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Japan Inc.: An Introduction to Japanese Economics
Both entertaining & a splendid introduction to the countrys current economic problems. Offers an intelligent, straightforward, simple (but not simple-minded) introduction to the Japanese economy & its relationship to the world economy. . . . It is also funny. Contents: trade friction; countering the rise of the Yen; industrial structure; deficit finance; & a monetary revolution.
303 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 1986
About the author
Shōtarō Ishinomori
417 books64 followersShōtarō Ishinomori (石ノ森章太郎) was a Japanese manga artist and cartoonist. Known as the "King of Manga", he is regarded as one of the most influential manga artists of all time.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 6, 2014
Written at the height of the "Japan bubble" -- when Americans were said to be fat and lazy by the Sony CEO -- this book now reads like the comic book version of hubris. Still, it was fun in the '80s. And they still make better cars.
August 28, 2019
I'm a sucker for manga versions of economic texts.
April 13, 2026
Obviously in the bubble era there was a manga explaining Japanese capitalism. Intriguing if often boring and progressively much less horny as it goes on.
January 7, 2021
Not bad, but quite a bit out of date! This edition would have benefitted from a smoother translation, or better proofreading, or even consistent use of punctuation (usually absent in Japanese writing, but never in good English.) The stories told by the comic are generally informative, and easy to follow. The random footnotes and inserted tables, on the other hand, often feel out of place and have absolutely nothing to do with the part of the story they are interrupting. Those should have been placed with more care.
May 7, 2026
It is the 1980s, and Mitsumoto Trading Company is attempting to navigate the “bubble economy” that Japan is experiencing. We follow the activities of a small group of their office workers, and in particular the contrasting efforts of the amoral Tsugawa and compassionate Kudo. Which approach is better, or are they both needed to guide the company through its struggles?
This edutainment manga was written and drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of among many other things, Cyborg 009. The facts and figures are from Zeminaru Nihon Keizai Nyuumon, an economic textbook put out by a Japanese economic newspaper. The idea is that by humanizing the economic actors and telling stories about how various parts of the economy function, readers will be able to more easily absorb the information.
Since this volume was brought to the United States at a time when manga was still a very new thing for American audiences, and the primary demographic target was not comic book fans but businesspeople, the introduction gives a short history of what manga is and how it developed. At the time, Japan was riding high in the American economy, so there was a lot of focus on learning about Japanese business practices in the business literature of the time.
Also because of the target audience, the pages were flipped to read left to right, and then some individual panels reflipped for readability.
In contrast to how Japanese businessmen were portrayed in American media at the time, this manga shows the workers of Mitsumoto constantly worried about the economy and trying to keep the company’s head above water.
Kudo and Tsugawa started in the company together, and were initially close friends, but have drifted apart as Tsugawa became more determined to get ahead at any cost, while Kudo retains some of his youthful idealism. They’re contrasted in many ways. In particular, Tsugawa is financially better off than Kudo, but cheats on his wife and emotionally neglects his children, while Kudo’s family has a tighter budget but a healthier relationship. Kudo’s mentor in the company is Akiyama, an executive in the records office–he’s wise and careful, but his career has stalled out. Tsugawa’s mentor is Toda, the pair’s direct manager. He’s more devious, and his career is still on track, but his greed and carelessness have left stains on his record.
Also at Mitsumoto are Amamiya, an office lady (we call them administrative assistants these days) who admires Kudo and acts as the one woman involved in the discussions, and Ueda, a rookie salaryman from a rural area who’s still socially clumsy and continually impoverished on his starter salary.
The chapters cover various economic topics that were hot in the mid-1980s. The American automobile industry fighting against the importation of Japanese cars, while protectionism of Japanese agriculture by Japan’s government made it hard for American food products to enter that market; inflation; dealing with oil-exporting nations during regime change; the aging of Japan’s population, and Vatican bank scandals.
There are guest appearances by the then-current Japanese prime minister and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. (The latter depicted as being just a little too into old movies.) Also, Lee Iacocca of Chrysler Corporation, under a thin pseudonym. For our younger readers, Mr. Iacocca was an executive at first Ford Motors and then Chrysler, and was the public face of the American automobile industry in the 1980s.
There’s quite a bit of blocks of text, with definitions of economic terms, explanations of various government agencies, and loads of numbers (which admittedly are now very dated.)
The most affecting storyline is when Ueda’s aging mother arrives from the countryside (he’s the youngest of nine children) and bluffs that she’s ready for a nursing home. This results in the cast posing as her extended family so they can check out elder housing for investment purposes. They learn that while the fancy place they visit is shiny and nice on the surface, it’s nowhere as emotionally fulfilling as letting seniors live with their families.
The weirdest moment is when shadowy government figures meet and plan for a combined fiat currency for the United States and Japan called the “dolen.” This is played seriously in story, but is just so silly that I’m glad it did not happen in real life.
The art is serviceable to excellent depending on the page; the celebrities are identifiable and the scattered action moments are good.
Content note: A bit of violence, fatal a couple of times. On page (but very stylized) sex. Male oriented fanservice. Ethnic prejudice. Quite a bit of drinking and smoking in a social context. Tsugawa cheats on his wife, and is mildly surprised to see a woman in a relatively powerful position in her corporation. (He’s not objecting, though.) BDSM is treated as a shameful thing by society. A joke about country moms being concerned whether prospective wives have child-bearing hips. Nothing a precocious teen couldn’t handle, but the general tone is aimed at working adults.
This is now something of a curio, a snapshot of the Japanese and American economic picture of the mid-1980s. But that makes it a good collector item for manga fans and economics students. Highly recommended for those interested in the early history of manga adaptation in America.
This edutainment manga was written and drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of among many other things, Cyborg 009. The facts and figures are from Zeminaru Nihon Keizai Nyuumon, an economic textbook put out by a Japanese economic newspaper. The idea is that by humanizing the economic actors and telling stories about how various parts of the economy function, readers will be able to more easily absorb the information.
Since this volume was brought to the United States at a time when manga was still a very new thing for American audiences, and the primary demographic target was not comic book fans but businesspeople, the introduction gives a short history of what manga is and how it developed. At the time, Japan was riding high in the American economy, so there was a lot of focus on learning about Japanese business practices in the business literature of the time.
Also because of the target audience, the pages were flipped to read left to right, and then some individual panels reflipped for readability.
In contrast to how Japanese businessmen were portrayed in American media at the time, this manga shows the workers of Mitsumoto constantly worried about the economy and trying to keep the company’s head above water.
Kudo and Tsugawa started in the company together, and were initially close friends, but have drifted apart as Tsugawa became more determined to get ahead at any cost, while Kudo retains some of his youthful idealism. They’re contrasted in many ways. In particular, Tsugawa is financially better off than Kudo, but cheats on his wife and emotionally neglects his children, while Kudo’s family has a tighter budget but a healthier relationship. Kudo’s mentor in the company is Akiyama, an executive in the records office–he’s wise and careful, but his career has stalled out. Tsugawa’s mentor is Toda, the pair’s direct manager. He’s more devious, and his career is still on track, but his greed and carelessness have left stains on his record.
Also at Mitsumoto are Amamiya, an office lady (we call them administrative assistants these days) who admires Kudo and acts as the one woman involved in the discussions, and Ueda, a rookie salaryman from a rural area who’s still socially clumsy and continually impoverished on his starter salary.
The chapters cover various economic topics that were hot in the mid-1980s. The American automobile industry fighting against the importation of Japanese cars, while protectionism of Japanese agriculture by Japan’s government made it hard for American food products to enter that market; inflation; dealing with oil-exporting nations during regime change; the aging of Japan’s population, and Vatican bank scandals.
There are guest appearances by the then-current Japanese prime minister and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. (The latter depicted as being just a little too into old movies.) Also, Lee Iacocca of Chrysler Corporation, under a thin pseudonym. For our younger readers, Mr. Iacocca was an executive at first Ford Motors and then Chrysler, and was the public face of the American automobile industry in the 1980s.
There’s quite a bit of blocks of text, with definitions of economic terms, explanations of various government agencies, and loads of numbers (which admittedly are now very dated.)
The most affecting storyline is when Ueda’s aging mother arrives from the countryside (he’s the youngest of nine children) and bluffs that she’s ready for a nursing home. This results in the cast posing as her extended family so they can check out elder housing for investment purposes. They learn that while the fancy place they visit is shiny and nice on the surface, it’s nowhere as emotionally fulfilling as letting seniors live with their families.
The weirdest moment is when shadowy government figures meet and plan for a combined fiat currency for the United States and Japan called the “dolen.” This is played seriously in story, but is just so silly that I’m glad it did not happen in real life.
The art is serviceable to excellent depending on the page; the celebrities are identifiable and the scattered action moments are good.
Content note: A bit of violence, fatal a couple of times. On page (but very stylized) sex. Male oriented fanservice. Ethnic prejudice. Quite a bit of drinking and smoking in a social context. Tsugawa cheats on his wife, and is mildly surprised to see a woman in a relatively powerful position in her corporation. (He’s not objecting, though.) BDSM is treated as a shameful thing by society. A joke about country moms being concerned whether prospective wives have child-bearing hips. Nothing a precocious teen couldn’t handle, but the general tone is aimed at working adults.
This is now something of a curio, a snapshot of the Japanese and American economic picture of the mid-1980s. But that makes it a good collector item for manga fans and economics students. Highly recommended for those interested in the early history of manga adaptation in America.
October 10, 2022
Uh, it's a manga that attempts to describe the 80's financial climate in Japan. I guess I just wanted to see a manga depiction of Ronald Regan - Does Not Disappoint.
March 3, 2017
If all text books were written in the form of a Japanese Manga, the world would be a much better place.
Not that many schools are probably using this book as a text anymore. It goes through complicated topics on currency, trade and fiscal policy using the oil crisis, 1980s VER with the U.S. and the other real-life situations as a backdrop. Of course, there's sex, lies and betrayal too squished between the complicated economic topics.
All that being said, I didn't appreciate Tsugawa, the union-busting businessman playboy with a penchant for luxury goods, being an obvious symbol for American business mentality. So racist.
Still, a great read for people who are huge nerds - I mean, really, it's dense economics mixed in with a manga...
Not that many schools are probably using this book as a text anymore. It goes through complicated topics on currency, trade and fiscal policy using the oil crisis, 1980s VER with the U.S. and the other real-life situations as a backdrop. Of course, there's sex, lies and betrayal too squished between the complicated economic topics.
All that being said, I didn't appreciate Tsugawa, the union-busting businessman playboy with a penchant for luxury goods, being an obvious symbol for American business mentality. So racist.
Still, a great read for people who are huge nerds - I mean, really, it's dense economics mixed in with a manga...
July 8, 2018
great little short read about the culture and inner workings of the individuals who made the japanese economy the second most powerful in the world and their cars of better quality than america.
Surprisingly entertaining given all the economic jargon in it
Surprisingly entertaining given all the economic jargon in it
March 22, 2021
1.5 stars. My eyes glazed over for about 90% of the book. There are also numerous spelling and punctuation mistakes in the book.
September 25, 2008
I think this book just wasn't my style. I read to page 97 (middle of the second chapter), and I realized that I just didn't care much about what happened. So that was a minus on the storytelling side. I'm not wild about the art either. And I know this isn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things, but the placement and alignment of the English text in the dialog bubbles sized for the Japanese text drove me nuts. The words don't fit the bubbles, and it looks pretty sloppy.
I think the most interesting parts were the prose economics explanations that were interspersed within the pages of manga. Maybe I'll go back and scan through those.
Also, this book was published in 1988, which is before Japan had its big economic meltdown. In light of current events in the US, I was really hoping to read about how they addressed the problems with their country, not so much what was going on in their pre-downturn days.
I think the most interesting parts were the prose economics explanations that were interspersed within the pages of manga. Maybe I'll go back and scan through those.
Also, this book was published in 1988, which is before Japan had its big economic meltdown. In light of current events in the US, I was really hoping to read about how they addressed the problems with their country, not so much what was going on in their pre-downturn days.
Read
December 27, 2016A bit tough going given the topic is Japanese economics thirty years ago. But contains scraps of fascinating stuff like seeing financial paths beginning which would bloom over time. For example, the dawning realizations that it is more profitable to manipulate stocks and bonds and to do other financial machinations, than to actually make anything. And that labor markets were going to cheaper workers overseas, leaving home country workers unemployed.
Learned: Japan voluntarily restricted its exporting of cars to the United States for three years in the early 1980's. Voluntarily? Would that be possible today?
Also of note--characters recognizing that there is more to life than economics and profit, yet the Reader knowing the world would become more financially, and less culturally, focused over time.
Learned: Japan voluntarily restricted its exporting of cars to the United States for three years in the early 1980's. Voluntarily? Would that be possible today?
Also of note--characters recognizing that there is more to life than economics and profit, yet the Reader knowing the world would become more financially, and less culturally, focused over time.
June 14, 2011
Well its a manga about the financial history of japan from the late 70s through 80s. Its pretty relavent now'ndays if you want yet another monetarist explanation of how finance works. Also its pretty overly optimistic considering what happened in the 90s. Nevertheless, its a great piece of weirdness from japan and has some legit economics/finance teachings in it. It also has a manga version of Reagan, strip clubs, and a ripoff of "I Pencil" at the end.
November 12, 2012
Who'd have thought a book about the Japanese economy in the 80s could be so boring? Japan Inc. tries to be both an economics textbook and a narrative and doesn't do particularly well at either. The economics is light and often incompletely explained, and the characters in the story are almost painfully two-dimensional.
August 28, 2007
Uh, it's a manga that attempts to describe the 80's financial climate in Japan. I guess I just wanted to see a manga depiction of Ronald Regan - Does Not Disappoint.
April 27, 2008
This book is hilarious, plus you learn stuff!
May 28, 2008
Manga-format examination of the Japanese business world. Even covers some of the social issues related to the salaryman lifestyle. It was interesting.
January 31, 2012
Absolutely marvelous instructional tool from the 1980s. Fun. I wish he were alive to write another to address the recession.
June 1, 2020
Dated but just substitute China for Japan.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews