In Japan, large companies known as zaibatsu have taken center stage in the push for modernization of Japan, said Japanese officials. This has led to the rise of Japanese influence in Asia; the state is now a powerful nation capable of competing with the rivals in the Western world.

The recent effort to modernize the economy of the state came after the events that occurred in China, said officials. Chinese superiors rejected the Western influences, attempting to preserve their culture. As a result, China has become almost completely dominated by Western nations, said Japanese government officials (1).

"We hope to modernize quickly so that we will be able to compete against our Western rivals. The Japanese government is determined to prevent the situation in China from happening on our own soil. We have decided to modernize, and accept the Westerners' way of life," said one Japanese official (2).

However, Japan's attempt to modernize also came with some difficulties. The Satsuma Revolution, unfair trade and other factors have led to a financial crisis for the state. As a result, the Japanese government has made the wise decision to publicly auction all its enterprises, excluding all the munitions plants containing Japan's weapons for warfare, said Japanese officials (3).

"The entrepreneurs who purchased the enterprises, comprised of men who have healthy relations with government officials, have foreshadowed the long-term advantages of purchasing these factories. It is a good time for them to buy these companies for they are selling for very low prices," said a spectator of the auction (4).

There are many different zaibatsu in Japan, but the four main corporations are Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda companies. These companies have "Pyramids of Control", said one zaibatsu owner (5). These large companies currently control 21 percent of the banking industry, 26 percent mining, 35 percent shipbuilding, and over 60 percent of the paper manufacturing and insurance sectors (6).

"The holding company (the main zaibatsu) controls several major yet smaller companies, while in turn these major affiliates control even smaller foundations," said the owner of Yasuda. This method of control is common in Western economics, but the Japanese system is different way. While in the West the large company controls almost all of its smaller affiliates, Japanese zaibatsu usually play a smaller role in their minor companies' actions (7).

"Some zaibatsu own as little as ten percent of their affiliate's stock", said one Japanese economist (8).

Another way Japanese zaibatsu organizations differ from their Western counterparts is in the way the companies are bound together (9)

"Western conglomerates bring together companies of entirely unrelated trades, such as combining a clothing company with a fishing enterprise," said a zaibatsu manager. "Zaibatsu tend to cluster around a central bank that will help fund the zaibatsu and its respective affiliates' actions (10)."

The zaibatsu has brought a wonderful growth of progress for the people of Japan.

Sources:

(1) Spielvogel, Jackson J. World History: The Human Odyssey. Cincinnati, West Educational Publishing, 1998

(2) Ibid., 791

(3) Schirokauer, Conrad. A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations. Fort Worth, Harcourt Brace Jovanonich College Publishers, 1989

(4) Ibid., 445

(5) Reischauer, Edwin O. The Japanese Today. London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1988

(6) Spielvogel, 794

(7) Reischauer, 306

(8) Reischauer, 306

(9) Reischauer, 306

(10) Reischauer, 306

Image Sources:

(1) Map of Japan

"All the Greatest Cities of the World" [http://www.greatestcities.com/tokyo/], 1997-2000

(2) Japanese vessel

"NOAA Photo Library" [http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/theb3002.htm], January 18 2001.