Japan's direct investments have become an important factor in the economic reality of South East Asia. The following article gives a structural description of the present state of Japanese direct investment in this region.

Six Southeast Asian countries (Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand) defied Gunnar Myrdal's pessimistic prognosis in his 1968 volume, Asian Drama, regarding their prospects for development. In the past half-century, these countries raised...