kets in Japan collapsed in the wake of the deflation of the bubble (Rowley, 1992, p. 96). The bubble was finally punctured when the Finance Ministry of the Japanese central government and Bank of Japan Governor Yasushi Mieno refused to prop up the over inflated asset prices any longer (Chandler, 1993, p. A1).
Japan does not rank at the top of the world's economy in the context of per capita gross domestic product (World Bank, 1994, p. 239). In fact, Japan ranks only fourth (World Bank, 1994, p. 239). Japan does, however, rank at the top in real gross national product growth (Council of Economic Advisers, 1994, p. 419). By 2000, Japan's real growth in gross national product should raise the country's rank in terms of per capita gross domestic product.
The Japanese economy functions differently to a significant extent from most of the developed Western economies (Turner, 1994, pp. 30 32; Ito, 1993, pp. 3 7). Such differences are most apparent in relation to supply, demand, market stru
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