In the 2010 university entrance exams in Japan, the number of applicants for economics and business administration programs nationwide fell sharply amid a conspicuous rise in the number of applicants for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, jurisprudence and teacher training — where students could most likely obtain professional licenses after graduation.
I can think of several reasons why economics and business administration have become less popular majors. The first is that students graduating in these areas are not likely to obtain a professional license unless they aspire to be a certified public accountant. In Japan, economists are not given full "professional" status, and the degree of master of business administration is not widely recognized.
The second reason is that once employed by government agencies or private corporations for nonengineering jobs, those who have majored in law have relative advantages over those who studied economics or business administration.