Imports and exports totaling the equivalent of nearly US$1.309.2 Trillion in 2017, which meant that Japan was the world's fourth largest trading nation after China, the United States and Germany.
Initially, imports were limited to essential food and raw materials, mostly financed by economic assistance from the United States.
Because of extreme domestic shortages, exports did not begin to recover until the Korean War (1950–53), when special procurement by United States armed forces created boom conditions in indigenous industries.
Keeping these deficits under control, so that Japan would not be forced to devalue its currency under the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates that prevailed at the time, was a primary concern of government officials.
With these developments, some of the resistance to manufactured imports, long considered luxuries in the relative absence of raw materials, began to dissipate.
Now an advanced industrial nation, it faced new changes in its economy, on both domestic and international fronts, including demands to supply more foreign aid and to open its markets for imports.
It had become a leader in the international economic system through its success in certain export markets, its leading technologies, and its growth as a major investor around the world.
Controls were motivated by the desire to prevent foreigners (mainly Americans) from gaining ownership of the economy when Japan was in a weak position after World War II, and by concerns over the balance of payments deficits.
[1] Indonesia and Malaysia both continued to show a trade surplus because of their heavy raw material exports to Japan.
[1] In 1990, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore constituted the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) in Asia, and all four exhibited high economic growth during the 1970s and 1980s.
After the end of the Cold War, Japan tried to win Russia as another source of oil, but so far Japanese–Russian relations remain tense because of territorial disputes.
Completion was delayed first by political concerns (when United States embassy personnel were held hostage) and then by repeated Iraqi bombing raids.
[1] In the 1990s and beyond, Japan’s engagement with the Middle East extended beyond oil, as the nation increasingly turned to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a cleaner and more efficient energy source.
The first LNG purchase agreement between Japan and Qatar was signed in 1992, and the inaugural shipment arrived in 1997, marking the beginning of a strategic partnership in the energy sector.
This relationship reflects Japan’s broader strategy to diversify its energy mix and secure stable supplies while fostering interdependence through technology transfer and investment in the region.
Furthermore, Japanese companies have played significant roles as stakeholders in LNG projects, solidifying economic and technological ties with Middle Eastern countries and contributing to regional development.
Japan's trade with Western Europe grew steadily but had been relatively small well into the 1980s considering the size of this market.
West European exports to Japan increased two and one-half times in just the three years from 1985 to 1988 and rose as a share of all Japanese imports to 16 percent.
Late in the decade, as discussions proceeded on the trade and investment policies that were expected to prevail with European economic integration in 1992, many Japanese officials and business people became concerned that protectionism directed against Japan would increase.
Rather than being discouraged by protectionist signals from Europe, Japanese businesses appeared to be determined to play a significant role in what promises to be a large, vigorous, and integrated market.
Investment offered the surest means of circumventing protectionism, and Japanese business appeared to be willing to comply with whatever domestic content or other performance requirements the European Union might impose.
A vast territory richly endowed with raw materials and with a sizable Japanese-Brazilian minority in the population, Brazil appeared to Japanese business to offer great opportunities for trade and investment.
However, none of those expectations have been realized, and Japanese financial institutions became caught up in the international debt problems of Brazil and other Latin American countries.
[1] Latin American countries lie at the heart of the Third World debt problems that plagued international financial relations in the 1980s.
Japan is a member of the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
As a member of the IMF, Japan also cooperates with other countries in moderating the shortrun volatility of the yen and participates in discussions on strengthening the international monetary system.
Japan is also a participant in the OECD's "gentlemen's agreement" on guidelines for government-supported export credits, which places a floor on interest rates and other terms for loans to developing countries from government-sponsored export-import banks.
[1] GATT has provided the basic structure through which Japan has negotiated detailed international agreements on import and export policies.
[1] As Japan became a greater international financial power in the 1980s, its role in financing these trade and development institutions grew.
Japan also made several "special" contributions to particular World Bank programs that raised its financial status but did not alter its voting position.