I’m trying to wrap my head around how the USA and Japan shifted from being fierce enemies during World War II to becoming close allies in just a few decades. It seems like a huge turnaround in international relations from an American perspective. What happened and why this dramatic change?
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When the US defeated Japan the US did not make the mistake of treating Japan like Germany post World War I. The Japanese military did an exceptional number of horrific things during the war and it’s part of the reason why China and Japan don’t get along. They attacked first, and we’re willing to sacrifice millions of lives, knowing they could not win the war, if anything, Japanese military and politicians at the time probably understood that the atom bombs saved countless lives.
Yes Japan was forced to demilitarize, but the US assisted Japan in rebuilding and didn’t try to starve Japan out like how the allies did to a postwar Germany. There was little attempt to humiliate the Japanese people, the war was over and it was time for both countries to go back to living.
It wasn’t that different with West Germany, the Americans and the Europeans helped West Germany rebuild, while the Russians turned East Germany into a Gulag of sorts. Once the Berlin wall fell east Germany was rebuilt. Germany has good relations with most countries, despite committing horrific atrocities like their ally the Japanese. Because, in both cases, the vast majority of their citizens were not perpetuating these crimes against humanity.
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