Essay on the Economic Development of Japan

Japan is a highly developed first world country and is currently (2019-2020) ranked the third largest economy in the world after China. Japan has gone through major economic success and challenges through the years but its ability to learn, adapt and combine the skills and knowledge acquired has enabled it to always hold and avoid. The paper below looks at the various changes that the Japanese economy underwent from the early 1600s to date. It also looks at the role the political system played in shaping Japan’s economy and how it also changed to adapt to the world order.

In the early 1600s to the mid-1800s Japan’s economy was characterized by gradual economic growth. This was the period during which there was growing urbanization, spread of popular education and rise of the merchant class. However, a huge gap existed between Japan and western powers due to its isolation from the rest of the world. In 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry and a naval unit of the U.S. Navy went to Japan and demanded that Japan open commerce with the West. This resulted in unequal treaties forcing Japan to concede its economic and legal powers to the westerners. However, there were some middle-ranking samurai who were not willing to let this be the fate of the Japan so taking matters into their own hands they overthrew the ruling Shoguns government that could not defend its people from the westerners and in 1868 and set Japan on a new path of change. These new leaders studied and adopted the economic, political ways of the westerners that best suited them which propelled the industrial growth in Japan. The constitution was officiated in 1889 which saw the centralization of power as the accountability parliamentary government was left to the emperor as opposed to the people. During this period a national military was established and a mandatory education system enforced to teach the citizen skills and to foster patriotism to the country.

The period from 1890 to 1930 saw Japan industries grow that is the light export industries like textiles, which were necessary to pay for the raw materials needed from abroad, and also in heavy industries like steel and ship building. More people moved into the factories and offices which resulted in the growth of the cities. The leaders in Japan continued to pursue modernization and equal treaty rights and in 1894 it succeeded in revising the equal rights treaty and regained its parity with the western powers. Japan gained its first colony –Taiwan in 1895 and in 1902 signed a treaty with Great Britain which meant growth in its international status. In 1904-1905, Japan won a war against Russia and this expanded it empire. Japan continuously grew and even allied with the westerners in the World War I, but gain no political or territorial gains which felt like an insult to them. This insult was further perpetuated when Japanese were barred from immigration. 1929 Japan was hit hard by the Great Depression as it was mostly dependent on foreign trade. The impressive economic growth the country had gained started to deteriorate. Social problems were now on a rise and this was mostly felt in the country side as most silk farmers who had planted the crop in hope of exporting it didn’t have a market for it as a result of crash in the silk and stock markets.

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In 1931 Japan was confronted with an accomplishment they could not ignore when the field commanders in Manchuria used a local provocation as an excuse to put all the Japanese territory in Manchuria under control of the military. The military-industrial machine went into high gear, pulling Japan out of its depression as it continued to expand Japanese hegemony across the Far East. As Holland, France, and Germany were enveloped in turmoil in Europe, Japan looked to replace them in Asia. Japanese troops invaded China in 1937 and French Indochina in 1940, setting up puppet governments to administer areas too vast to be controlled by the Japanese armies. The United States was alarmed by the increase in power of the Japanese and gave them an ultimatum of leaving China or steel and oil supplies would be cut off from Japan. But Japan was not having it and it organized a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, where most of the United States troops were and this took the United States a year to recover from which bought Japan time. On recovering the United States started gaining back most of the islands that Japan had colonized. In 1945 United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan one Hiroshima and the other in Nagasaki which left the country devastated and in shambles resulting in its unconditional surrender. Before the Second World War Japan had spent most of its strength trying to gain power through war but in the Second World War Japan was defeated, and everything, they had built, destroyed in the world war. Even though the Japanese had been left in abject poverty and the factories and industries left in waste ruins the country was able to start over.

The United States came to its rescue and led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. Led by General Douglas A. MacArthur they set forth a series of reforms that helped the country get back on its feet and also make it democratic so that the people would never be led into aggression war again. In 1947 a new constitution which transferred the power from the emperor to its people was established and democracy became popularized. The Korean War that happened 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 was a major contributor to the economic development of Japan, as Japan re-established most of its wartime industries with the help of the United States to help the US forces in this war. The war saw the turn of Japan from the economic depression that had crippled the country. In 1952 the occupation ended, and by 1955 Japan had become stable politically and had regained its prowess in production. Through the 1960 to the mid-1980s Japan maintained a stable political system and also an economic growth averaging around 10% every year. Japan now grew to be the third most politically and economically strong country in the world falling behind the United State and the Soviet Union. Its industries such as steel, chemical, and technological continued to boom and face enormous growth. The Japanese enjoyed prosperity and the benefits of a mid-class thriving society.

In 1989, the emperor who had held the country together for the longest era died. 1991 marked the end of the cold war which meant the end of a global geopolitical system that had provided Japan with the shelter it had needed within the American premium. This was followed by lengthy recession two years later. Japan’s was failing, the markets were collapsing, the businesses were plagued by debts and there was hardly any investment into the country. The unemployment rates were high the gross domestic product was declining, industries had minimal output. This condition has plagued Japan over the last two decades and it has never quite fully recovered. In 2015 it had another recession and in 2020 the same happened again due to the effects of coronavirus but has still maintained its position as the third largest economy in the world.

In conclusion, Japan has gone through so many challenges as a country from being the most technologically advance country in the world to becoming a country crippled with debt and high unemployment rates.