Why is Japan not part of the Asian Tigers?
The short answer is, the Four Tigers as they are known are used to describe the first four “newly industrialized countries” in East Asia from the 1960’s-1990’s. A Newly Industrialized Country (NICs) are countries whose economies have not yet reached First World status but have, in a macroeconomic sense, outpaced their developing counterparts. My guess is by the 1960’s due to Japan’s rapid redevelopment after WW2, Japan did not meet the definition of a NIC (like Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore or Taiwan), but Japan had already moved beyond and had reached Advanced Economy (developed economy) status and was well on it’s way to becoming a high-income society.
