Japan is an important trading partner for the United States, but there are still problems because of the Japanese propensity for different forms of protectionism to keep out competitive goods. There are certain goods that Japan has a particular need for and that the Japanese cannot produce themselves in sufficient quantity, such as wood, highly prized in Japan for its decorative and constructive qualities but not produced domestically in any great quantity. Rice is a staple in Japan, and the Japanese consumes a good deal of rice each year without allowing much in the way of imports from other countries. It is believed that there is a market large enough to support imported rice to a greater degree than is presently allowed and that it might be possible to use trade sanctions or some other means to force the Japanese to open their rice markets to outside competition from the United States. An examination of the trading issues involved and the options open to the United States will be examined to determine whether it is feasible to press this issue with the Japanese.
The Japanese industrial expansion since World War II has been considerable and has been noted by other industrialized nations around the world as almost miraculous. Japan began from a position far behind the West, with her infrastructure devastated by the war, and since has achieved a position of economic preeminence, challenging the United States and other industrialized nations for world leadership in innovation and industrial production, especially in high-tech industries of great import on the international scene today and into the future. The U.S. has recently started giving Japan greater attention in order to discern the management styles used in Japan and to emulate them to the greatest degree possible, and with the increase in Japanese investment in the U.S., along with the opening of a certain number of Japanese manufacturing companies in the U.S., primar...