The rapid Japanese economic development, McCormack argues, was based on indoctrinating the Japanese with the ideology of hard work and self-sacrifice, and a transference of the wartime kamikazi fighter spirit to the corporate culture, so that maybe as many as 10,000 corporate employees actually died in the workplace because of "voluntary" overwork in the prime years of Japanese economic development. While this figure might be exaggerated, it is certainly true that the Japanese long work hours rank the first in the world. The way to deal with it, however, was not a reflection on the culture of over-work and self-sacrifice for the nation, but recreational activities such as golfing and theme parks.

These activities, however, were often corrupt: resorts were opened based on the Resort Law, leading to tax breaks and other incentives to build resorts, often driving up real estate prices and the stock market, leading eventually to an economic bubble in the 1980s (like a soap bubble that grows bigger and bigger before it breaks, an economic bubble is rapidly growing economy as reflected in the stock market prices until the prices suddenly fall one day because they do not reflect the real value of the goods). The resorts also often have negative ecological consequences, such as reducing Japan's wooded regions and the forests of other Asian countries as they are cleared for golf courses.

The Japanese resort boom was going especially strong in the 1980s, when Japanese economy reached unprecedented growth and the strength of the Japanese yen made Japanese companies think of other ways of investing their money. Investing in realestate, including theme parks and golf courses, became what seemed a good way to place the enormous wealth that came from international trade and the strength of the yen. Hence such theme parks as Huis Ten Bosch, SeaGaia Resort, SSAWS Ski Dome , and Tokyo Disneyland. But most impressive of all are perhaps the over 2,000 golf courses in Japan with 13 million golfers (Outdoor Japanese golf courses website).

This frenzy of golf course building was also spread to other parts of the world as Japan bought up lands abroad to develop golf courses. The real estate price of Hawaii was doubled because of Japanese real estate development there. Naturally, when the Japanese economic bubble burst in the 1990s, real estate prices from the U.S. to Thailand were affected. Golf courses also have a severe impact on the environment.