Rise of Modern Japan

[Kurt Hansen]

Its too easy to talk about WWII Japan. What I find interesting is how quickly Japan studied and implemented Western ways. For a country so steeped in tradion, it moved relatively quickly to take on wester wear, technology and ideas. I'm sure many Japanese found this transition distasteful, but it allowed Japan to move up the "Asian Food Chain" and become the technological, martial and modern leader of all it's asian neighbors. Once Japan realized how sophisticated western ways were, they did everything in their power to discover them and use them for their own benefit. We think of Japan as a country rising from the ashes of WWII, but in reality they had always been trying to compete with America and Europe. Once Japan became a world power pre-WWII, they felt the need to protect themselves in the worst way possible: The invasion of China and Korea. I try to think of what Japan would be today without the devistation of WWII or the missteps into Korea and China. What would the level of Japanese technology be today without the poor leadership that led them to WWII? What new innovation could have been created if their young men had remained in college instead of killing themselves in their Zeros? One huge fauxpaux that led to the devastation of a country.