How did the Second World War and subsequent Allied occupation affect the development of Japan? Introduction The Second World War was the bloodiest conflict in the history of humanity. It has largely affected the evolution of many nations throughout the whole globe. This essay focuses on the impact of World War II and successive Allied occupation on the vector of development of the Japanese state. In this paper, I will argue that those events had a huge impact on every sector of the Japanese state-development. Moreover, I will argue that the results of those events were mostly positive for the Asian state. My essay will be structured in the following way. Firstly, I will analyze the economic change, which occurred as a result of the …show more content…
Many large cities, industries and transportation networks were heavily damaged. Additionally, the conflicts took the lives of many Japanese citizens, who largely contributed to the economic activity before the war. However, in my view, Cohen has underestimated the benefits that economic concentration on military, brought to the postwar Japanese economic development. In accordance with John Dower, during the war period, there was a huge increase in the production of machinery (252%), nonferrous metals (70%), steel (46%) and manufacturing (24%), which was extremely beneficial for the after war economic growth. Personally, I assume that Dower was right and without the rapid increase in these industries, Japan would not be able to achieve its postwar economic prosperity. A good verification of this argument is that after the war was over, many of the wartime companies (Toyota, Nissan, Normura Securities, Toshiba) were successfully transformed into peaceful and prosperous commercial corporations, which exist until today. Kenneth Pyle argued that nationalistic and military goals of these companies were quickly replaced by commercial aims – “gun factories started to make sewing machines and optical vehicle manufactories began to produce cameras”. The Occupation of Japan, which was the result of Japan’s defeat in the World War, was destined to change the economy of the state and turn it into a western-style
The trade embargo by US had caused an uproar in Japan, and this led into the question, “To what extent was the trade embargo by the USA responsible for Japanese military actions in 1941?” Some historians claimed that the trade embargo had forced Japan to use their military to attack Pearl Harbor, but why? The embargo appointed Japan to felt threatened to performed their ideology, situated Japan in an untenable position since they’re intensely relied on US imports, and produced a panicking atmosphere for their country’s survival. Japan viewed the embargo as a threat to achieved their ideology. Japan in the 19th century had strived for nationalism and embarked on modernization, which caused them to acquired an aggressive expansion plan, starting
(Abstract A) Japan did not want to pointlessly go to war, they simply wanted to make history or join history. It Hirobumi ’s statement proved to be true as the victory of the war sent Japan down a spiral of imperialism which they had set themselves up for. Japan was in need of a way to join the way of imperialism and to establish
Showa: The Japan of Hirohito, edited by Carol Gluck and Stephen R. Graubard, seeks to find the answers to many questions that are commonly asked about Japan and its history. As stated in the title, this book focuses on the Hirohito era in Japanese history from 1926 to 1989. In the Introduction, Gluck states that there were two main issues for Japan in the twentieth century, “how Japan came to aggressive war and then to macroeconomic might” (xi). The unstable relationship between Japan and the United States is also an underlying theme of the book. The three chapters to be examined in this paper are, “The Useful War,” “The People Who Invented the Mechanical Nightingale,” and “Japan Meets the United States for the Second Time.”
After centuries of living in seclusion to the outside world, the government knew that they needed the technological advancements that the West offered. The Industrial Revolution and growing urbanisation in Japan had intended to and succeeded in mimicking Western growth. Moreover, the Japanese were well-known for their diligence, discipline, perseverance, and hard work – this resulted in substantial economic development including increased shipping of commodities and a significant expansion of trade and handicraft industries. However, the political elite pocketed most of the profits through influence and corruption. Workers and farmers found it unfair that their patriotic and back-breaking labour only received a little wage in comparison, but with a state-controlled media and education system, they couldn’t make their voices heard. So overall, this collective and nationalistic open-mindedness for communal prosperity was beneficial for Japan as a whole, but the common people were disadvantaged with no access to basic human rights and a fair
Just Before entering World War II, Japan had a lot of different issues to try and solve. It had started to depend more for materials like oil for new machines being made to make the creation level of merchandise faster, which makes for a more productive economy. They required oil from outside sources in light of the fact that their property did not have all these things enormously, since the nation was an island its regular assets were made up of rice and fish. Even with these troubles, Japan started to manufacture an effective realm with a strong mechanical establishment and a decent armed force and naval force. The military got to be included in the legislature, and this started to cause them harm. The general public started to see indications of control originating from a rough place this put the individuals in a controlled state, their fundamental rights were gradually being taken away. In the mid 1930 's, the Japanese Army had numerous little, detached fights with their neighboring people groups. The Japanese individuals spread their control to make their country bigger. In 1937, the contentions started again with the Chinese in the territory close. These contentions prompted a full-scale war known as the second Sino-Japanese War. This was viewed as a bleeding war, it proceeded until the last annihilation of Japan in 1945. This demonstrates the inward shortcoming of the Japanese individuals, with high
The dropping of the bomb had a devastating effect to the Japanese economy. As both Hiroshima and
American troops invaded many countries and remain with them for a very long time, but nothing quite like the history between America and Japan. America’s presence in Japan has shown to have had grave effects on the country from past to present. The intent of this paper is to discuss how America has altered the Japanese way of life through the incorporation of its military, politics, and culture.
The Economic Effect on Japan during Post World War II Japan’s economy was greatly affected by the atomic bombs dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan’s economic recovery as a result of this incident transformed Japan’s economic growth which has become known as the “Economic Miracle.” The bombs caused Japan to reconstruct many more facilities in which the economy moved forward. The Economic Planning Agency, which used to be known as the Economic Stabilization Board, helped Japan to become one of the leading economic nations. The United States also contributed to much of Japan’s recovery by occuping it from 1945-1951.
The U.S. economic effort was not as widely successful in comparison to the political and social efforts, but there were several successes that ultimately set the conditions for Japan’s rise to a top world economy. The 1947 Land Reform Program, which essentially consisted of the government purchase and redesignation of land that was then resold to tenant farmers, “is seen as the single most important factor for quelling rural discontent and promoting political stability in the early postwar period.”6 Efforts to re-energize the natural resources successfully stabilized the coal mining and fishing industries. Coal mining suffered from a removal of inexpensive labor with the repatriation of Chinese and Korean slaves, but the introduction
The main question is “how did it affect the japanese-america then and now?” Well first things
The intent of the United States’ occupation of Japan was to neutralize the threat of another war, to nourish the Japanese economy back to health, and to provide a stable democratic government for the defeated nation. With General Douglas MacArthur acting as the supreme commander in charge of the occupation, Japan changed drastically. Special attention was paid to the areas of military, economy, and government. The effects of the United States’ occupation of Japan were profound almost beyond reckoning, and have had enormous impacts on modern Japanese society as well as on almost every other society in the modern world and throughout the course of history.
Japan’s political structure during the 19th and 20th Century would shift dramatically just as China’s did. After hundreds of years of rule by a Tokugawa feudal system, Japan was isolated and there was much division within the
Although Japan changed in many ways from 1853 to 1941, there were also many factors that remained the same throughout the history of Japan. One such continuity was the maintained existence of a figurehead ruler controlled by other political authorities. The feudalistic emperor of Japan was the supposed “highest, most powerful authority” in the land, but was actually controlled by the military leaders- the shogun. Similarly, the militaristic emperor of Japan decades later continued to remain a figurehead ruler controlled by military and government officials. In addition, Japan continued to remain reliant on exports in order to maintain its economy. As a result of Japan’s small geographical size, the island nation had few natural resources and was forced to rely on exports to survive economically. The nation also grew increasingly reliant on other nations to provide materials and supplies that it could not provide for itself. This complete reliance on other nations was seen illustrated when the Japanese military was provoked to attacking another superpower- the United States, in response to the 1940 United States embargo
For much of its history Japan was a “closed country” and only opened up to very few people, those being the Dutch and on occasion their Chinese neighbors (Hayes 2012a). It was not until 1853 that Japan would have its first visitors, the United States (Hayes 2012b). Commodore Matthew Perry would force open Japan’s ports and have them agree to “unfair treaties” (Hayes 2012c). This led to the overthrow of the last shogunate’s rule in 1868 and the eventual emergence of Japan’s imperial empire. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration was well under way. During this time period the Japanese were looking to western powers for industrializing and reorganizing the way their government and even society operates (Hayes 2012d). Japan took it upon itself to emulate the western powers in order to discover its role in the international sphere (Hayes 2012e). As the country expanded and western influence grew Japan looked to expand their empire and saw Korea. Until the 1880s Japan began to assert policy against Korea, this led to conflict with China until 1895 in the Sino Japanese War (Hayes 2012f). The defeat of the Chinese resulted in the annexation of Korea to the Japanese as well as Taiwan and Liaodong Peninsula (Hayes 2012g). This also left a target on the Chinese’s back for many years. Japan now had control over a vast majority of East Asia by the time World War I came around. In order to compete
The foundation of Japanese imperialism, which eventually led to World War II was in the Meiji Restoration of the 1870’s. At that time, pro-war sentiment and desire for national strength and growth arose as the national attitude of the Japanese people. Certain groups, which advocated return to the traditional Japanese ways, began to grow in power. Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, was revived with a new emphasis on emperor worship. By the time Emperor Hirohito assumed power in 1926, the nation was ready for a second restoration.1