Giant consumer market

Despite its struggles, the Japanese market is still the world's giant. The ratio of imports of raw materials and fuel, including mineral fuels such as crude oil and textile raw materials, to total value of imports was 26% in 2001. Considering that raw materials and fuel accounted for 66% of total imports in 1960, this is a great drop. Conversely, the ratio of finished goods, such as machinery, equipment, and textile goods, has increased.

The ratio of imports of finished goods to total imports exceeded 50% in 1989 because of increases in imports of machinery from European countries and the U.S., and of home electric appliances and textile goods from Asian countries. This ratio, lower than the 75-80% of Western countries, has led to criticism that Japan's market is closed. In fact, Japan's large imports of natural resources and agricultural products statistically lower the finished-product import ratio.