This paper discusses Japan's economy. Japan's economy was traditionally one of the strongest in the world - in fact, it is second only to the USA in terms of Gross National Product or GNP (Kinboshi Media 2002). Its main exports were cars, electronic devices and computers, more than one quarter of which were imported by the USA, its most important single trade partner. On the other hand, its most important imports were raw materials like oil, foodstuffs and wood from the USA, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia. Its major industries, up to the present, are manufacturing, construction, distribution, real estate, services and communication (Kinboshi). Japan's prosperity derived from foreign trade, through which it developed into an industrialized state and a key figure in international trade. It was the imbalance between its export and import that brought trouble and weakened its economy in the 90s.
