Promotion of the Weaving Districts in Modern Japan

Abstract

In the case of the silk-weaving industry in modern Japan, local producers attempted to improve the quality of their products and to achieve a good reputation for their district brand for survival and sustainable growth. Such attempts often failed, however, due to the existence of free riders who did not care about the quality of products or did not possess proper knowledge of advanced technologies. Export of inferior-quality product from Japan led to heavy criticisms against Japanese products. Facing such a critical situation, not only producer cooperatives but also central and local governments introduced the quality inspection system and supported the quality-improvement activities of local producers to sustain the development of industrial districts. Policies of both local and central governments enabled the shift from the quantitative expansion phase of the industrial districts to the qualitative improvement phase, in which a limited number of innovative firms produced high-quality products with their established district brands.