eli5 How did Japan become a technology superpower after WW2?

Question

eli5 How did Japan become a technology superpower after WW2?

In: Other

Answer 1

To add an historical perspective, Japan has always had a knack for incorporating foreign ideas and making them better.

Here’s an example I like: Japan was introduced to the gun in 1542, during their warring states period.  It was a flintlock arquebus.  At first, they needed to trade with the Portuguese (and then thr Dutch) to get their weapons, but they soon started making their own.

By 1600, just 58 years later there were more guns made in Japan than there were in any nation in all of Europe.  

Japan takes a good idea and then goes into overdrive.