The Japanese Miracle

In what’s been coined, “the Japanese Miracle,” the nation of Japan catapulted from a war-torn and defeated country to a world economic power, relatively overnight in the context of the historical rise and fall from power. The American occupation of Japan started on 2 September 1945 and lasted through April 1952; VJ day, or “Victory over Japan Day” (History.com_staff, 2009), was September 2nd, 1945. Lasting about 7 years, and unlike the European occupations managed exclusively by the United States, the United States was surprised by this abrupt rise of strength by Japan and the other defeated nations. The Japanese economy was helped significantly by the United States protection designing its constitution to prohibit rearmament and allowing Japan to save significant expenditures as opposed to if they were militarily on their own. The nation of Japan was aided in their rise as an economic power by the United States concerns over protecting the democratic way of life by stemming the spread communism in Asia and in Japan, and denying other world powers such as the Soviet Union and the Republic of China access to Japan’s resources. Finally, partnering with the US and introducing post-war policies protecting the nation of Japan and its ability to obtain natural resources allowed Japan to protect their industries and markets, stimulating the Japanese economy such that they were able to quickly surpass other world powers that were rebuilding their economies more slowly and quickly become a global economic power.
Prior to the onset of Japan’s declaration of war against the United States in December of 1941, the Japanese economy had been operating efficiently for at least 10 years. The second Sino-Japanese war, “a military conflict fou...

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...of the United States, Japan made the transition from staggering out of postwar recovery into tremendous high-speed growth. “By 1960 Japan's economy was growing at a rate of about 10 percent per year, and many of its manufactured goods were highly competitive abroad.” (Forsberg, 2000) The Japanese economy was helped significantly by the United States protection to save significant defense expenditures; build trading relationship with Western nations, and the design and enforcement of a number of capitalist policies and practices. Motivated by concerns over stemming the spread communism in Asia and in Japan, and denying other world powers such as the Soviet Union and the Republic of China access to Japan’s resources, the United States stayed focused on Japan’s quick economic recovery, enabling that nation to quickly surpass to rest of the world in economic growth.