Japan

Japan: the basics

• Area– Germany < Japan < California

• Population– 127 million (~ 4 times California’s)– life expectancy: 84 (87 for female)– 24% are 65 or above

• constitutional monarchy

Japan in history

• Oldest continuous monarchy

• feudal rule under shogun (1192 - 1867)

• U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry– forced Japan to open to trade (1853)

• Meiji Restoration (1868)– centralized government under Emperor– industrialization and trade

Japan in World War II

• Invasion and annexation of Northeast China (Manchuria) (1931-1932)

• full-scale aggression in China (1937-1940)

• alliance with Nazi and fascists (1940)

• Pacific War (1941-1945)– every country and colony in East and

Southeast Asia was invaded

The Occupation

• 1945 - 1952

• Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) - General Douglas MacArthur

• Two main tasks:– demilitarization– democratization

Demilitarization

• Purged almost all wartime officers and politicians

• Disbanded almost all militaristic associations and parties

• Prosecuted almost all war criminals– The issue of Yasukuni Shrine

• Dismantled almost all war industries

War Criminals

• Yasukuni Shrine was built in Meiji 2 (1869)

• Japan’s Pacific War criminals have been worshiped in it since 1978

• Strong protests from other Asian countries

The "Peace Clause"

• Article 9 in the 1947 constitution:

• “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes

• “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained”

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

• Economic turning point for Japan:– war supplies to Korea– industrial resurgence– foreign currency

• 1945 - 1950 growth rate: 9.4%

• 1950 - 1955 growth rate: 10.9%

• 1952 Japan’s GDP matched prewar high

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

• Political turning point for Japan

• U.S. started to regard Japan as a vital link in the “arc of containment” against communism

• Demilitarization gave way to reconstituting a military force– Self-Defense Force

U.S. Strategic Change

• General peace treaty in San Francisco in September 1951– China and Soviet Union were excluded– formally ended the Occupation in 1952

• U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty– U.S. troops and military base in Japan

“Arc of Containment”

Japan’s Economic Growth

High Growth of 1955-1962

• Large investment in heavy industry

• Imports of energy and raw materials

• Government’s economic goals:– achieve economic self-sufficiency– achieve full employment– improve export competitiveness– keep domestic demand high

High Growth of 1963-1973

• Government’s “doubling income” plan– Large-scale infrastructure construction

• Labor-intensive to capital-intensive– Technological improvement and facility

modernization under government protection

• Aggressive export strategy– Businesses compete with foreign counterparts

under government protection

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JPY/USD Exchange Rate 1971-2007

Bubble burst

More shocks in 1990s

• Large and rising government deficit and public debt (now more than 200% of GDP)

• Aging population (median age now at 45)

• Banking crises and non-performing loans

• Asian financial crisis (1997-1998)

• “Hollowing out” of industry

• Natural disasters and terrorist attacks

Japan's Top Trade Partners (Total Volume, in trillion yen)

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Suggested Readings

• Japanese Prime Minister’s website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html

• Journals in the UM library:– Japan Echo– Japan Quarterly

• Books and videos in the UM library