Although Japan and the United Kingdom possess certain economic similarities, over the last forty years Japan has advanced its economy further and faster than that of the United Kingdom. This rapid economic advancement can be attributed to two factors: foreign direct investment in Japan by the U.S, and an advancement of technological competence.
At the end of World War II, the Japanese economy was devastated- as was the rest of Europe and Asia. On the other hand, the U.S being thousands of miles away from the battlefields suffered virtually no damage. A concern for the United States after World War II was communism, which was at the time called the "red scare"ÃÂ. Following the end of World War II both the U.S.S.R and China were communist countries; also at the time Japan was not very strong and could easily be influenced by another country. This is precisely what worried the United States- if Japan fell to communism it may act as a domino.
English: Margaret Thatcher, former UK PM. Françai...
John Maynard Keynes Русский: Джон Ме...
Profile photo of former Prime Minister Margaret Th...This logic held the notion that if one country accepted Communism, other nations surrounding it would topple like dominoes, one after the other. It was in the United State's best interest to prevent the first domino from falling. The United States did this by sending in various American specialists to advise the Japanese industry on how to increase it's productivity. Soon after, the efficiency of the Japanese economy began to approach the highest world levels. Also in their efforts to prevent communism throughout Asia, the United States provided Japan with gigantic amounts of foreign aid in the form of money, technology, and zero to low tariff barriers for imported Japanese goods. Fast-forwarding forty years- Japan is now an industrial and technological giant, second only to the United States.
While the Japanese began to reestablish their economy with...