on. A sharp division among the population along language lines, such as the division between Gaelic and English speakers in Britain, is not found in Japan.
The Bubble Economy in Japan was essentially a wildly speculative boom that eventually collapsed as all such speculative booms eventually do (Woods, 1992, pp. 1 21). An understanding of the Bubble Economy requires that the economic stage be set.
The sixth period of modern economic development in Japan covered the years 1965 through 1979 (Wilson, 1985, p. 115). During this period of development, Japan reoriented much of its economy toward the international economy (Wilson, 1985, p. 121). The crude oil crises of the 1970s caused serious problems for the Japanese economy. The country weathered the storm, however, and developed into a major player in the world economy (Sarathy, 1989, pp. 132 160). The seventh period in modern economic development in Japan began in 1980 as the Japanese economy matured (Wickman, 1993, p. 146). During this current phase of economic development in Japan, growth in gross domestic output is slower, which is typical in a mature economy, and the country is required to deal with problems both internal and external stemming from the development of the country as an economic superpower.
In the late 1980s, speculation became the byword for investment activity in Japan (Goldstein, 1992, p. 58). As a consequence, a "bubble" developed in relation to asset prices land, securities, and practically everything else (Terazono, 1994, p. 38). Eventually, the "bubble" burst in 1991 following a four year spiraling increase in asset prices (Impoco, 1993, pp. 38 44).
The profitability of Japan's leading corporations have been severely deflated by the collapse of the bubble (Rowley, 1993, pp. 42 43). These corporations suffered losses because of participation in arbitrage and high risk investments (do Rosario, 1993, pp. 60 61). The securities mar...