Circles of Compensation
Economic Growth and the Globalization of Japan
Published on 24. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
450 pages
979-8-89783-809-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book identifies the crucial variables as classic Japanese forms of socio-political organization: the "circles of compensation." These cooperative groupings of economic, political, and bureaucratic interests dictate corporate and individual responses to such critical issues as investment and innovation; at the micro level, they explain why individuals can be decidedly cautious on their own, yet prone to risk-taking as a collective. Kent E. Calder examines how these circles operate in seven concrete areas, from food supply to consumer electronics, and deals in special detail with the influence of Japan's changing financial system. The result is a comprehensive overview of Japan's circles of compensation as they stand today, and a road map for broadening them in the future.
More details
Person
Kent Calder current serves as Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, as well as Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University SAIS. He is the author of fourteen books on East Asian political economy, energy geopolitics, comparative urban politics, and Japanese politics, including most recently Global Political Cities (Brookings, 2021); Super Continent (Stanford, 2019); Circles of Compensation (Stanford, 2017); Singapore: Smart City, Smart State (Brookings, 2016); Asia in Washington (Brookings, 2014); and The New Continentalism (Yale, 2012). Calder was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2014, for his contribution to US-Japan relations, and to the academic study of Japan.