The Expansion of Precarious Labor, a Consequence of the Japanese System of Lean Production Flexible or lean production was invented in Japan in a context where employees had job security. This system was imported in the USA after 1975, in order to compete with Japan. In the US, lean production was accompanied by a weakening of labor unions and by the development of labor flexibility. These changes in the US, associated with the development of new technologies, re-established the competitiveness of American companies. US-type flexibility was then imported in Japan in the 1990s, in the context of a serious economic crisis. The consequences of this were a sharp decrease in job security and the expansion of precarious labor in Japan.