Postwar Japan
Postwar Japan is the period in Japanese history beginning with the surrender of Japan to the Allies of World War II on 2 September 1945, and lasting at least until the end of the Shōwa era in 1989.
Despite the massive devastation it suffered in the Second World War, Japan established itself as a global economic power at peace with the world after the Allied-occupation ended on 28 April 1952 by the Treaty of San Francisco. In terms of political power it was more reluctant, especially in the nonuse of military force. The post-war constitution of 1947 included Article 9, which restricted Japan from having a military force and engaging in war. However, it has operated military forces in the stationing of the United States Forces Japan based on the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty after the Allied occupation and the form of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces since 1954.
Politics
The Allied occupation ended on 28 April 1952, when the terms of the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect. By the terms of the treaty, Japan regained its sovereignty, but lost many of its possessions from before World War II, including Korea, Taiwan and Sakhalin. It also lost control over a number of small islands in the Pacific which it administered as League of Nations Mandates, such as the Marianas and the Marshalls. The new treaty also gave Japan the freedom to engage in international defence blocs. Japan did this on the same day it signed the San Francisco Treaty: the U.S. insisted, and Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida agreed, to a treaty that allowed the American military to continue their use of bases in Japan.Even before Japan regained full sovereignty, the government had rehabilitated nearly 80,000 people who had been purged, many of whom returned to their former political and government positions. A debate over limitations on military spending and the sovereignty of the emperor ensued, contributing to the great reduction in the Liberal Party's majority in the first post-occupation elections. After several reorganizations of the armed forces, in 1954 the Self-Defense Forces were established under a civilian director. Cold War realities and the hot war in nearby Korea also contributed significantly to the United States-influenced economic redevelopment, the containment of the Soviet Union and Communist China, and the support for organized labor in Japan.
Continual fragmentation of parties and a succession of minority governments led conservative forces to merge the Liberal Party with the Japan Democratic Party, an offshoot of the earlier Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democratic Party in November 1955. This party continuously held power from 1955 through 1993, when it was replaced by a new minority government. LDP leadership was drawn from the elite who had seen Japan through the defeat and occupation; it attracted former bureaucrats, local politicians, businessmen, journalists, other professionals, farmers, and university graduates. In October 1955, socialist groups reunited under the Japan Socialist Party, which emerged as the second most powerful political force. It was followed closely in popularity by the Kōmeitō, founded in 1964 as the political arm of the Soka Gakkai, a lay former organization of the Buddhist sect Nichiren Shoshu. The Komeito emphasized traditional Japanese beliefs and attracted urban laborers, former rural residents, and many women. Like the Japan Socialist Party, it favoured the gradual modification and dissolution of the Japan-United States Mutual Security Assistance Pact.
By the late 1970s, the Komeito and the Democratic Socialist Party had come to accept the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, and the Democratic Socialist Party even came to support a small defense buildup. The Japan Socialist Party, too, was forced to abandon its once strict antimilitary stance. The United States kept up pressure on Japan to increase its defense spending above 1% of its GNP, engendering much debate in the Diet, with most opposition coming not from minority parties or public opinion but from budget-conscious officials in the Ministry of Finance.
Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was forced to resign in 1974 because of his alleged connection to financial scandals and, in the face of charges of involvement in the Lockheed bribery scandal, he was arrested and jailed briefly in 1976.
The fractious politics of the LDP hindered consensus in the Diet in the late 1970s. The sudden death of Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira just before the June 1980 elections, however, brought out a sympathy vote for the party and gave the new prime minister, Zenko Suzuki, a working majority. Suzuki was soon swept up in a controversy over the publication of a textbook that appeared to many as a whitewash of Japanese aggression in World War II. This incident, and serious fiscal problems, caused the Suzuki cabinet, composed of numerous LDP factions, to fall.
Yasuhiro Nakasone, a conservative backed by the still-powerful Tanaka and Suzuki factions who once served as director general of the Defense Agency, became prime minister in November 1982. In November 1984, Nakasone was chosen for a second term as LDP president. His cabinet received an unusually high rating, a 50% favorable response in polling during his first term, while opposition parties reached a new low in popular support. As he moved into his second term, Nakasone thus held a strong position in the Diet and the nation.
Despite being found guilty of bribery in 1983, Tanaka in the early-to-mid-1980s remained a power behind the scenes through his control of the party's informal apparatus, and he continued as an influential adviser to the more internationally minded Nakasone. The end of Nakasone's tenure as prime minister in October 1987 was a momentous point in modern Japanese history. Just fifteen months
before Nakasone's retirement, the LDP unexpectedly had won its largest majority ever in the House of Representatives by securing 304 out of the 512 seats. The government was faced with growing crises. Land prices were rapidly increasing due to the Japanese asset price bubble, inflation increased at the highest rate since 1975, unemployment reached a record high at 3.2%, bankruptcies were rife, and there was political rancor over LDP-proposed tax reform. In the summer of 1987, economic indicators showed signs of recovery, but on October 20, 1987, the same day Nakasone officially named his successor, Noboru Takeshita, the Tokyo Stock Market crashed. Japan's economy and its political system had reached a watershed in their postwar development that would continue to play out into the 1990s.
Economy
The early post-war years were devoted to rebuilding lost industrial capacity: major investments were made in electric power, coal, steel, and chemicals. By the mid-1950s, production matched prewar levels. Released from the demands of military-dominated government, the economy not only recovered its lost momentum but also surpassed the growth rates of earlier periods. Between 1953 and 1965, GDP expanded by more than 9% per year, manufacturing and mining by 13%, construction by 11%, and infrastructure by 12%. In 1965 these sectors employed more than 41% of the labor force, whereas only 26% remained in agriculture.Japan's highly acclaimed post-war education system contributed strongly to the modernizing process. The world's highest literacy rate and high education standards were major reasons for Japan's success in achieving a technologically advanced economy. Japanese schools also encouraged discipline, another benefit in forming an effective work force.
The mid-1960s ushered in a new type of industrial development as the economy opened itself to international competition in some industries and developed heavy and chemical manufactures. Whereas textiles and light manufactures maintained their profitability internationally, other products, such as automobiles, electronics, ships, and machine tools assumed new importance. The value added to manufacturing and mining grew at the rate of 17% per year between 1965 and 1970. Growth rates moderated to about 8% and evened out between the industrial and service sectors between 1970 and 1973, as retail trade, finance, real estate, information technology, and other service industries streamlined their operations.
The LDP government, through institutions such as Ministry of International Trade and Industry, encouraged Japanese industrial development overseas while restricting foreign companies' business within the country. These practices, coupled with a reliance on the United States for defense, allowed Japan's economy to increase exponentially during the Cold War. By 1980, many Japanese products, particularly automobiles and electronics, were being exported around the world, and Japan's industrial sector was the second-largest in the world after the U.S. This growth pattern stagnated after 1991.
The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo marked the re-emergence of Japan in the international arena: Japan's postwar development was showcased through innovations such as the Shinkansen high-speed rail network. In 1968, the first modern office skyscraper called the Kasumigaseki Building was built in Japan. It has 36 floors and is 156 meters high.
The high economic growth and political tranquillity of the mid-to-late 1960s were tempered by the quadrupling of oil prices by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1973. Almost completely dependent on imports for petroleum, Japan experienced its first recession since World War II.
Labor unions had been destroyed by the government by 1940. The American occupation forces, reflecting their New Deal American values, supported a revival. Communist unions were included, although a proposed nationwide general strike was forbidden in 1947. After 1970, union membership declined in both Japan and the United States. According to Wythe Holt, in both countries workers had adopted consumer lifestyle and have gained the education needed to move out of blue collar jobs. Furthermore, there has been frustration with the top-down, bureaucratic management by union leaders who seem to show little interest in the aspirations of the workers.