Episode 32 - Dr. Masao Nakamura (UBC)

In this episode, Dr. Masao Nakamura (UBC) discloses the impacts of the Meiji Period on Japanese business and financial practices, investing importance in the close relationship between the state and the public sector.  We discuss how the Restoration affected family-based merchant firms like Mitsui and Sumitomo, question the success of Meiji "big push" economic policies, locate the origins of prewar Zaibatsu in Meiji-era financial practices, and speculate on the problems facing Japanese commerce today. (Transcript here).