What Eating the Rich Did For Japan
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a look at how Japan's monopolies were dismantled and how that shaped later industry.
What it is
Asianometry traces how the Japanese zaibatsu families grew into vast industrial combines and how postwar reforms abruptly broke up their wealth and control.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2023 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends routerl · 2023-08 · on “YKK: Japan’s Zipper King [video]”
+1 Love his "What [course of action] did for [country]" videos. E.g. What eating the rich did for Japan. [this video]
Recommends tyre · 2026-05 · on “Why Japanese companies do so many different things”
Yes, thank you for compressing it. They start their answer with: > Here is the answer I want to suggest: Japanese companies excel in lots of very different domains because it’s inherent in how they’re structured. Which is then backed by some economists saying something similar (generally), but all of which completely ignores Japan’s specific history. As a better example Of examining Japan, here’s a look at Japan’s monopolies, how they were broken up, and partly how that effected the future of their industry: [this video]
Cites gsf_emergency_2 · 2025-08 · on “Skewing the Overton Window”
I think Communism could have worked out in Japan post WWII .. due to the Weber-like work ethic :) [LINK] > The organization was able to mobilize a large section of white-collar workers in government and civil service sectors. Salaries in the public sectors were about a half of salaries in the private sector, a fact that enabled the public sector to become a centre of radical trade unionism [LINK] this explains why it was okay to "renazify" Japan eg Abe's granddad [this video] (See comments for nuance "from the ground". Fictionally, I recall that communist vs fascist sympathies were a backdrop in Murakami Haruki's earlier work.. he sneered at both) [LINK] Sorry to glaze over the cybernetics earlie