The structural reforms in Japan on the verge of the 21st century

The author describes changes in the socioeconomic model of Japan’s growth in the 1990s, with a particular emphasis on economic recession, erosion of labor relations ships and demographics structure transformations, changes in culture and customs, crisis of political leadership and main directions of structural changes, such as reforms of political and administrative systems, liberalization of the economy and strengthening of market mechanisms as well as increasing labor market flexibility. Having reached the current level of development, Japan is unlikely to continue to generate such high growth indicators, as it did over some previous decades. Described phenomena and tendencies demonstrate that the Japanese society one day will face problems similar to those which appear in the West, in relation to economic productivity and political controllability. Economic slowdown in Japan was one of the reasons for the current difficulties in the region of East Asia