eli5 How did Japan become a technology superpower after WW2?
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Basically, a combination of forward-looking US policy and early cold war fears of Japan turning to communism, plus income/influence from US bases.
>This economic miracle was the result of post-World War II Japan and West Germany benefitting from the Cold War. The American government reformed Japanese society during the occupation of Japan, making political, economic and civic changes.[1][2] It occurred chiefly due to the economic interventionism of the Japanese government and partly due to the aid and assistance of the U.S. aid to Asia.[3] After World War II, the U.S. established a significant presence in Japan to slow the expansion of Soviet influence in the Pacific. The U.S. was also concerned with the growth of the economy of Japan because there was a risk that an unhappy and poor Japanese population would turn to communism and by doing so, ensure Soviet control over the Pacific.[1]
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>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle)
It had the knock-on benefit of making Japan a staunch US ally in the region… “the only way to truly defeat an enemy is to make him your friend.”
Soviet bad
USA needs allies against bad Soviets
USA helps Japan so they are friends against bad Soviets
After WW2 Japan was under American occupation.
The US invested in Japan (and West Germany) and helped them rebuild their economy, including bringing in US and European experts to help get key industries going.
During this era the US was entering the Cold War and it was understood that having strong pro-democracy Capitalist allies was going to be key to slowing the spread of Communism. So rebuilding Japan and Germany into strong economic powers in their own image tied into that. If they had left Germany and Japan to rot after the war their would have been a reasonable chance that the Communists could have taken over.
The US transformed Japan from a Militaristic Imperialist nation into a mirror image of itself, Capitalist and Democratic.
Japan was then used as a major base of operations during the Korean War, so even more investment was made.
This is referred to today as the Japanese economic miracle. Japan went from a destroyed nation that lost a major war to a global economic super power in only a few decades.
Keep in mind though that Japan was hardly a back water nation before this. The Japanese had always been at the forefront of technology since the Meiji Restoration. Once Japan existed its feudal and isolationist state they quickly adopted modern technology and within decades had industrialized very rapidly. Post WW2 Japan saw that industries like cars and electronics were the future and heavily invested in RnD eventually overtaking the US in a number of areas.
A few things lead to a focus on technology;
-Japan doesn’t have a whole lot of natural resources. Technology was an industry they could compete in
-WW2 decimated their infrastructure, and they had to rebuild. They chose to rebuild in a way that focused on technology and efficiency
-Culturally the Japanese have always angled towards science and technology. It was a natural fit that they would and could focus on this.
I was in a Japanese naval museum and according to that museum, Japan repurposed war technology into standard consumer technology. There wasn’t much else said since the focus of the museum was on battleships and not post war recovery but that’s the reason they gave.
They did however give some example about the optics/targeting equipment of the Yamato battleship as an example which makes me wonder if Japanese camera brands like Canon and Nikon benefitted from this.
Honestly it goes all the way back to the Meiji Restoration. Japan was one of the first Asian countries to industrialize and they borrowed heavily from their European counterparts.
The US government helped finance their reconstruction post war, this is like freshman year of high school history.
One person is responsible. W. Edward Deming, the Father of modern industrial quality managemnt thru statisical process control. The most prestigious award in Japan is the annual Deming medal. So yea, after the War Deming taught them what we knew/learned and they ran with it and by the 70s/80s we forgot everything and could barely build a car that ran when it left the factory……
They are tough people, they will build no matter what. Those outside treats are just icing on the cake.
The government directed investment to certain key industries but they also created an effective system of price fixing so that domestic Japanese consumers paid more for goods which were sold abroad for much cheaper prices in order to create market dominance. In effect Japanese customers were subsidizing exports, and in some cases even subsidizing losses which were seen as acceptable if it drove rival manufacturers out of business.
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