The American Involvement In The Rise of Japan This essay describes how the American army and the government affected Japan economically as it recovered from the defeat in World War II.

The American Involvement in

The Rise of Japan

The Japanese attempt to seize control in Eastern Asia and the Pacific during the Second World War resulted in a devastating defeat. While this caused much suffering, the Japanese were eager to rise up once more and join, if not surpass, the leading powers of the world. Japan managed to do so much quicker than Germany, its partner in WWII, even though Germany possessed higher technology before the war and Japanese land was damaged more. There were many factors that favored Japan that made this difference, but the main factor was U.S. involvement. Japan had a huge advantage in ?rebuilding? itself after the war by receiving help from its former enemy, the United States. Japan had a legacy of quick growth and adaptation since the 1800?s, in which U.S. was involved in from the start. Certain factors after the war urged Japan to grow, and the U.S. sparked a chain of events that led Japan to its economic peak, the bubble of the 1980?s. The first sign of their ability as a nation to adapt to new ways quickly appeared when few black ships arrived in feudal Japan.

It was an American commodore, Matthew C. Perry, who opened up the Japanese to new ideas after 250 years of feudal isolationism in 1853 by convincing them to unlock their ports to the western countries. The Japanese were quick to react; almost immediately the Japanese started to rethink and revise their priorities, attitudes, and long-revered Japanese practices. Within 15 years of Perry?s visit, Japan overthrew its feudal government, and within 25 years they threw off their medieval isolationist patterns, and was on its way to becoming a modern military and industrial power (Ezrati 1). Within 50 years the small island nation defeated the Czar?s...