Economic history of Japan
History of Japan
• Paleolithic 35000–14000 BC
• Jōmon period 14000–400 BC
• Yayoi period 400 BC–250 AD
• Kofun period 250–538
• Asuka period 538–710
• Nara period 710–794
• Heian period 794–1185
• Kamakura period 1185–1333
• Kenmu restoration 1333–1336
• Muromachi period 1336–1573
• Nanboku-chō period 1336–1392
• Sengoku period
• Azuchi-Momoyama period 1568–1603
• Nanban trade
• Edo period 1600–1868
• Bakumatsu
• Meiji period 1868–1912
• Meiji Restoration
• Taishō period 1912–1926
• Japan in World War I
• Shōwa period 1926–1989
• Japanese militarism
• Occupation of Japan
• Post-Occupation Japan
• Heisei period 1989–present
• Economic history
• Educational history
• Military history
• Naval history
Glossary
The economic history of Japan is one of
the most studied for its spectacular growth
after the Meiji Revolution to be the first non
European Power and after the Second World
War when the island nation rose to become
the world’s second largest economy.
First contacts with
Europe (16th century)
Renaissance Europeans were quite admiring
of Japan when they reached the country in
the 16th century. Japan was considered as a
country immensely rich in precious metals,
mainly owing to Marco Polo’s accounts of gil-
ded temples and palaces, but also due to the
relative abundance of surface ores character-
istic of a volcanic country, before large-scale
deep-mining became possible in Industrial
times. Japan was to become a major exporter
of copper and silver during the period.
The Samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome in
1615, Coll. Borghese, Rome.
Japan was also perceived as a sophistic-
ated feudal society with a high culture and a
strong pre-industrial
technology.
It was
densely populated and urbanized. It had
Buddhist “universities” larger than any learn-
ing institution in the West, such as Sala-
manca or Coimbra. Prominent European ob-
servers of the time seemed to agree that the
Japanese "excel not only all the other Orient-
al peoples, they surpass the Europeans as
well" (Alessandro Valignano,