Three-Generation Mortgages? The Japanese Financial Crisis

Before ‘China-Bashing,’ there was ‘Japan-Bashing.’ In the early 1980s, Japan’s economic rise spurred fear and criticism from elected officials and everyday Americans alike. Federal lawmakers destroyed Toshiba products in the aftermath of a company scandal. Many contemporary movies, such as Blade Runner and Back to the Future Part II, projected the American fear of Japanese businesses and culture infiltrating the US; Japanese goods comprised 21% of US goods imported in 1986–more than China’s share of US imports today. However, by the middle of the 1990s, ‘Japan-Bashing’ and Japan’s exceptional growth ceased to exist. In the 1990s, Japan underwent a spectacular…...