How Did The Second World War And Subsequent Allied Occupation Affect The Development Of Japan?

This paper is going to lay out the general arguments of “The Japanese Miracle” written by Chalmers Johnson in the book titled “MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975”. Japan’s economy had been severely devastated after the World War II, the country’s production did not match the prewar level until 1954. But a significant economic growth was achieved in the period between the 1960s to 1970s and consequently turned Japan to be a strong economy, only after the United States and the Soviet Union at the time. Such an economic success was regarded as a “miracle” to the world despite many of the Japanese held a cautionary attitude towards the success. Chalmers Johnson stressed that Japan’s economic miracle was not

From 1853 to 1941, Japan changed from being a reclusive, isolated nation that kept to itself to an imperialistic power openly attacking and conquering surrounding territories and peoples.

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

The dropping of the bomb had a devastating effect to the Japanese economy. As both Hiroshima and

The main question is “how did it affect the japanese-america then and now?” Well first things

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

This portion of the book focuses on how the war was useful in making Japan an economic power. Dower begins by explaining that postwar Japan’s success can be

This research project is a detailing of Japan’s history and its relations with the U.S. The document is intended to explain the rising conflict between them during The Second Sino-Japanese War, U.S retaliation due to the attempted conquest of Asia and the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and subsequent economical and environmental complications. In terms of value, the majority of the document is relevant to my research and

- America’s military played a huge role in the changes of Japan’s enemy to ally relationship. Throughout history, America’s influence also created changes in Japan’s view on politics. Women could now vote. The constitution also contained a clause renouncing the 'threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes'. Japan adopted a democratic government for the first time in 1947. In 1951 America and Japan signed a peace treaty in San Francisco and the American occupation ended in 1952. However, the Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security gave the USA the right to keep bases in Japan. Furthermore, the island of Okinawa was occupied until 1972. (A Brief, n.d.) In 1955 the Liberal Democratic Party took power and it ruled Japan for most of the period from 1955 to 2009. (A Brief, n.d.) The nation is now governed by the two houses of parliament, known as the Diet, with a prime minister elected by the majority party. This is the second largest identifier of America occupying Japan.

The Japanese economy had changed immensely as it became a place of free trade and importations from being a place where there was little to no foreign interactions a century ago. The japanese had implemented this closed door policy due to the unruliness of the Europeans in the 17th century and felt complacent in their situation. Although the Japanese government implemented a closed-door policy from 1639 to 1854, their rapid economic development after this period was due to their similar geographical conditions to England. Their location allowed them to reap the benefits of being imperialized because they were able to westernize and set up the foundation of a good economy. They had been able to live peacefully while absorbing technology and culture from the Eurasian countries, this help them develop their ‘foreign acceptance’ as they were used to taking technology from other countries.

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 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

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

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.

In 1945, Japan was devastated and lost a quarter of the national wealth after suffering a defect in the second world war. A majority of the commercial buildings and accommodation had been demolished, and massive machinery and equipment formerly used in production for the civil market were out of service to provide metal for military supplies (Miyazaki 1967). Despite the trash and ruins had left over in Japan, Japan was able to rebuilding its infrastructure and reconstruct their economy. It is revealed that the Japanese economy was on its way to recovery, which received a rapid development since the war, and the reconstruction of Japan had spent less than forty years to become the world’s second largest economy in the 1980s. This essay will explore the three factors account for the economic growth of post-war Japan: the financial assistance from the United States, the external environment, and the effective policy of Japanese government.