Because of the recession at home, Japan has seen a decline in expensive imports of luxuries, which were enormously fashionable during the second half of the 1980s. This effect has been compounded, thanks to slow growth elsewhere, by low prices for the international commodities that Japanese industry depends upon. Exports of Japanese machinery, on the other hand, withstood the downturn quite well because the Asian economies that buy them continued to boom. Also, the American and Japanese economy have been out of kilter. America's strengthening economy caused an increase in American demand for Japanese imports while Japanese demand for foreign goods declined. The effect is amplified because 35% of American exports to Japan are industrial commodities, which are highly sensitive to the business cycle.
由于日本国内的经济衰退,昂贵奢侈品的进口有所下降,而这些在20世纪80年代后期是相当时髦的。这种效果很明显,因为其他地区的经济增长缓慢,日本工业所依赖的国际初级产品的价格低廉。另一方面,亚洲国家经济的持续高速增长,他们购买日本的机械产品。日本机械产品的出口成功承受了这次经济衰退的考验。另外,美国和日本的经济已经不协调美国经济的增强使其对日本进口产品的需求增加,而日本对国外产品的需求减少。这是因为美国对日本出口产品35%是工业品,又都是对商业周期很敏感的产品,因而日本顺差美国逆差更加明显。