Princes of the Yen: Japan's Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy

I recommend the book Princes of the Yen by Richard Werner. In which he detailed how the central bankers shaped the Japanese into a war-like economy post WW2, just like it was shaped by the military government prior. Werner basically rejected all the conventional assertions about Japanese economy you mentioned. In short, it is not a free market; subsidies are huge through low to negative interest rates, especially in export; capital market plays little roles since shareholders have minimal influence, etc. Through BoJ , a very small group of bureaucrats control the Japanese economy. So, Japan is very much state controlled.