Japans Post War Economic Journey Essay -- Japanese History

On August 6th, 1945, America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later on August 9th, a second was dropped on Nagasaki. This effectively was the definitive end to World War II. The catastrophic damage caused by this vulgar display of power killed over 100,000 people in Hiroshima alone and left both cities as practically nothing more than radioactive ash. The unimaginable destruction caused by these attacks had obvious economic repercussions. Japan was a closed country that upheld a strict policy of isolationism. For nearly 300 years under the Tokugawa regime the country's population was not permitted to leave and foreigners were not welcomed upon its shore. There were instances when Europeans are known to have been on the archipelago, such as weapons dealers and religious missionaries, but these unwelcomed visitors usually met their demise at the end of a samurai's blade. The country was vehemently against any type of outside influence that could permeate and alter the traditional values and way of life the proud nation's occupants held so dearly to their culture. Any embracement of western ideals or beliefs was seen as an inexcusable betrayal of the very fabric of their national identity. This began to unravel however in 1686 with the Meiji Restoration, and the inevitable opening of ports along the eastern coast for trade with Americans that was brought about by the persistence of the American naval office, Commodore Matthew Perry. The cultural traditionalism was still intact to a large extent nearly 80 years later when the two of their cities were decimated by bombs dropped by the very foreigners who forced open their country with military intimidation. The subsequent US occupation that followed and their ... .... Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Frost, P. (2003). Postwar japan, 1952-1989. New York, NY: About Japan: A Teacher's Resource. Retrieved from http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/postwar_japan_1952-1989 Johnson, R. (2005). Six men who built the modern auto industry. Motorbooks. Katsu, K., & Craig, T. (1991). Musui's story, the autobiography of a tokugawa samurai. Univ of Arizona Pr. Nakata, Y., & Mosk, C. The demand for college education in post war japan. University of Alabama. Retrieved from http://www.cba.ua.edu/assets/docs/efl/WP_114.pdf Murata, S., & Stern, S. "Technology Education in Japan." Journal of Technology Education. Fall 1993. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. . "Sony History" Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20061128064313/http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-1/h2.html