Economic and Wage Structures in Japan There are three major characteristics of Japan's economic and wage structures that strike me as needing to change. The first is the excessively defensive mindset in Japanese society.
Since the bursting of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, the successful experience of cutting costs to weather rapid deterioration in the business environment conjoined with the experience of low growth brought about by deflation has reinforced a defensive mindset in the overall economy.