Abstract
In the 1980s the flow of images and information about Japan surged through Britain in conferences, books, newspapers and television documentaries. Much of the material could be packaged as ‘lessons for Britain’, offering remedies for Britain’s relatively poor economic performance and political discomfort. Programmes and articles ranged from industrial relations to innovation and from education to enterprise. However, champions of ‘the Japanese model’ did not have the argument all their own way. Some critics contested what purported to be ‘the Japanese model’, while others queried its relevance to Britain, and yet others debated both points. More recently, journalists and programme makers, who once documented how Japanese industry had caught up and overtaken their British industrial mentors from the 1960s to the 1980s, have explored what went wrong for Japan in the 1990s. Partly because of Japan’s own difficulties and partly because of the more confident mood in Britain, Japan is now less obviously sought out as a source for British reform. Nevertheless, during the 1980s some of the lessons were put into practice, as Japanese ideas and institutions influenced reform in Britain.
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McCormick, K. (2002). Post-War Japan as a Model for British Reform. In: Daniels, G., Tsuzuki, C. (eds) The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations 1600–2000. The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600–2000. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373600_19
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