubble era. The contributions offer a unique empirical exploration of why and how Japanese firms are reshaping their corporate governance arrangements, leading to greater diversity among firms and new 'hybrid' forms of corporate governance. The book concludes by looking at what effect these incremental but transformative changes may have on Japan's distinctive variety of capitalism.

In this book, a framework of the investment function is developed that allows for the heterogeneity of capital goods, i.e., the Multiple q model, and investment behavior in Japan by employing this Multiple q framework is developed. The standard approach to investment behavior is Tobin's q theory in which the investment rate is a linear function of only the q ratio, or a firm's market value measured by its capital goods. As is well known, however, its empirical performance has been almost universally unsatisfactory. Thus the development of a new framework. The authors inquire into and statistically test null hypotheses set on such issues as (a) heterogeneity of multiple capital goods, (b) non-convex adjustment costs to inspire lumpy investment, (c) differences in the adjustment costs in accumulating capital stock through new purchases, second-hand market acquisitions, and large-scale repairs, and (d) capital market imperfections. The test results show that, irrespective of the time period, firms’ size, and the industry to which firms belong, (a) multiple capital goods are not homogeneous, (b) some firms face adjustment cost structures that eventually lead to occasional lumpy investment, (c) the method of acquiring investment matters in accumulating capital stock, and (d) capital market imperfections would constrain some lumpy investment. This book is published in cooperation with the Research Institute of Capital Formation, Development Bank of Japan.

Criticism of current Japanese macroeconomic and financial policies is so wide spread that the reasons for it are assumed to be self-evident. In this volume, Adam Posen explains in depth why a shift in Japanese fiscal and monetary policies, as well as financial reform, would be in Japan's self-interest. He demonstrates that Japanese economic stagnation in the 1990s is the result of mistaken fiscal austerity and financial laissez-faire rather than a structural decline of the "Japan Model." The author outlines a program for putting the country back on the path to solid economic growth - primarily through permanent tax cuts and monetary stabilization - and draws broader lessons from the recent Japanese policy actions that led to the country's continuing stagnation.

From long personal experience, research, and private conversations with international real estate investors, analysts, and marketing executives, Dr. Hines identifies succinctly and precisely the differences between investing in Japanese real estate and real estate elsewhere--the crucial differences, plus the risks and hazards that real estate professionals must know and understand. She shows that the new Japanese economic environment is having its affect on real estate there, how foreign investors are influencing the value of property and the systems to analyze it, and why the financing of real estate in Japan through loan and equity securitization is on the rise. Real estate professionals will be particularly interested in her coverage of commercial and residential property, while specialists with other interests will also get an unusual view of Japanese urban planning, land development, and tenure changes over time, information that is rarely available in English. Dr. Hines focuses on the Tokyo metropolitan area and on office buildings and shopping centers, in general but she also covers residential and industrial property investment across Japan. Readers will get a quick view of the new investment climate and aspects of economic, cultural, governmental, and environmental change in Japan. She gives a brief history of Japanese land tenure and views current land planning and control from a historical perspective. For real estate professionals there are chapters on leasing, marketing, land development, and construction, and she delineates the differences between Japanese real estate appraisal and international valuation methods and practices. Also noted is the increased use of income capitalization methods. Dr. Hines examines differences between Japanese and international real estate investment methods of analysis, particularly in light of Japanese real estate financing and taxation. She also illustrates the imputed interest charge methods of investment analysis and gives special emphasis to internationally approved discounted cash flow analysis. Finally, the book examines the trend toward real estate securitization and shows how banks and other financial institutions are reducing their real estate lending and restructuring themselves to prepare for a new era of economic reform.

The direct participation of foreign firms in the economy of Japan is lower than in any other advanced industrial nation. The contributors consider what policy actions, if any, the Japanese government can take to increase direct investment.