Initial Case Study: Japanese Foreign Investment in Hawaii

摘要

The case study discusses the history of Japanese investment in Hawaii, startingwith the first investment, a branch of the Bank of Tokyo in 1892. The paper quantifies to the extent the data permits, the surge of investments in the 1970s and 1980s, and the boom in Japanese real estate investments in the late 80s, stimulated by the strengthening of the yen and the comparison with soaring real estate prices in Japan. The study points out that Japanese investment has contributed to economic growth on the island on one hand, but, on the other, has strained the existing infrastructure, precipitated a speculative rise in real estate prices and therefore property taxes, and has exacerbated existing housing and land shortage problems. Consequently, Japanese investment has become a political as well as an economic issue. (Copyright (c) 1990, Commission on US-Japan Relations for the Twenty First Century.)