Japan's Postwar Economy

[Hatsumomo]

Sorry to be asking for educational help on here, but I'm a little stuck on one of my essay questions on my history final exam study guide:

"The postwar Japanese economic development has been considered a "miracle" by the world. Discuss Japan's postwar economy and explain why Japan had such a successful development and whether the development was related to the American occupation of Japan."


The textbook and Wikipedia have given me some items I can use, but I have to put this into a 4-5 paragraph essay.

Any help would be excellent. Thanks!

[jindojim]

This is an excerpt from my Japanese modern history final:

With the devastating atomic bombings and their unconditional surrender to the Americans, Japan once again faced a situation quite similar to Commadore Perry’s forced opening of Japan’s ports in the beginning of the Meiji period, where Japan once again had to revert to the mentality that they were not the center of the world. With the revision of the Japanese Constitution, the Emperor was removed as the head of the Japanese society, and Japan became more democratic. Additionally, being semi-colonized by American forces proved a devestating blow to Japan’s ego. Yet, while disenfranchised with their loss, Japan nevertheless worked diligently to recover after the War, and Japan had at least returned to the transwar society by the 1950s. American influence proved beneficial to restarting the Japanese economy as well, and the need for supplies during the Korean War acted as a catalyst for economic growth. In 1960, Prime Minister Ikeda announced his “income doubling policy”, which aimed to double Japan’s economy by 1970. His guidelines and changes proved highly successful, and Japan was able to achieve this goal three years before 1970. Throughout the later part of the Twentieth Century, Japan’s economy proved highly resilient to economic shocks, and in the 1980s, Japan’s economy had become the best in the world, particularly thriving in the export market.

You can see it as a sort of economic war that Japan embarked upon, since they couldn't assert themselves militarily anymore.

[Danistar]

Don't forget to add something about General MacArthur. He did a lot of work to fix Japan's economy after the war.

Here's some stuff about him from Wikipedia, but you should do more research on him than just this:

MacArthur may have made his greatest contribution to history in the next five and a half years, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. While initiating some policies and merely implementing others, by force of personality MacArthur became synonymous with the highly successful occupation. His GHQ staff helped a devastated Japan rebuild itself, institute a democratic government, and chart a course that made Japan one of the world's leading industrial powers. The U.S. during his time was firmly in control of Japan to oversee its reconstruction, and MacArthur for a short while was effictively the interim leader of Japan. In 1946, MacArthur's staff drafted a new constitution that renounced war and reduced the emperor to a figurehead; this Constitution is in use in Japan to this day. MacArthur handed over power to the newly-formed Japanese government in 1949, and remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman on April 11, 1951. Truman replaced SCAP leader MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway of the U.S. Army.