MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975 (review)

In his book, MITI and the Japanese Miracle, Chalmers Johnson purports to provide the economic bureaucracy's contribution to Japan's high postwar growth, but in fact tells the story, as the title suggests, in terms of MITI. Although in this reviewer's judgment gravely exaggerating the role of MITI within the economic bureaucracy and virtually ignoring the private sector, Johnson provides extraordinary insight into the operations of Japan's bureaucracy and the never-ending turf battles that are an integral part of it. His thesis is that a "miracle" occurred and that it can be explained only by the role of the economic bureaucracy. He sees the economic bureaucracy growing in knowledge and maturity out of the experiences of the 1930s when (under the Important Industries Control Law of 1931) the private sector undertook to control itself, and out of the World War II and occupation experiences when the government dictated to the private sector. In Professor Johnson's judgment, what is new about the role of government in Japan's economy is that a cooperative, shared relationship has developed with the government supplementing, not supplanting (my language), market forces. He writes: