The Leadership Of The Liberal Democratic Party Of Japan

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

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

These two states have vast similarities in how their governments later formed. With the United States, governmental design was self-conscious and planned, while Japan underwent many governmental evolutions to become the state it is today. Furthermore, these two studies dive into what truly makes a strong, weak, and failing state as Japan’s economy is the weakest indicator on the Failed State Index, yet it still reigns as an exceptionally strong

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.”

Before America, Japan was the main power in the Pacific. This was apparent until the United States defeated them with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Up until the late 1960’s, America was the most prominent and dominating manufacturer of the world. However in today's world, America is still an extremely powerful trading country, it has become more of a rentier country. China became the United States’ main outsource for manufacturing because it was exponentially easier and much more inexpensive. Before, America made most of everything in-country such as steel. However, with the United States recovering from the war, it was forced to outsource some of its manufacturing workload to other countries, mainly China. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s, the world was going through the Great Depression. America had struggled through this period of economic downfall. However, Japan emerged earlier than other countries because its economic success came from government deficits used to expand Japan’s heavy industry and military. Many other smaller Pacific nations saw Japan as an invincible power that no Western nation could overcome. Yet, after their war campaign against America, Japan was left crippled. Japan’s main supplier of oil, the United States, regulated trade with Japan do to their recent military actions. Left with no option, Japan

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

In 1850-1935, Japan has become an industrial power and replaced its traditional, feudal government with a regime in which ministers appointed by the emperor combined with parliament. The interwar years were not a time of crisis for Japan, however. During the 1920s, new cultural developments, an expanding economy and a brief commitment to liberal democracy produced important currents as well. In the 1930s, Japan turned to a more adventurous foreign policy in response to economic challenge and political change. Japan participated in the global economy by changing its government to benefit the economy, the emergence of open trade and still continuing to depend heavily on imports of raw materials.

- 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 Liberal and Democratic Parties merged to form the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in November 1955, establishing themselves as a conservative alternative to the ascending powers of the socialist and communist parties. As a party, the LDP ran on a platform of stimulus spending and support for big businesses and farmers. Ultimately, the LDP’s ascension to power gave rise to the “1955 system,” where monetary support from big businesses to LDP factions and pork-barrel spending cemented the LDP as the popular vote in Japanese politics. Yet, while their system worked for 38 years, the LDP’s corruption scandals and the recession of the 1990s caused the LDP to lose favorability among voters. The ongoing corruption scandals, along with the defection

The economies of the U.S. and Japan are very integrated in terms of trade in goods and services. As stated in the article the article, “Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress,” of the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. is the world’s largest economy and Japan is the world’s third-largest economy. This status makes the U.S. and Japan valuable trading partners, considering the U.S. was Japan’s second-largest source of imports and their largest export partner as of 2014 (Chanlett-Avery, Manyin, et.al). One can see through examining past economic crises in Okinawa and the U.S. that such incidences impede healthy global relationships. In the article, “U.S.-Japan Economic Relations: Significance, Prospects, and Policy Options,” William H. Cooper, specialist in international Trade and Finance, explains ways in which two specific Japanese economic crises affected global relations. One financial crisis occurred in 2008, when the economies of the U.S. and Europe were declining, leading to a decline in global demand for Japanese exports. Another occurred in 2011, following the tsunami, earthquake, and a nuclear incident in northeast Japan. These exigencies lead to great deficits, specifically in U.S. and European trade (Cooper, 2014). As previously mentioned, Okinawa has been unable to develop a self-sufficient economy. These past economic crises show that when Japan is economically

Its actions have helped initiate new industries, cushion the effects of economic depression, create a sound economic infrastructure, and protect the living standards of the citizenry. Indeed, so pervasive has government influence in the economy seemed that many foreign observers have popularized the term "Japan Inc." to describe its alliance of business and government interests. Whether Japan in the mid-1990s fit this picture seems questionable, but there is little doubt that government agencies continue to influence the economy through a variety of policies. Not only did the American press use the same terms as the federal government, but in doing so it also helped lay the framework of the Japanese- American internment in a completely inaccurate way (Lau, 2014).

Over the years, Japan has been working on advancing their economy since post-World War II. They now have a very strong work ethic, high resolution technology and a very comparatively small defense allocation, one percent of the gross domestic product. Two key characteristics are the interlocking structures of manufactures, suppliers, and distributors, and guarantee of employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force (CIA,2017). With natural resources of Japan becoming inadequate, they reliant on imported raw materials and resources especially since the complete shutdown of nuclear reactors

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Japanese government was undergoing a new paradigm shift which modeled itself after the governmental laws and principles of the Constitution of the United States. The new law of the land was originally formatted and instated under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), General Douglass MacArthur, and his orders to his Government section to model the nation’s new constitution in a manner that was agreeable to the United States. Unfortunately for some of the Japanese population, the constitutional provisions under US authority curtailed its sense of independence, and they wished for a more “Japanese” constitution. In an effort to reformat the constitution in a manner that catered to the needs of the Japanese people, Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama pushed for the creation of the Constitution Research Council, an organization whose purpose was to decide whether it was appropriate to revise the recently passed constitution. However, there was much clamor and controversy on what would be permitted to change between Japanese political organizations who longed for

Firstly, the financial aid from the strong state is the main factor that arose the economic miracle in Japan. When the cold war began, the U.S. government feared that a bleak economic prospects and instability in Japan would encourage the expansion of Soviet influence in the Pacific, and with a triumph of communism in China’s civil war, the prospective of East Asia seemed to be at stake (Miyazaki 1967). As a consequence, the concern about the spread of communism, which aroused the American officials to stress the expansion of chances for

Chapter 8: International Strategy ---- P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project (written by Christopher A. Bartlett)