Center For Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies| Information on Japan

Seeking Information on Japan?

One of the main purposes of the Center is to provide support to those doing research on the Japanese economy, U.S.-Japan economic relations, and broader East Asian economic issues. Here are a number of links to sources of statistical and policy information to assist your work, organized under the following categories:

Japan Center Blog

Introduction

Basic Economic Data on Japan

Industry Statistics

Labor Statistics

Monetary and Financial Data

National Income Data

Price Indices

Population Data

Trade and Balance of Payments Data

Other Useful Sites on Japan

Please take note of the final category in this list, where you will find links to university and other organizations with helpful sites similar to this one.

If you have further questions about statistical information or other data on Japan, please contact the director or staff.

Japan Center Blog

The NYU Japan Center Blog, http://blogs.nyu.edu/blogs/jr197/japan/, is a resource updated and maintained by the center which is a great source for current events in the Japanese economy, including commentary from Dr. Lincoln. You are also able to direct any questions you may have on Japan and East Asian Economics directly to Professor Lincoln.

Introduction

If you are looking for information from a Japanese government ministry, a comprehensive list of all ministries and other government organizations is available at Web Japan’s “Japan Links” site: http://web-japan.org/links/government/index.html

Most Japanese government agencies have English language web sites that provide a wealth of information, including summaries of their annual white papers and many statistical series. Be aware, however, that occasionally additional data are available only in Japanese (including full text of white papers that are sometimes only available in summary form in English). If you do not read Japanese, therefore, you might want to have someone who does look through the Japanese language version of these sites.

Basic Economic Data on Japan

The standard statistical source for Japanis the Japan Statistical Yearbook, published by Statistics Bureau and Statistical Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. All tables in this publication have both Japanese and English language headings. The most recent edition of the yearbook is available at http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/nenkan/index.htm.

Please note that the Japan Statistical Yearbook tables generally provide no more than 10 years of data. If you are seeking older data and cannot find it on the website, please contact the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies; we have published versions of the Yearbook back to 1958.

The monthly version of this yearbook is Japan Monthly Statistics. This used to be a hard-copy publication, and is now available only as an online data library. It is available at: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/getujidb/index.htm

Besides these two publications, the Statistics Bureau and Statistical Research and Training Institute offers a number of other data series at its main site. These include some series that are not part of the Japan Monthly Statistics or Japan Statistical Yearbook publications. The main page for the Bureau is: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/index.htm

A variety of other statistical series, including various surveys of business and consumer sentiment, as well as national income data are published by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office. The home page is: http://www.cao.go.jp/index-e.html

Another general source of many economic data series is Web Japan , a government affiliated site (http://web-japan.org/) This site has a wide variety of information about Japan; if you are looking for economic data, the list of their data series is at http://web-japan.org/stat/category_05.html

Industry Statistics

Many industrial statistics are published by the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI). Besides current data on a variety of industries, METI now has the latest version of the periodic Census of Manufactures available online. METI’s statistical page is available at: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/statistics/index.html

The Bank of Japan publishes a widely used survey of current/future business conditions called the Tankan (the Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan), which you will find at http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/stat/dlong/tk/all/index.htm

Labor Statistics

Some labor statistics are published by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communication, available at http://www.stat.go.jp/english/index.htm

More detailed tables on labor are published by the Ministry of Labor, Health, and Welfare, available at http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-l/index.html

Monetary and Financial Data

The primary source for monetary policy and financial information is the Bank of Japan. Its home page in English is http://www.boj.or.jp/en/ Besides statistics, the bank publishes a summary of the discussions of the monetary policy committee, and other information. If you are mostly interested in the Bank’s statistics (money supply, flow of funds data, commercial bank lending, corporate bonds, the stock market, and others), go to http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/stat/index.htm

Supervision of the banking sector is the responsibility of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), a government agency created in 1998 that is separate from the Ministry of Finance. The FSA publishes an important report semiannually on non-performing loans in the banking sector, available at http://www.fsa.go.jp/en/regulated/npl/index.html

National Income Data

National income data are compiled and published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which is part of the Cabinet Office. The main page for national income data is: http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/en/sna/ The schedule for publication of new data is also included.

Besides the quarterly publication of the latest GDP data, ESRI also publishes an annual report on national income accounts, which provides more detail (such as capital stock data, and savings/investment balances by sector). The latest annual report is available on the ESRI site at http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/en/sna/h16-kaku/18annual-report-e.html

If you need earlier detailed national income data, please contact the Center; we have the published books for selected years back to 1980.

Price Indices

The consumer price index is published by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office, available at http://www.stat.go.jp/english/index.htm

Indexes for wholesale prices, corporate goods prices, and input-output prices are all published by the Bank of Japan, available at http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/stat/boj_stat/bop/index.htm

Population Data

Vital statistics (mostly life expectancy tables) are published directly by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, available at: http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hw/index.html

Broader population statistics, including forecasts of future population are published by the Ministry’s affiliated National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, available at http://www.ipss.go.jp/index-e.html

Trade and Balance of Payments Data

Trade statistics, balance of payments data, foreign direct investment data, foreign exchange reserves, and other international financial data are all published by the Ministry of Finance (MOF). MOF’s statistical page is http://www.mof.go.jp/english/files.htm

The Bank of Japan also publishes data on international portfolio investments, foreign debt, and direct investment, available at http://www.boj.or.jp/en/type/stat/boj_stat/bop/index.htm

Other Useful Sites on Japan

Other universities and organizations have web sites listing events and links to information. Some of the more useful of these are listed below.

The Center on Japanese Economics and Business, Columbia Business School , Columbia University.  http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/japan/ This Center is similar in scope to the Center on Japan-U.S. Business and Economic Studies, hosting public events on Japanand with an extensive working paper series.

The Japan Society, New York.  http://www.japansociety.org/ The Japan Society, the largest of the Japan-America societies in the United Stateshas an active program of public lectures and conferences on topics ranging from business to contemporary culture. With their own building, the Japan Society also offers language classes and mounts art exehibitions.

The Japan Considered Project of the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. http://www.japanconsidered.org/   This site focuses on politics rather than economics. But it has an especially useful set of information on Japanese government web sites (including statistical information), plus basic introductions to Japanese political institutions. The site also runs a well-regarded weekly podcast by the site’s founder, Professor Robert Angel, on current political developments in Japan. Prof. Angel has also included a number of audio files of interviews with senior scholars in the Japan Studies field.

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