20th century Japan

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

It's amazes me how Japan was so quickly able to rise up from its ashes (literally, in more ways than one in Nagasaki and Hiroshima) after its crushing defeat in the Second World War. Of course, much of the help for it to recover came from the United States. Despite what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor and to other US allies (Philippines included) in WWII, the US did not hesitate to help Japan rise from the ashes of war. Japan made use of the reparations it obtained from the US quite wisely. In exchange for all this help, Japan's constitution had to be rewritten so as to remove its imperial armed force and replace it with a self-defense force. The emergence of Japan as an economic power minus its erstwhile imperialistic goals gives political advantage to the US, considering the strategic location of Japan. There's no doubt that Japan has made good use of US resources to spur its economic growth and attain economic development. I think the US had this political vision in Japan when it decided to help Japan recover from the ravages of WWII. I'm not therefore surprise when I heard a statement from a Japanese tourist who visited the Philippines about 15 years ago. He said when I asked why do most Japanese spend their money as easy as they earned it. "What's wrong with spending the money you earned for the day for luxury and comfort? You'll earn it again the next day, anyway." Is the statement part of economic development Clay articulated on in our Dec. 12 session?

[Anonymous]

once an economic superpower Japan is now taking a u-turn.The main reason is the emerging economy of "Dragon" & Korea.Also the growing economies of India ,Taiwan etc have also made the substantial impact on japan.Japan showed a growth rate of 10% till 80,s but i feel it is the crash of Tokyo stock exchange in 1989 which gave such a set back to japanese economy from where it has never recovered.

[Anonymous]

It does seem that Japan is more amenable to adapting quickly, as Professor Dube noted in his presentation on the major societal changes that took place as the Tokugawa regime fell to the Meiji Restoration; and the US was responsible for "helping" in the re-writing of the constitution after World War II. One of the key points of the constitution was the spending on defense and/or military. Article 9 of the constitution disallows the existence of offensive military forces.

Japan presently spends only about 1% of its GDP on defense. In comparison North Korea's defense expenditures are estimated to be 27% of GDP, and China 4%. This coupled with the close cooperation between corporations and government and its focus on high technology has given Japan an opportunity to invest in an excellent niche in the global economy. It does mean that the U.S. feels it must remain highly involved in defense issues in the region.

For a direct link to an informative website on Japan at the Library of Congress go to

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html#jp0035

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