In the late 1980s, Japan’s economy was the envy of the world. The country’s meteoric rise to become the world’s second-largest economy coupled with the dominance of Japanese brands such as Sony, Toyota and Kubota gave rise to the term “Japanese Economic Miracle.” Managers around the world sought to emulate the nation’s manufacturing techniques. Japanese companies and consumers, enriched by their nation’s rapid economic growth, bought up prime real estate and other assets in the United… Read More
In the late 1980s, Japan’s economy was the envy of the world. The country’s meteoric rise to become the world’s second-largest economy coupled with the dominance of Japanese brands such as Sony, Toyota and Kubota gave rise to the term “Japanese Economic Miracle.” Managers around the world sought to emulate the nation’s manufacturing techniques. Japanese companies and consumers, enriched by their nation’s rapid economic growth, bought up prime real estate and other assets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. #-ad_banner-#But Japan’s miracle was built in part on a bubble. In 1989, at the height of the property bubble, choice commercial property in Tokyo sold for more than $20,000 per square foot. Average Japanese homes near the nation’s six largest cities cost the equivalent of 30 to 50 times the median Japanese income, an unsustainable level. Gains in residential and office properties between 1986 and the top of the property bubble in 1991 were even more dramatic than home price gains in the United States during the mid-2000s. The economic miracle came to an abrupt end… Read More