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During times when Japan was less economically developed than what we see now the main exports were, surprisingly, cotton bales - more broadly, textiles. After it gained momentum to self-produce simple machinery(~1910s) textiles remained between 20% and 30% of total exports.
Now let's say Japan had to choose another produce, one that presumably requires some sort of machinery but not too much, such as copper or canned fish. Is this a viable export product for Japan?
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