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Socio-economic impact of industrial revolution
Japan's Post-World War II Economy
The industrial revolution economic impact
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1. Introduction
Japan has very significant characteristics in terms of their economic power either in the Asia- Pacific region or around the world. After World War II the Japanese economy was deeply affected by shortages, inflation, and currency devaluation means that Japanese economy was bankrupt position. Therefore, Japan passed under the control of US in the post- Second World War period. From this point, economic transformation or recovery or development has started in Japan with the impacts of US and Japanese governments. Besides this economic aid, US also guided Japan in democratization and demilitarization whereas Japanese government had direct role dealing with those developments different from what happened in Germany at that time. What it means that is Japanese government had played interventionist role into economy. On the other hand, one of the significant reasons of why US needed to help former enemy is the fact that after the WWII was the beginning of the Cold War and Russian presence was in the region. That’s why US made their contribution in order to revive Japan.
Economic recovery of Japan after Second World War can be divided into periods. As Kenichi Ohno states that 1945-1947 recovery period, Korean War in between 1950-1953, after this war Japanese economy had entered into high growth period and it basically lasted until 1970s. Throughout those years Japanese government attempted to achieve economic development with the implementing economic control and economic planning. At the second part of my research I will mention about economic development in order to have general framework what policies were implemented.
We cannot think that there would not become social outputs of economic development. Economic i...
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...is part is the most prominent part of my paper and I will try to demonstrate how post-war economic development affects Japanese society with some examples in some cases. In order to have an idea about social impacts, I tried to explain and analyze economic development process after WW2 in Japan in the second part. Afterwards I will deal with its social consequences in this part. As I tried to mention in the introduction, social transformation is not linear. It has ups and downs or positive and negative impacts over society. If Japan has economically been developed Japanese society has not benefitted from development right rate. While some Japans have been living in prosperity, the others were suffering on the other way. Especially in 1960s, people were enjoyed with this economic development, but upcoming years the system created its own victims in Japanese society.
The United States became a major threat to Japan. Many people believe the Japanese were successful in their attack. But, the result of the attack did not enable Japan to expand into the Pacific. It did not result in the acquisition of more natural resources.
The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market, mostly pointed at China. To put an end on that the United States put economic sanctions and trade embargoes. We believed that if we cut off their resources and their source of federal income than they would have no choice but to pull back and surrender. But the
After World War 1 Japan had a hard time adjusting to the new world. “While its economy was still primarily agricultural, rapid population growth (to over 80 million) had diminished the amount of land suitable for farming. Many people lived in small houses, lacking running water. In a nation about the size of California, only one of every six acres was farmland. This put great pressure on Japanese government to find more space and land for its people.” (America Enters World War II page 12). Japan attempted to change its agricultural-based economic system to an industrial based system. “But the international system of trade barriers and tariffs, established by the United States and other industrial powers to protect domestic manufacturing, hindered Japan’s industrial expansion.” (America Enters World War II page 13). Many of the materials Japan needed were found in neighboring countries that were controlled by European powers. Japan began to question it’s right to Asian markets and raw materials. “J...
In July, year 1939; after Japan seized the Southern Indo- China, congressional support was being found by President Roosevelt to revoke the treaty of navigation and commerce of 1911, hence releasing him to give rise to trade limitations. The government of Japan was astonished by this move. The soft liners like Kichisaburo Nomura the Foreign Affairs Minister; proposed to change preexisting strategy towards China. So it can be derived that at least America had partially attained its objective. Faced with the moderate attitude of the cabinet of Prince Konoe, the Washington hard liners; like special adviser Stanley Hornbeck, yet found Japan doubtful. He had an obsessive dislike towards Japan, and advised Roosevelt to give rise to an embargo. Hence, Japan, discerned that America will no longer be a stable oil origin, it strived to rely less on America. Also that was the occasion when Blitzkrieg of Germany had stroked a huge success. So in the month of September, year 1940; the Tripartite Pact was being signed by Japan with Italy and Germany, considered to be the insurance against the intervention of America in the European warfare, since this would prompt Japan’s announcing war on America, propelling the America into war on two battlefields. Japan also anticipated the Pact can avert US from encouraging China (Davenport,
WriteWork contributors. "The impact of World War 1 on Japanese development in the early 20th century" WriteWork.com. WriteWork.com, 05 January, 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Japan had always been an ally of the United States. Japan tried to collect their share of treasure from Versailles. Japan ran into some troubles, Woodrow Wilson. Wilson rejected Japan’s claim to German concessions in Shantung. Duan Qirui, a Chinese warlord and politician had borrowed money from Japan to make China’s army stronger. Japan used that loan and wanted it to be repaid by getting the concessions in Shantung. In 1921, at the Naval Conference the US pressured the Britain’s to end their 20 year alliance with the Japanese. Japan was now isolated, Stalin’s unhappy empire to the north, t...
...ty for one that better suited its capitalistic tendency. That opportunity came in1868 when the Meiji imperial rule was able to overthrow the Tokugawa regime, setting off a political, economic, social and cultural change that transformed Japan. As Japan embraced modernity with full force, some began to realize the negative impact of modernization on the rural life, social structure and most importantly on its culture, blaming it on the western influence on its modernization. Thus as Japan neared World War II, it embraced a new sense of modernization, one that was separate from westernization, creating a nationalistic and fascist government policy. Japanese society is characteristic of plurality and opposing value systems coexisting. As new ideals and institutions arise, Japan sees itself transforming and changing at the hands of internal and external forces.
The Japanese empire was an inspirational country to other Asians that spearheaded the fight against the European imperialism. After the Meiji restoration, emperors decided that the modernization of Japan was going to begin and in order for it to be a success, the government
In conclusion, I tried to explain what experienced in Japan during the first years of rapid economic growth in terms of its social consequences. According to my argument, I tried to show imbalances which occurred with economic development in post- war Japan. In other words, economic development cannot appear as linear social development. Post- war Japan has witnessed positive and negative social consequences after implementing economic recovery. Therefore, we can say that society cannot always embrace economic development positively. Economic transformation brings its own waves and thus society fluctuates regarding its embracement. Japanese society received its share with this economic recovery during post- war period.
The early modernization and industrialization of Japan through the Meiji period in the 1860s allowed rapid development of a prosperous Japanese society. The samurai tradition was widely respected and a natural development was the growth in power of the military. By 1894 Japan’s fear of Western influences and its desire to be recognized as a world power led to the Sino-Japanese War in which Japan invaded China. Victories there gave Japan new confidence and in 1904 and 1905, the government engaged in the Russo-Japanese War giving Japan new strength in mainland Asian positions. The twentieth century was a century of tremendous worldwide social, economic, and political change. The development of media technology impacted nations, reducing the differences between cultures. Japan, by then, one of the leading industrial states of the 21st century, was highly influential in Eastern Asia and throughout the world. The infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour in December, 1941 revealed a Japan feeling empowered enough to attack the United States of America.
So, if Japan does not “belong” to Asia, does it belong to some other amorphous collection of nations, namely Europe or the West? Certainly in the modern post-WWII era Japan has seen phenomenal economic growth, even to the point of threatening the US as the primary global economic power during the height of the “bubble economy.” Some credit this success to the changes implemented during the US occupation. Undoubtedly without US assistan...
Moreover, the context in which this book was written demonstrates that Japan is going through the financial affluence as well as the greatest boom since it is during the postwar period, much of the financial affluence had been caused by the consumerism in Japan. The author seem to be biased on this theme, despite the benefits consumerism has had on Japan, Yoshimoto goes ahead to give it a negative
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.
The American military occupation of Japan was the driving reason for all of the changes in postwar Japan. Its first task, determined even before the surrender was to disarm Japan and to remove the wartime leaders from their influential government positions. This was part of America’s plan to demilitarize and democratize. The goal was to purge the government, media, and education system of war criminals. Once this was accomplished, the American focus shifted to reform. The American plan for reform was based on the idea that Japanese aggression had developed because of fundamental faults in the government, (not, as the Japanese said, from a temporary deviation from the course set during the Meiji period) and that these faults had to be corrected before Japan could ever become a respected member of the developed world. Democratization was what America wanted.
O'Bryan, Scott. 2009. Growth Idea : Purpose and Prosperity in Postwar Japan. University of Hawaii Press, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed December 4, 2011).