Quote:
Originally Posted by sutekidane
I think it was not clear why Japan's rise was not comparable. It is because Japan's population, is less than half the size of the US. Also, US is not alone, we should consider its close allies such as the EU, whereas Japan was entirely by itself. So compared to the combined economic might of US and EU or the West as it is commonly known, Japan is around 1/6 of the West. So regardless of how high the per capita GDP goes for Japan, it can never, by itself, be a comparable power to the West.
But the situation is fundamentally different with both China and India. China is a fairly homogeneous state like Japan, India is a bit diverse, but it has democracy to tie them together with sufficient representation. Both are 10 times bigger than Japan. So when their per capita GDP rise, they go into a league of their own, unlike any other country in the world.
If the masses are worried in Japan then there is very good reason. It is the political class that are clueless or asleep at the wheel in the US, which I am familiar with. I don't know how the political class is thinking about this problem in Japan, which is why I open this thread.
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This doesn't mean Japan and China aren't comparable.
Yes, Japan got by more on finess and innovation whilst China is doing it in a bulk force throw cheap people at problems sort of way but still, the Japan and China comparisons remain apt.
The west is not a monolithic block, back in the 80s Japan's population was only half that of the US, more than most western countries, this was the the days before the EU remember, the soviet union was still there too, you really should read some stuff from the time, people were genuinely worried about Japan's rise.
Though it didn't have the population of China it had many advantages that China does not. It is just wrong to deny there are parallels between the two.
I guess English isn't your first language? Maybe you don't know what comparable means? It doesn't mean identical, just there are clear similarities.