1990s Japan News Quiz | The Economy, Employment, Taxes and Everyday Life
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Problem 1
Japanese share prices began falling sharply in early 1990, while the Cabinet Office's reference dates identify February 1991 as the peak and October 1993 as the trough of the eleventh business cycle.
Why is it not contradictory for the stock-market decline and the business-cycle peak to have different dates?
View explanation
Business-cycle reference dates synthesize movements in major indicators such as production and employment to identify turning points in overall economic activity. Share prices also reflect expectations and may move earlier, so the start of a market decline need not coincide with the business-cycle peak.
Problem 2
Japan's Ministry of Land white paper describes the national average land price during the bubble period as peaking in 1990 and then entering a prolonged downward trend.
What can be concluded directly from this statement?
View explanation
The white paper describes a long-term movement in the national average. It establishes that the average peaked in 1990 and then trended downward, but it does not imply that every region, land use or individual site moved at the same time or by the same amount.
Problem 3
A law enacted in 1991 and put into effect on April 1, 1992 established a statutory leave entitlement intended to help employees combine work and raising children.
Which entitlement was established?
View explanation
The Child Care Leave Act took effect on April 1, 1992 and established childcare leave, in principle to care for a child until age one. Application to workplaces with 30 or fewer regular employees was deferred until April 1, 1995. Statutory family-care leave came through a later amendment.
Problem 4
Japan's 1993 rice crop was hit by cool weather in the north, as well as typhoons, prolonged rain and rice blast disease. Its crop condition index fell to 74, classified as 'markedly poor.'
How did the government respond when domestic rice alone could not meet the required supply?
View explanation
The 1993 crop failure was so severe that carry-over stocks and accelerated supply from the next crop still could not meet requirements. Emergency exceptional imports of foreign rice were therefore arranged. This was a response to a serious shortage, not a production-control measure for a surplus.
Problem 5
Government support documents use the term 'employment ice-age generation' with people who reached school-leaving age during the post-bubble downturn from roughly 1993 to 2004 in mind.
What is the central idea behind this term?
View explanation
The category focuses on reaching school-leaving age during a difficult entry-level labour market. It is not defined merely by changing jobs or by one single birth year. Exact eligibility can differ with educational history, delayed graduation and the rules of a particular support programme.
Problem 6
Japan's consumption-tax rate changed from 3 percent to 5 percent in April 1997. The 5 percent figure included a 1 percent local consumption-tax component.
For an item priced at ¥10,000 before tax, which calculation correctly gives the standard tax-inclusive amount at the time?
View explanation
The 5 percent figure was the combined rate, including the 1 percent local consumption tax. Five percent of ¥10,000 is ¥500, making the total ¥10,500. Adding another 1 percent to the stated 5 percent would count the local component twice.
Problem 7
Several Japanese financial institutions failed in November 1997. Hokkaido Takushoku Bank and Yamaichi Securities are often mentioned together as symbols of that financial crisis.
Which statement correctly distinguishes their business types and resolutions?
View explanation
Hokkaido Takushoku was a bank that abandoned continued operations on November 17, 1997 and moved toward resolution through a transfer of business. Yamaichi was a securities firm that decided the following week to close voluntarily. They belonged to different sectors and did not undergo identical procedures.
Problem 8
Under Japan's 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law, equal treatment of women in recruitment, hiring, assignment and promotion was an obligation to make efforts. The main provisions of a 1997 amendment took effect on April 1, 1999.
What change did the amendment make?
View explanation
The 1997 amendment converted the former effort obligations concerning discrimination against women in recruitment, hiring, assignment and promotion into prohibitions. Its main provisions took effect on April 1, 1999, so the amendment's passage and its implementation must also be distinguished.
Problem 9
Japan's Long-Term Care Insurance Act was enacted in December 1997, but the insurance system came into operation in April 2000.
Which explanation best accounts for the gap?
View explanation
Although the Act was enacted in 1997, operating a nationwide insurance system required preparations including municipal plans, care-need certification and service capacity. The date of enactment therefore differed from the start of the insurance system and benefits.
Problem 10
On February 22, 1999, NTT DOCOMO launched i-mode under a concept that sought to turn the mobile phone from something used only for talking into something used for services.
Which use of a mobile phone did the early i-mode service expand?
View explanation
i-mode began as a way to access news, weather forecasts, mobile banking, ticket reservations and other information services from a mobile phone. It was distinct from FOMA, which launched in 2001, and it did not eliminate voice calling.