How Modern Japan Is Described in Textbooks around the World
(Select a Country to review excerpts)
Europe ……………
Austria,
France,
Germany,
Switzerland,
UK
Asia ……………… China,
India,
Indonesia,
Korea,
Malaysia,
Russia,
Singapore,
Vietnam
North America ……
Mexico,
USA
South America ……
Brazil
ASIA
China
Title:
History II
Pages: 173-174
Publisher: Shanghai Education Publishing House, Shanghai, China, 2004
Excerpt:
Postwar Japan
By the early 1950’s, the Japanese economy had returned to the levels it had enjoyed before WWII. Once into the latter half of the decade, the economy entered into a period of rapid growth, and by the end of 1960’s the country had already become home to the world’s second largest capitalist economy. Since the 1980’s, Japan has continued to function as the world’s second largest economy and has become the world’s largest creditor and, accordingly, holder of foreign currency.
The main reasons for Japan’s economic growth are as follows:
- The advantages provided by the abandonment of militarism in its postwar economy and relatively low expenditure on national defense allowed the nation to establish strategies geared towards economic development on a global scale;
- Economic aid/assistance and military protection by the U.S.;
- The Korean and Vietnam Wars acted as a trigger to Japan’s economic development;
- Improvement in terms of no interruption in economic management;
- Its declaration as a nation of education, science and trade.
The uninterrupted growth of its economic might has resulted in an incredible and daily increase in the country’s independent tendencies. In 1960 the country signed the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security (Note 1), which eliminated the right of the U.S. military stationed in Japan to interfere in domestic affairs. In the early 1970’s, Japan established a policy of multidimensional, independent diplomacy, and, it has effectively ceased to engage in an exclusive devotion to the U.S.
By the 1970’s, Japan’s stature had increased substantially in the world and it was no longer bowing to every U.S. wish. At times economic/trade friction would occur between the two nations. In fact, Japan’s export surplus would continue to rise, and their influx of capital and product dumping were irrepressibly thrust upon the U.S. It got so bad that the U.S. media even went so far as to label their activity as the ‘Pearl Harbor of the 1980’s’. Despite such developments, Japan was forced to support U.S. political interests and depend upon their military protection, in particular nuclear protection. As such, the alliance with the U.S. continues to serve as the axis, core and even cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy.
