Japanese economic development post world war

For more information, please see the full notice. Between andthe U. MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms.

The Japanese regarded this sphere of influence as a political and economic necessity, preventing foreign states from strangling Japan by blocking its access to raw materials and crucial sea-lanes, as Japan possessed very few natural and mining resources of its own, although it imported large amounts of coal from KoreaManchukuoand some regions of occupied China.

Japan's large military force was regarded as essential to the empire's defense. Rapid growth and structural change characterized Japan's two periods of economic development since In the first period, the economy grew only moderately at first and relied heavily on traditional agriculture to finance modern industrial infrastructure.

During World War IJapan used the absence of the war-torn European competitors on the world market to advance its economy, generating a trade surplus for the first time since the isolation in the Edo period. Transportation and communications had developed to sustain heavy industrial development.

Most industrial growth, however, was geared toward expanding the nation's military power. Beginning in with significant land seizures in China, and to a greater extent afterwhen annexations and invasions across Southeast Asia and the Pacific created the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Spherethe Japanese government sought to acquire and develop critical natural resources in order to secure economic independence.

Among the natural resources that Japan seized and developed were: Japan also purchased the rice production of ThailandBurma, and Cochinchina. During the early stages of Japan's expansion, the Japanese economy expanded considerably.

Steel production rose from 6, tonnes to 8, tonnes over the same time period.

JAPAN'S POST-WORLD-WAR II ECONOMY AND THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE OF THE s AND 60s | Facts and Details

In Japanese aircraft industries had the capacity to manufacture 10, aircraft per year. Much of this economic expansion benefited the " zaibatsu ", large industrial conglomerates.

Over the course of the Pacific Warthe economies of Japan and its occupied territories all suffered severely. Inflation was rampant; Japanese heavy industry, forced to devote nearly all its production to meeting military needs, was unable to meet the commercial requirements of Japan which had previously relied on trade with Western countries for their manufactured goods.

Local industries were unable to produce at high enough levels to avoid severe shortfalls. Furthermore, maritime trade, upon which the Empire depended greatly, was sharply curtailed by damage to the Japanese merchant fleet over the course of the war.

By the end of the war, what remained of the Japanese Empire was wracked by shortages, inflation, and currency devaluation. Transport was nearly impossible, and industrial production in Japan's shattered cities ground to a halt.

Milestones: 1945–1952

The destruction wrought by the war eventually brought the Japanese economy to a virtual standstill. Japanese post-war economic miracle The war wiped out many of the gains which Japan had made since The people were shocked by the devastation and swung into action.

New factories were equipped with the best modern machines, giving Japan an initial competitive advantage over the victor states, who now had older factories.

As Japan's second period of economic development began, millions of former soldiers joined a well-disciplined and highly educated work force to rebuild Japan.World War I began on July 28, , and with its start began the development of technology the world was not familiar with.

The first and major contribution of catastrophe to the First World War was the development of the MF-7 and MF- II, which were invented and developed by Henri and Maurice Farman. The economic history of Japan is most studied for the spectacular social and economic growth in the s after the Meiji Restoration, when it became the first non-Western great power, and for its expansion after the Second World War, when Japan recovered from devastation to become the world's second largest economy behind the United States, and from behind China as well.

Chapter 7 World War I and the s: This book contains lectures on the Economic Development of Japan which was delivered in English by the author at the National Graduate Institute for Policy existing academic literature on Japanese economic history, I also added dis-.

The Economic Effect on Japan during Post World War II Essay Words | 7 Pages The Economic Effect on Japan during Post World War II Japan’s economy was greatly affected by the atomic bombs dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. Between and , the U.S. occupying forces, led by General Douglas A.

MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms. The Japanese economic miracle was Japan's record period of economic growth between the post-World War II era to the end of the Cold War. During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the world's second largest economy (after the United States).