Reforms and crises in government statistics: The case of Japan

This paper describes the statistics reforms in Japan, especially in regard to gross domestic product and related statistics, that were meant to identify and then rectify the problems in Japanese government statistics. The paper then explains the recent revelation of serious errors in vital wage statistics caused by deplorable mismanagement in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; this statistical crisis led to a crisis in public relations, as well as to potentially jeopardizing the functioning of the system of government statistics.