Essay, Research Paper
Effects of World War II on Japan
World War II drastically affected the Japanese culture, economics, and
politics.
Japan is considered one of the most important and powerful
countries in the modern world but this accomplishment has been reached by a
lot of work and changes made in the Japanese society. During World War II
the destruction of Japanese cities and the death of a lot of Japanese
people caused them to change their in their system of politics and foreign
policy. The changes made in Japan were not only in the politics but also
in the culture in general because of the entrance of western ideas into
Japan after World War II made the Japanese adapt their ancient culture to
some of the western culture.
These changes in their culture made the Japanese a whole new
country and made it more open to foreign ideas and costumes. The efforts
to recover from the was led the Japanese to have a strict and competitive
view in technological and scientific advances. Now the Japanese people are
considered as one of the most working and intelligent human beings, because
of their brightness in the technology and scientific advances. The
Japanese had a really difficult path to go through after World War II, but
the people adapted to the new Japan and tried to make it a better place by
being very strict and competitive. After the changes in Japan the Japanese
people have shown that they are capable of a lot of things specially having
an enormous change in their life such as culture, economics, technology and
politics. This kind of change in any society is a very difficult task to
undertake and not too many countries are able to do it. The effects of
World War II, including the destruction of Japan, was the task for the
Japanese and they were very strong and worked themselves out of the
problems and succeeded in the modern world and now Japan is considered the
fragile superpower in the top world.
The destruction of Japanese cities and the death of a lot of
Japanese people caused them to change in their system of politics and
foreign policy. Before World War II Japan was very closed minded in their
way of thinking and the people were not important in the political and
economic decisions of the country and that was because there was a decline
of the political parties because of corruption and with that decline the
military leaders caused struggles to the country. Also the Japanese
foreign policy was very independent and only gave priority to its expansion
to the south. This situation totally changed after World War II, Japan
changed totally its politics and established a different government, ran by
the different points of view of the people, that sought more freedom in
their society. “The Japanese Constitution of 1946, pledge to uphold the
high ideals of peace and democratic order with the international society
and also the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance
for all” (The Japan of Today, 15). This citation shows the change in the
Japanese after World War II. In this constitution the Japanese created a
more democratic country and also a very opened minded constitution because
before World War II, the Japanese were very close minded and that led them
to have problems with other countries that had different views of things
that the Japanese. . There are other aspects that changed after World War
II and on of those are the return of Parliamentary government to Japan.
(Japan:The Fragile Superpower, 268) After the War Japan regained its
independence but it gave up Korea, Taiwan, South Jakhalin, and the Kurils.
This situation meant that Japan reduced its lands after the war. In
foreign policy, Japan became a peaceful country that obviously helped it to
be now a successful country without many foreign problems. World War II
opened the eyes of the Japanese people to a more open world, with
democratic ideas, that everyday sought for more freedom and rights for the
citizens. After World War II the Japan-US relation has strengthened, they
work together to solve their problems, but at the same time they recognize
that the economic issues must not be allowed to damage their good relations.
Japan faced a different perspective of life after the war and that was
also because “Japan was placed, for a time, under the indirect rule of the
US which implemented democratic reforms, the dissolution of the family-
based industrial and financial conglomerates, and educational reforms”
(Japan in Modern History, 385). The good relationship with the US after
the war was a big change that ended up in benefit to the Japanese people,
because if they didn’t have a good relationship with the US, it would be
bad because the US is the most powerful country in this modern world. In
Japan’s politics a huge change because of World War II and that was the
creation of the Liberal Democratic party. (The Japan of Today, 20)
Because of World War II, Japan changed their politics system to democracy
which led the people to have more rights and freedom in the country and in
the society as a whole.
The entrance of the western ideas into Japan after World War II
made the Japanese adapt to their ancient culture some of the western
culture. Japan’s culture before the war was very special and unique but
after the war a lot of western ideas entered this culture and influenced it
in several ways such as literature, architecture, religion and others.
“Japan’s literature got influenced by Russian, Western European, and
American literature characteristics” (Grolier, Japanese Literature) . For
example, some modern authors wrote romantic novels based on their
experiences in Germany. These novels were written after World War II.
Newspapers and magazines started to carry cartoons, which led to the
creation of comic books. This is a big change in the Japanese society, the
creation of comic books. Comic books now are read by a lot of children and
teenagers in order to entertain themselves.
In the aspect of religion, Shinto was promoted during World War II,
and now is the most important religion in Japan but after World War II
“freedom of religion was established with Japan” (The Japan of Today, 13)
World War II made the Japanese change their way of thinking and made them
have a common idea, in this case religion, in order to have a more united
society and that led to have a more solid and strong society. This
affected the Japanese people because after the war new religious movements
were created in Japan, and these “religious movements created various
social and cultural activities, some also come to engage in substantial
political activities” (The Japan of Today, 116). The appearance of new
movements in Japan because of World War II was beneficial to the Japanese
because it enlarged the activities that could be made in the society.
The effects of the war were not only in religion but also in arts
and specially in architecture. An important advance was made in Japanese
architecture, after World War II. This advance is that Japanese people
started using steel and concrete in their buildings. Japan now is a
country with a lot of huge buildings and this buildings are offices most of
them so the use of concrete and steel affected in the architecture and in
the daily way of living of the Japanese people. The advances in the
Japanese culture were because of the influence of the western people that
used steel and concrete in their buildings long before World War II. The
use of concrete led the Japanese to the emerging of Ultra-high-rise
architectural engineering like said in the book, “Ultra-high-rise
architectural engineering has notable progress to meet the demand for
office space” ( The Japan of Today, 137). The increase of business in
Japan after the war created a new, different style in Japan architecture.
Now Japan has a very modern architectural city. All these changes because
of World War II join and make a whole new different Japan, that was
seriously affected by the harshness of the war.
Technology and science accomplishments characterize the Japanese.
This is because of the contributions they have made to the society in those
areas, this has been accomplished by hard work and studies of the Japanese
people. “In the late 1940s the emphasis of the Japanese was to rebuild the
war-ravaged structure by scientific endeavor and acquiring technology from
abroad.” (The Japan of Today, 68) Japan was destroyed during World War II.
It wasn’t easy for the Japanese to recover from the war. The countries
that have faced a war end in economic, social, political, and cultural
crisis. The Japanese looked for a very efficient way for their recovery
and that was by focusing on making technological and scientific advances.
Japanese people are known for their hard work, but their system for
improvement and high quality was created because the Japanese traveled to
advanced and powerful countries to gather ideas and then improve them.
That’s why “Japanese people wish to visit the US and Switzerland to gather
ideas in order to improve their work” (Japan: The Fragile Superpower, 27)
The Japanese became competitor after World War II, therefore when they went
to gather the ideas of another country, the Japanese always wanted to make
better things that the ones already made by others. “The US is an example
for Japan in technology and science but at the same time is a competitor
and oppressor” (Japan: The Fragile Superpower, 28). In this quote we can
see that the US is an oppressor to Japan and an oppressor is an strict
authority to someone, so that pushed the Japanese to have the US as an
example. This shows that Japan has a very competitive point of view
towards technology and science. The effects of the war made the Japanese
to have the most powerful country of the world as an example. The whole
attitude of the Japanese changed because of World War II and made the
Japanese to have high expectations towards their future, they became very
positive and strict after the war. “Now Japan is known by their almost
exclusive orientation toward civilian use and by the fact that they are
funded largely by the private sector”. (The Japan of Today, 68) After
World War Ii and its effects, the Japanese gave the private sector priority
in the growth society because it gives jobs to the Japanese and leads the
country to have a more solid economics system which leads Japan to be a
successful country as a whole. Because of World War II the private sector
created large projects to improve and consolidate Japan’s structure and
also to move towards independent research. With the technological changes
made in Japan after the war, computers are used widely in the country, and
its use has been rewarded by efficiency. Japanese people had become more
organized and practical after the war, and I think that organization is
very important for the improvement of a society. The creation of the
private sector in Japan led the the Japanese to have a sense of
individuality and politic freedom in the society. This freedom allowed
large companies to succeed nationally and internationally.
For conclusion, Japan is now a world power country that even after
facing destruction it has come out of it by hard work and changing in a way,
their way of living and thinking. The recovery of the war in several
aspects, mostly economic and political are the thing that affected the most
to the Japanese society. The politics after the war became more democratic
and gave more rights to the people, and that is a very important effect on
the society. The change in the foreign policy was very important for the
country in general because it brought the country peace and a good
relationship with the most powerful country of the world, the US. This new
society brought the Japanese people a large period of adaptation to their
new country. This adaptation enclosed the things such as the entrance of
new ideas to the people, therefore to the culture in general. The Japanese
were able to adapt to the changes after the war and now we have a whole new
recovered Japan, that has been drastically affected by the war but anyway
its now a superpower in the world.
Bibliography
Gibney, Frank. Japan: The Fragile Superpower. W.W Norton & Company, New
York, 1979.
Japan in Modern History. The International Society for Educational
Information; Tokyo, 1996.
The Japan of Today. The International Society for Educational Information;
Tokyo,1989.
The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia. Computer Software. Grolier Inc.
1996.