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. 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
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.
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
Between the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Japan’s economy developed remarkably. China had also developed economically; however, not near as much as Japan. The Japanese government industrialized greatly and encouraged western influence, but the Chinese government did the opposite.
Financially, both China and Japan were stable. China, being a bit of an economic powerhouse was capable of building great infrastructure such as the Great Wall of China.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a result of several events associated with Japan’s mission to dominate Eastern Asia and the South Pacific. Before the 1930’s, Japan had one the world’s most prosperous economies due to the British economic slump in the 1920’s. The Japanese overtook the markets the British had previously dominated. This economic growth only lasted for ten years. In the early 1930’s, Japan suffered its largest economic downturn as a result of the World Great Depression. During this time, many countries stopped trading with Japan, leading to a 50% drop in their exported goods. The Japanese government believed if they moved away from a Western-style free market economy, they would recover from their economic crisis.
Most countries experienced numerous devastations after the World Wars that took place within the 19th Century. Some of the major participants in the wars were countries from Europe including Germany, Italy, France, Britain, and Russia. Within the Asian countries were Japan and China who allied with different blocs to participate in the war. The end of the war was marked by numerous deaths from both sides prompting the signing of the treaties in order to avert future wars and safeguard countries’ national interests. However, many countries experienced trouble relative to their economy positions, political stabilities, and relationships to other countries. This paper seeks to engage an in-depth
In 1868, provincial rebels overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan and the new leaders called the regime the “Meiji Restoration.” This was just the beginning for soon-to-be modernized Japan. A stronger military, new ideas, technology, and laws would be all used to transform Japan into a modern industrial nation. Because of these, modernization had a great effects on Japan’s society and the nation as a whole from 1850 to 1950. One effect modernization had was strengthening international presence and relations for Japan as a whole. This helped to keep them active on global terms and impacted them in a positive manner. Another effect modernization resulted in was the transformation of the internal society of Japan. The changes in the society all provided great benefits for Japan.
Following World War II, Japan was occupied by the United States under Douglas MacArthur, and entered a period of rebuilding. The effects of the American occupation are still visible today, most notably in the thriving economy and massive technology sector. Unlike so many other failed investments in other countries, Japan remains America’s greatest success.
Chinese and Japanese economies both make up large areas of the worlds economy; however, there are many differences in these countries with respect to economic development and current economic state. Analysis of Japans and Chinas economic development requires the observation of historical components as well as current actions to stimulate economy. The history of Chinese and Japanese economies holds many similarities and differences. Both Japan and China experienced growth in the 1400's, driving for a more advanced societies, with improved economic policies. However, in Japan the economic advances were more significant, especially when taking into account their trade with European nations in the 1500's, allowing for stimulation of their economy from more outside sources than
Japanese industry and infrastructure, which were virtually destroyed during World War II, were systematically rebuilt to transform the country into a global economic leader by the mid-1960s. Post-World War II, the seven-year U.S. occupation of Japan proved to be a blessing in disguise as the Japanese received $2 billion in aid from the U.S. in the form of food, fertilizers, petroleum products and industrial materials.
Because no nation has come half so far so fast, Japan is envied by capitalists elsewhere and looked upon as an example to emulate. Thirty years ago, its war-shattered economy was little more than one-third the size of Britain's. Today the Japanese G.N.P. exceeds the combined total of Britain and France, and the gap is certain to widen in the years ahead.
In the economic history of contemporary Asia, governments in many countries have played very important role to lead economic developments of their nations. The rapid economic growth of Japan after the Second World War has been widely acknowledged and is dubbed as “the Economic Miracle.” Some theorists attempt to explain this economic phenomenon with Japan’s geography, international involvement, historical experiences and contemporary experiences. Some theorists focus on the role of the state as the major actor to drive and direct economic success. Recently, many studies and concepts have been
Japan ranks as the third largest economy in the world as of 2010. The GDP at current prices in US dollars in Japan was reported at 5068.06 billion in 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Japan’s resurgence after World War II has however reached an inflection point in yearly 1989 after the burst of Japan’s asset price and real estate bubbles. As can be seen from the graph below, Japan’s GDP has hovered around the same level through more than 20 years of economic stagnation. The GDP’s slow growth has been exacerbated by the world financial crisis of 2008. A major landmark of Japan’s stagnation has been the BOJ’s fight against deflation.
Japan enjoyed an Asia’s economic miracle that the world witnessed a country that started out poor and had become the second-largest industrial power during the postwar era. However, a large bubble economy had been irritated by the growth, especially in the stock and asset price markets, the economy suffered a near catastrophic crash caused by speculative mania(Hall and Von Wiesen, 2014). The Japanese economy has stagnated after the collapse of bubble economy. The economic situation has been in a wide deflation. In the last two decades, Japanese government took several measures to solve the deflation problem and spur the economy. There are fiscal expansion, conventional monetary measures, Yen depreciation, bank recapitalisation, Quantitative Easing, and three arrows of Abenomics. But the situation did not change much, the balance sheet of the country shows continuous economic recession.
The second year after the World War II, Japan started embarking on the economy revival. Due to the country was devastated by long term War, the production capacity has been fallen sharply, and also resulted by