Japan makes a brave move toward free trade

JAPAN HAS ALWAYS faced the outside world with ambivalence — eager for access to technology and resources, jealous of its own culture and industry. Forced open by a U.S. naval fleet in 1853, Japan rose in Asia over the next 80 years, only to see its attempt at imperial domination end in the catastrophe of World War II. Under the postwar U.S. security umbrella, Japan tried a different tack: mercantilism, which permitted the country to prosper economically while limiting foreign impact on domestic values, institutions and markets — all deemed essential.