The Japanese miracle is not about full employment--not only anyway, but about its productivity and growth from the 1960s until around 1980. The whole business about "Japan Inc"--the slightly more resentful version of the "miracle"--has to do with the infamous networks between suppliers, large producers, and banks, whose competition was "managed" by the state.
Some of your comparisons seem a little weak, though I admit that
> I don't know the American numbers. Still, we are talking about, in part,
the
> 1960s and you say that most Japanese women didn't work. Wouldn't it also
be
> true that as late as 1970 America had fairly low rates of female
> participation in the workforce?
Sure, but at least the US' official numbers in the 70's reflect that. The point is that, for the past 10 years, for example, while the Japanese economy has been in the worst depression since the 30's, their unemployment rate has barely edged above what, 5.5%, according to official numbers? Unless there's some serious fiddling with the numbers, a restricted definition of the labor force, or a very wide definition of "employment," that hardly seems possible. The "informality" of the networks allows the official labor force to claim credit for productivity increases that may have a lot to do with uncounted work.
Christian