A person's addiction to gambling will bring pain to those around him; If a country indulges in gambling, it is a disaster.
Japan, on the other hand, is a country addicted to gambling, which can be seen from the development of its modern history.
Since the Meiji Restoration, almost every major strategy in Japan has gambled its life. Either it will be a defeat and the whole country will be "shattered"; Either the winner takes all and the pot is full. One or the other, so ruthless that he doesn't leave a way back for himself at all.
This is no way, small countries are like this, narrow territory, few resources, if you want to develop, you can only go desperately.
This is called barefoot who is not afraid to wear shoes, the capital is small, and it is not distressed if they lose. Life is already very difficult, how bad can it be? But if you win, it is against the heavens.
Who to change and not to give it a shot?
It's a pity that I often walk by the river, where there are not wet shoes. The victories in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War made Japan more and more superior. When stud becomes a habit, sooner or later it will be necessary to lose the bottoms too.
No, Japan kicked the iron plate of the United States in the Pacific War. The two atomic bombs were eaten, the medicine was good, and finally stopped.
But you have to admire that even if it was beaten to ruins in World War II, in just thirty years, Japan left Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union and other old powers behind, becoming the world's second largest economy, second only to the United States.
This rate was quite explosive in those years, and it was called the "Japanese economic miracle".
However, if you dig deeper, you will find that this "miracle" has little to do with Japan itself.
One need only think about why only two countries in Asia, China and Japan, have completed modern industrialization after World War II to understand what drove Japan's economic rise.
The currency of Japan
01 How miserable was Japan after the war?
Why is Japan's post-World War II economic development called a "miracle"?
Seeing the world as a large class of hundreds of people, originally ranked third, improved one place and became second, threatening to create miracles, this is called "no face". Progressing from the invisible place to the second is called a miracle.
To understand this concept, we must first understand what kind of bear Japan was beaten into after World War II. Let's put it this way, even if Japan at that time was not dead, it would only have half a breath left.
In his book "Economic History of Postwar Japan", Uchino described it as follows: Japan at the time of the defeat was desolate, economically exhausted, and destitute.
After the war, many places in Japan were in ruins
However, what exactly looks like can be seen from four aspects.
The first is the problem of eating.
The people take food as the sky, they can't eat food, and don't think about anything else. Japan had a severe food crisis at the time.
If people are unlucky and drink cold water and stuff their teeth, this saying also applies to the country. By 1945, Japan had basically reached a dead end. Foreign wars are in decline, and internal agricultural production is also problematic.
The shortage of fertilizers and agricultural machinery, the shortage of labor, after all, they are all made by themselves, but I did not expect that even God stepped on it. As a result of the severe cold climate, Japan's domestic grain production is only 5.87 million tons, which is simply not enough to eat.
After Japan's surrender, it was occupied by the United States, and without autonomy, it could not buy grain through foreign trade. Coupled with the withdrawal of a large number of people overseas, tens of millions of mouths are waiting to be fed.
However, "rich" has a rich way to eat, and "poor" also has a poor way to eat, and there are always more ways than difficulties - if you don't eat enough, then eat less. It used to be two in three spoons a day, but now it is two in one spoon, maybe the problem will be solved if it drags on? (180ml in one)
Cao Cao called the insider, even if it didn't work in the end, he could find someone to apologize, which was perfect. Unfortunately, sometimes procrastination not only does not solve the problem, but also makes it worse.
Japanese repatriated after the war
At first, Japan could make do with sweet potatoes, potatoes, and multigrain bean cakes, but later even these were gnawed away. To exaggerate, wherever people go, there is no grass, and even the grass roots do not want to stay.
By 1946, there was a shortage of food across Japan. The worst is the Muroran grain depot, the inventory is cleared, and there is really not a drop left. Many people went to work as beggars for a bite to eat, and countless died of starvation.
The second is the decline in production.
After the defeat of Japan, a large number of captured Koreans and Chinese were liberated. There was no one to work, the industry simply stopped, and the output of steel, coal, and cotton yarn fell to the bottom, leaving only a fraction of the pre-war level.
Again, there is the issue of inflation.
There is less to produce than before, and it is inevitable that prices will rise. The Japanese government is good, not only does not save the scene, but even has to add another fire and pay huge military compensation to the capitalists. If there is no inflation, there is no need for economics.
As a result, Japanese prices soared like rockets, and by 1949, they had reached 243 times the pre-war level. As long as you substitute it, a package of instant noodles for hundreds of dollars, you can imagine how terrible this inflation is.
And Japan actually survived, worthy of being the country of ninjas.
The people at the bottom of Japan living in distress
Finally, there is the issue of unemployment.
It stands to reason that a large number of prisoners were liberated, and Japan should be very short of people, how can there be a problem of unemployment? The person who asks this question must not understand the war.
What war fights, it is money, resources, supplies, and destroying the enemy's industrial system is the primary strategic goal.
In the Pacific War, the U.S. military could blow up all production equipment, whether military or civilian. The equipment is gone, even if there are raw materials, it cannot be produced, and even more so at that time Japan did not even have raw materials, and everyone could only dry stare. Job? Inexistent.
It's ironic to think that the Japanese people at that time wanted to work but didn't have a job, and now the Japanese don't want to work but have to work, this magical world is really laughable.
02 Behind the economic recovery
To understand the tragic situation of Japan after the war and look at the process of Japan's economic recovery, we can well understand the gold content of the "miracle".
Japan was defeated in 1945, and in 1978 Japan overtook the Soviet Union to become the world's second largest economy, which lasted 33 years.
In terms of GDP, Japan's GDP in 1960 was $44.307 billion, compared to $1.01 trillion in 1978. This value peaked in 1995 at $5.45 trillion.
So why was Japan able to create this "miracle"?
From the perspective of economics, it is nothing more than clichés, what about Japan's economic system reform, industrial policy adjustment, encouraging scientific and technological innovation, people working hard, and so on.
But is that really the case? C H E D A N。
A country that does not even have sovereignty (lost in defeat) and looks at economic development only from domestic factors is like a blind man touching an elephant. There is also a tall shadow behind Japan's economic recovery - Uncle Sam.
As we all know, Japan then declined due to the bursting of the bubble economy, and it all started with the Plaza Accord in 1985. In this economic storm, Uncle Sam is full of oil.
Therefore, if it rises, it will decline because of this, and presumably Japan has no complaints, and even if it does, I am afraid to say it.
After a terminally ill person is removed by the doctor, he slowly recovers his health and becomes active again.
Is it the credit of the patient's own care? Of course not, the key is that the doctor helped him remove the root of the disease.
With Japan half-dead after the war, it has to feed its own people and bear war reparations, and if it is left to fend for itself, let alone create an economic miracle, it is a question of whether it can be sustained.
After the United States occupied Japan, it exercised military and political rule. Uncle Sam remotely commanded the then General Command of the U.S. Army in Japan, which controlled the whole of Japan by controlling the Japanese government.
Pearl Harbor bombed by the Japanese
Uncle Sam's early policy toward Japan was to "cut his claws and pull teeth", and the Pacific War showed him how terrible a "mad dog" without chains can be.
In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, it is necessary to cut off the dog's paws and pull out the dog's teeth, and a dog that does not bite is a good dog; A good Japan is a Japan without the ability to fight.
During this period, Uncle Sam carried out two reforms in Japan, the political democratization reform and the economic democratization reform.
To put it bluntly, the former is to let the Japanese government be honest, obediently disband the army, disarm, stop doing things, and learn love and peace.
The latter is to solve the problem of monopoly capital groups in Japan. The world is bustling, and the benefits are profitable. What is the ultimate purpose of the war? It's about making money! What do you do if you win now? Make money!
How to make money? This involves the workings of capitalism.
What is most important for capital? Market share! After all, industrial products have to be sold to make money.
The Asia-Pacific market at that time was a bounk for Uncle Sam, who dissolved Japan's domestic chaebols and liberated land and labor, ostensibly to help Japan progress, but in fact for himself.
A military parade after the U.S. military occupation of Japan
Only with land and labor can we produce, only when we have production can we have a market, and only when we have a market can we trade, and only when we trade can we earn money.
No one will do a loss-making transaction, and no one will think that Uncle Sam really went to Japan to promote freedom and peace, right?
After all, Uncle Sam just wants to turn Japan into a dumping ground for his own industrial products, so Japan just needs to be honest and obedient. Army? Industry? Japan should not think about this kind of sovereign country.
If nothing else, Japan will be a leek garden for Uncle Sam, mowed every once in a while, forever and ever.
But the accident happened, that is, the Korean War.
03 Japan is the vegetable garden of the United States
When we talk about the Korean War, we need to talk about the deep-seated reasons for the outbreak of the war. Why Japan benefited from the Korean War is also inextricably linked to this.
Think about the question first, what did the Second World War fight, or what situation? Is it peace? No, but the two giants of the United States and the Soviet Union!
After World War II, the old antiques of Britain and France are no longer in charge, who is now the new speaker of the world? Uncle Sam felt that he could be the world hegemon, but he had to ask the Soviet Union whether he agreed or not.
From the moment the Axis powers were defeated, the alliance was virtually wiped out. As a result, the world pattern gradually evolved into a geopolitical confrontation between the two camps led by the United States and the Soviet Union.
The United States and the Soviet Union divided the world
Uncle Sam has to reach out to the world to make sure he can speak anywhere, in anything. Coincidentally, the USSR also thought so.
As a result, in Europe, two opposing military blocs were formed, NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Germany was divided into two, the USSR, Uncle Sam each took half. In Asia, North Korea is also divided into two halves.
Everything has to be divided in half, no one suffers, and don't try to take advantage.
Originally, in the Soviet Union's conception, China was also to be divided into two from the Yangtze River, and the two parties were divided into two parties.
Is it possible, however? No way! Of course, this is beyond the scope of this article, back to North Korea.
Although the DPRK is divided into two from the "38th parallel," this is not a division of families, and the pots and pans will be divided into each other, and it is inevitable that there will be contradictions over time, and it is not guaranteed that one day the gun will go off.
Sure enough, in June 1950, the Korean War broke out.
Uncle Sam soon entered the war, China immediately joined the battlefield, and the Soviet Union sent a large number of pilots to assist in the battle, and it became a confrontation between the two camps.
The two younger brothers clashed, and in the end, the eldest brother had to enter to settle it.
In the end, after going around in circles, the situation on the Korean Peninsula returned to the original point, and the DPRK and ROK each returned to their respective homes and lived in peace.
Schematic diagram of the Korean War
It seems that nothing happened, but Japan took advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune.
During the war, the army had to spend money on food, clothing, and use. Uncle Sam can't all be transported from the mainland, one is laborious, the other is expensive, and the travel costs are quite a lot. Therefore, it can only be purchased from the nearest Japan.
This raises another question, that is, what should I do if Japan can buy it directly, but what if Japan does not have it? Such as munitions, automobiles and other heavy machinery.
Uncle Sam was very generous and directly moved the military heavy industry to Japan. Thousands of miles have been transported, is it possible that after the war, it will be transported back thousands of miles? Forget it, the shipping costs are more expensive than things.
Japan is very happy, isn't there the capital to make a fortune?
In fact, most of the civilian industry is born out of the military industry, and the Internet is the most vivid example.
The reason why Japan's automobile industry was so developed later was the foundation laid during the Korean War.
Japanese automobile industry
04 Japan on the rise
In fact, China has a very important strategic position in the post-war world pattern planned by Uncle Sam, but Jiang is really a "Dou who cannot be supported".
So Japan became Uncle Sam's second choice, that is, the spare tire turned right.
Especially after the Korean War, he was even more deeply aware that Japan's "new love" could no longer be lost, and must be grasped in the physical sense.
By the way, also after the Korean War, the Soviet Union planned to invest 156 construction projects in China, although only 150 were finally received, but it also laid the industrial foundation of New China.
This is the question mentioned at the beginning, why only China and Japan modernized their industries after World War II.
It is nothing more than that Uncle Sam and the Soviet Union need their own "bridgehead" in Asia to protect their interests, and the reality is so naked.
After that, with the help of Uncle Sam, Japan joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, a country born in Asia, growing up and growing in Asia, and thus integrated into the Western economic society.
All in all, every step of Japan's post-war economic recovery was helped by Uncle Sam. Later, after the Japanese economy was able to stand on its own, he didn't bother to care, because aid costs money, and Uncle Sam's money was not blown by the wind.
Of course, Japan was able to stabilize after Uncle Sam's aid was withdrawn, and its own efforts cannot be denied. It is one thing to live well or not, but saving is the premise.
05 Conclusion
The rise and fall of the Japanese economy is actually a true saying, what is gained, will be lost.
After World War II, Japan's backer Uncle Sam got back on his feet, and later because he lost a lot, he gained from it, and lost it from himself, which can be regarded as a causal cycle.
No one is wrong in this, just because Japan is not a sovereign country, that's all. What caused it to lose its sovereignty was its ambition for foreign expansion. The reason for external expansion is that the land is narrow and has few resources, and everything has returned to square one.
This is the sadness of the "small country", fate dictates that it will never make it to the real table. On a historical scale, its "gamble" is nothing more than a senseless struggle.
After all, even the empire, which is known as "the sun never sets", once sighed sadly at the twilight of sunset.
Text: Not thoughtful