A New Place in the World

Vibrant Tokyo

How did Japan rise with optimism and resilience from the ashes of World War II?  How did a demoralized, devastated nation transform itself into a stable democracy and an economic powerhouse within a mere three-decade span?  The answer is very complex, of course, so I will try to distill it into a few key factors.   

But first, some historical context...

After the arrival of U.S. Admiral Matthew Perry and his eight "black ships" in Edo Harbor in 1853, Japan reluctantly opened to the West.  Unequal trade agreements were signed with the U.S. and Britain, and rule by the Emperor was reborn when his supporters upended the 200-year-old  Tokugawa Shogunate dictatorship.  A massive industrialization, modernization effort quickly followed whereby Japan strove to catch up with the "enlightened" western world. 

In an effort to become an imperial power in the East, and fresh from victory in the Russo-Japanese war, the country's leaders set out to create an entirely "New East Asia" with Japan as the colonial power.   In 1910 it began with Japan's annexation of Korea.  The Japanese invaders outlawed the Korean language and history, destroyed documents and cultural treasures, and forced many farmers and business owners to turn over their property for use by the Imperial government and its military.   To become a colonial power in Asia, the Emperor and his advisers eventually instituted a policy of "total war." Japanese subjects were expected to follow this "New Military Order" with happy faces and unquestioning minds.  Overwhelmingly they did.   Dutifully they took up arms, filled new intellectual, industrial, and military posts, and honored their Emperor as a god.

In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, followed by a full-scale invasion of China where atrocities were committed on an unspeakable scale.  (So unspeakable, in fact, that the Japanese government has yet to acknowledge them.)   Japanese papers at the time reported competitions amongst junior officers to kill the most Chinese.  Eye witnesses, including historians, missionaries and western charity workers, estimated that between 250,000 and 300,000 men, women and children were massacred.   Read "The Nanking Incident" to learn how the Yasukuni Shrine's war museum in Tokyo describes the Rape of Nanking today. (It doesn't.) 

Then Japan grossly underestimated the strength and determination of the U.S. to defend its interests in the Pacific when it attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, leading to full-scale war.  The U.S. demanded unconditional surrender.   By the end of World War II, with three million Japanese causalities and countless others injured and sick, most people still clung to faith in the rightness of their Emperor.

We shall die in the sea,

We shall die in the mountains.

In whatever way, we shall all die by the Emperor, 
Never turning back.

-Otomo yo Yakamochi

Many Japanese cities suffered terrible destruction from aerial firebombing, some as much as 97% destroyed.  To spare more U.S. lives and institute "psychological shock," President Truman approved the use of atomic bombs.  As they fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the awful power of nuclear weapons was felt for the first-- and hopefully final-- time in history.   In August 1945 the Japanese people also heard the voice of their Emperor for the first time in history when the radio broadcast his surrender speech to the nation.  No longer a god, he spoke as a sage, explaining that the war "did not turn in Japan's favor, and trends of the world were not advantageous to us."   

Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Asia "had been savaged", assured his subjects that despite suffering as victims of western aggression, they would  rise again to greatness with fresh determination.   People were admonished to "endure the unendurable and bear the unbearable."   Despite having his own "vital organs are torn asunder" in grief over Japan's losses, he promised to "always be with" his invincible "divine country." He assured the people that Japan had never intended to interfere with the sovereignty of other nations; they had merely wanted to liberate East Asia and protect themselves from aggressors.  Japan would graciously end the fighting in order to save humanity from annihilation by atomic weapons. He would personally "open the way for a great peace for thousands of generations to come." Listeners wept in utter disbelief that the glorious victory promised through the selfless sacrifices of a "hundred million" souls, had ended in unconditional surrender.  Many felt shame for having disappointed their Emperor.

General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito

As the stupefied subjects overcame their shock and grief, they awoke to a whole new reality: U.S. military occupation.   Despite fearing that the occupiers would ravage their land and rape their women, the people obediently submitted.  Consumed with the daily struggle for sustenance, most were simply too demoralized and exhausted to go beyond survival.  General Douglas MacArthur and the U.S. military moved in swiftly, determined to convert the people from subjects to citizens under a new constitution with a "rehabilitated emperor" playing a symbolic role in this new democracy.  With the cooperation of some long-established bureaucracies, and with MacArthur as a new "dictator",  massive reconstruction efforts began.

"Give me chocolate!"cried the schoolchildren, September, 1945

The U.S. rode mightily into Japan, brimming with self-confidence, pride, and the intent to institute a  re-education program to change Japanese hearts and minds.  Back in the U.S. attitudes needed adjustment too.   New media propaganda programs were under way to rehabilitate the image of the Japanese from "monkey-men" to individuals capable of intelligent self-governance.  Likewise, the elite in Japan needed to change their views of the common people.  Historically the lower classes were viewed as incapable of more than playing "follow-the-leader."   Now they were to become actual participates in a new democratic system.  The Occupation forces set out to demonstrate that the material wealth the West possessed--and that the Japanese so envied--went hand-in-hand with democracy.  To do this, they introduced a whole new curriculum in the schools, censored the media, and ordered GIs to deliver food, sweets, chewing gum, cigarettes and smiles from their jeeps. 

Mitsubishi 500, 1960

Under the Meiji restoration that began in 1868, "opening to the West" had involved gaining wealth through state power.  The people did not possess freedom of speech or the press, or other fundamental human liberties.  Ruling elites enjoyed power and prosperity built upon the backs of the poor.    The U.S. Occupation had to liberate the poor from oppression by the old zaibatsu--the massive financial and industrial oligopolies that dominated Japan throughout the Meiji restoration:  Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Yasuda.  In reality, with their wealth and power, the zaibatsu weathered defeat and reconstruction with great resilience.  However, the Occupation forced the conservative, ruling zaibatsu to institute progressive reforms that they otherwise would not have undertaken.  

Unlike the wealthy, the masses survived by their wits without factories for jobs, tools or seed for fields, and rapidly-spiraling inflation.   Many succumbed to a psychic despair called kyodatsu but others immediately experienced great feelings of joy and liberation.   Critics accused the masses of continuing to act as an "obedient herd," blindly switching allegiance from Hirohito to MacArthur.  To foster a smooth, comforting transition from militarism to democracy, wartime rhetoric and key words were revamped with new meanings, e.g. brightness, light, happiness, and newness.   And images were given new meanings as well.  For example, the symbolic red sun remained but the rising red sun was outlawed.  To the extent that old folkways and values did not hinder reforms, they too were promoted:  diligence, industriousness, filial piety, respect for elders, harmonious living, and so forth.  Phrases "Construct a Nation of Peace" and "Construct a Nation of Culture" utilized wartime slogans but with a focus on building a new democracy.  Anti-militaristic, democratic, and human-rights principles were promoted via the new media, new schools, new labor organizations, new literature, new government, new science, new fashion, new everything.  The whirlwind movement toward progress fed upon itself as Japan sought an entirely new place in the world. 

Pure-Silver 10,000 Yen Coin to Celebrate the 60th Year of Hirohito's Reign.

Due to the Cold War, the U.S. changed its attitude toward Japan's old establishment.  Individuals once closely associated with the lost war were welcomed  to take leading roles in the economy.  And with the growing threat of communism, re-militarization of Japan gained appeal amongst the Occupiers.  But to most war-weary Japanese, re-militarization looked like a very dangerous plan!  However, with the economy in chaos, not much energy existed for resistance.  It was actually the Koren War that quickened the pace of economic reconstruction in Japan.  As industries cranked out war materials and supplied United Nations forces with necessary goods, the economy swung into recovery-mode.   Due to incredible innovation and hard work, within thirty years, the nation moved from producing little tin and porcelain nick-knacks to making the best-engineered automobilies and technological devices in the world.  At long last, workers achieved the goal of "living the American dream"--in Japanese style.