The aforementioned demonstrates that Japan's postwar economy had significant inherent growth

potential from the beginning. Its dynamic potential was derived from two fundamental elements: (1) the
technological gap between Japanese and worldwide frontier technologies, and (2) a large agricultural
sector with low productivity. The economy was able to realise this potential as a result of systemic
changes implemented during the war, which also allowed it to experience the rapid growth depicted in
the graph and eventually catch up to the industrial West.

as the summer of 1945 proceeded japan's situation grew steadily grimmer ,by the end of july Japan's
ability to conduct major military operations had all but vanished, and a USA. invasion of the Japanese
mainland appeared to be imminent. While expressing their unwavering determination to fight to the
bitter end on the one hand, and tentatively reaching out to the Soviet Union to act as a peace mediator
on the other, Japanese leaders found themselves in a tough situation.

two separate days in august finally brought imperial japan on its knees with two of its cities obliterated
by bombs with apocalyptic power six days after the bombing of nagasaki japan's radio waves crackled to
life as the everyday men women and children for the first time heard the voice of their emperor as he
announced japan's unconditional surrender the country which had been devastated by bombs food
shortages and a catastrophic loss of life was but a haggard shell of the glorious japan that it once was as
its cities continued to smolder and the japanese people faced the reality that their leader's imperial
dream had not only collapsed but devastated

With USA ships converging on the mainland, it was only a matter of time before the occupation of Japan
began and the final humiliation throttled Japan once and for all. However, what happened next not only
defied expectations but almost certainly exceeded even the wildest of dreams. Japan's spectacular rise
after World War II is one of history's most remarkable reconstruction periods, as a country on the verge
of starvation fought its way back to become the world's third largest economy. The image of the phoenix
rising from the ashes has become a tired and somewhat lazy metaphor,, But, there is nothing more
appropriate in the case hereby than the story of a broken Japan and its astonishing rise after 1945.

When the Japanese surrender was formally signed on September 2, 1945, it marked the end of a conflict
that had seen the country's sphere of influence extend deep into mainland Japan. China and included
korea the philippines indo china malaysia burma today myanmar siam now thailand and countless small
islands in the western pacific but 1942 was the pinnacle for imperial japan and with the doolittle raid in
april the first u.s bombing raid on tokyo the japanese people were given a glimpse of the horrors that
would come

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki signalled the end of a hellish period when Japanese cities were
hit first by precision bombing raids then catastrophic firebombing as the United States switched tactics
and attempted to crush the spirit of the Japanese people. On March 10, 1945, Tokyo was hit by the
single most destructive air raid of the war, an attack that all but destructed 41 square kilometres that's
equivalent to seven times the size of Cairo.

Over the following months, that carnage was shared generously as major and smaller cities were
attacked frequently. primarily focusing on manufacturing and transportation though urban centres also
received plenty of attention as the skies were filled with B-29 bombers. Over 1.3 million children were
evacuated from major cities to stay with family in the countryside, while over 446 000 were relocated to
Buddhist temples, inns, and local families.

The level of destruction that had been handed out only really became clear once the formal surrender
had taken place aboard the missouri and tokyo bay, Between 350 and 500 000 civilians were killed in
the bombing raids on Japan, and the country now faced a 4.2 million unit housing shortage across the
country and over 8.5 million people were homeless. This is before we even talk about food production,
transportation links, ports, airfields, schools, and well ,just about everything else you would expect in a
modern country. Japan had been decimated, and the scale of the rebuild was just difficult to
comprehend,yet the unenviable task of not only rebuilding japan but also instigating radical social and
political reform fell to general douglas macarthur who was given the title of supreme commander for
the allied powers scap during the war an allied plan to divide responsibility for japan between the allied
nations (corruption), the vast majority of politicians linked with the military were removed from office
while a total of 28 found themselves at the second war crimes tribunal after world war ii which began in
tokyo on the 29th of april 1946. seven were hanged for their roles in the conflict 16 were given life
sentences two died while standing trial and one was deemed mentally unfit for trial but one man who
escaped punishment was emperor hirohito now this was a highly contentious and very sensitive debate
many in the u.s administration and indeed many around the world felt that the emperor of japan
needed to answer for what his country had done president truman left the decision to general
macarthur and after careful consideration he decided against placing hirajito on trial and instead settled
for a reduction in role to little more than a symbolic figurehead whether you agree with that decision or
not an emperor in japan is seen as a god and the effect of witnessing him being put on trial and perhaps
even executed would have been psychologically harrowing for the japanese people .

a country teetering on the brink of starvation, average adult daily calorical consumption fell to just 1042
about 65% of the minimum caloric intake for a healthy adult ,the heavily populated cities fared worse
with rations often delivered sporadically those living in tokyo received only 70 of their allocated rations
meaning that for six months in 1946 adults in tokyo were surviving on just 775 calories per day to really
put that in perspective the average healthy adult today consumes around 2400 calories per day .

the Japanese cotton industry was brought to its knees by the end of the Second World War. Two-thirds
of its prewar cotton spindles were scrapped by wartime administrators, and bombing and destruction of
urban areas had caused a further loss of 20 percent of spinning and 14 percent of weaving capacity, who
could have predicted all of that land reform was a key early element as the u.s sought to break up the
traditional stranglehold held by wealthy landowners between 1947 and 1949 approximately 23 000
square kilometers that's just shy of 9 000 square miles of land 38 of japan's cultivated land was
purchased from landlords and resold at incredibly low prices to the farmers who actually told on the
land during this period three million farmers acquired land through this system that radically altered
japan's social structure large financial cliques known as the zaibatsu which had monopolized many
industries some for centuries were also broken up though this based earned opposition from the
wealthy and influential japanese who suddenly began to see their privileged livelihoods come crashing
down electric utilities were privatized into nine privately owned government granted monopolies in
1951 and this was joined by sweeping change in trade unions labor laws and education in which the
country implemented a more u.s style high school system, but key to it all was the much-loved u.s
cornerstone of democracy on the 10th of april 1946 an election that saw a 78.52 turnout among men
and a 66.97 turnout among women was held and from it emerged japan's first modern prime minister
shigeru yashida a year later the new constitution of japan was formally ratified on the 3rd of may 1947
which essentially outlawed war as a means to settle international disputes involving Japan (this soon
became a somewhat fluid concept because while the u.s certainly didn't want to see a fully militarized
japan anytime soon they also didn't want it to become an open door invitation to the expanding
communist tied to the east as a result japan set up its self-defense force in 1954 a military force
mandated with defending japan and assisting with internal issues and environmental disasters).

Japan’s focus was on manufacturing with major investments made in electric power coal steel and
chemicals this focus combined with an excellent education system with the highest literacy rates in the
world by the way and a work ethic that bordered on the sadistic led to some of the most astonishing
periods of growth ever seen around the world by the mid-1950s production had surpassed pre-war
levels and between 1953 and 1965 gdp grew by more than 9 per year with manufacturing and mining
increasing by 13 percent construction by 11 percent in infrastructure by 12 percent ,They suddenly
found out that not having to scythe enough the majority for an absurd war effort was working out
rather well .

japan's rise at this point is best described as meteoric and has come to be known as the japanese
economic miracle the hugely ambitious income doubling plan instigated in 1960 aimed to double the
size of the nation's economy in just 10 years with tax breaks targeted investment an expanded social
safety net and incentives to increase exports and industrial development quite astonishingly it took
them just seven years in which the economy grew by more than 10 percent every year and saw japan
establish itself as one of the first developed nations in asia then no doubt this won't come as a great
surprise but japan's early focus was on providing high quality mechanical equipment that eventually
gave way to the computer age the average monthly consumption of urban family households doubled
from 1955 to 1970 with much of this down to an increase in leisure goods while things spread to the
countryside at a slower rate they were by no means left out and with new agricultural machinery
appearing along with improved strains of crops farmers began to reap the benefits of a quickly growing
population that suddenly had lots of money to spare in 1965 japan's nominal gdp was estimated at
roughly 91 billion but just 15 years later in 1980 the country had smashed through the trillion dollar
mark to hit 1.065 trillion dollars the devastation that had been meted out to japan's manufacturing
sector during the war in a rather bizarre way proved to be a good thing because once rebuilt with plenty
of shiny new machinery from america to begin with it was able to easily outperform other countries the
japanese took american ideas of productivity and business organization and made them their own soon
they were producing goods that were superior to anything you could get in the united states or western
europe population control which had loosely been in place since 1948 as a way of combating food
shortages was lifted and a nation that numbered 77 million in 1945 nearly doubled to 127 million over
the next 50 years this period also saw large-scale migration as millions left the countryside for work in
the cities in response to significant labor shortages when the economy began to skyrocket during the
meiji period in japan from 1868 to 1912 around 85 percent of the japanese population lived in rural
locations a figure that fell to 50 by 1945 however by 1970 less than 20 percent of the japanese people
remained in the countryside as the country's cities swelled with new arrivals at this point one in every
nine japanese citizens was living in tokyo as the city's population moved past the 23 million mark but in
an interesting twist 1970 also saw the point at which the average farm household income surpassed its
urban equivalent things what would a bit thanks to the oil crisis of 1973 but japan proved itself resilient
and weathered the storm significantly better than most by the end of the 1980s the country that had
been bombed into oblivion just 35 years before was now the third largest economy in the world behind
the us and the soviet union if the country had dragged itself from the pit of despair after world war ii it
now stood proudly among the most developed countries on earth what happened in japan between the
end of world war ii and 1990 was nothing short of spectacular the final decade of the 20th century saw
the country's economic gro wth slow significantly and it has never been able to match the heady days of
the 1950s and 1960s the japanese people really have to be commended at this point yes there were
plenty of very sensible economic decisions made and certainly the large leg up given by the united states
after the war really helped but a population that put in plenty of hard work fostered education social
care and just plain determination to rebuild their broken country was the real reason japan was able to
succeed so quickly perhaps it's easier to begin from scratch but in the decades following the war the
japanese people placed the reconstruction of japan over self-interest this was an area that had been
traditionally strong for many years but their drive reached levels that are difficult to imagine in other
developed countries especially in the 21st century in just 35 years japan went from being a crushed
hungry country with little to no remaining industry and cities lying in rubble to the very pinnacle of
global development a success story of astonishing vision and growth that may never be matched.