The Rise of Modern Japan

Explore the complex motives that led Japan into World War II and its risky challenge of American power. Professor Mark Ravina focusses on four Japanese officials who foresaw defeat in early 1944 and unsuccessfully urged the emperor to capitulate. Study the massive, decisive attack by the Soviet Union on Japanese forces in August 1945, roughly simultaneous with the US dropping of the atomic bombs.

Probe the reasoning that led US occupying forces, headed by General Douglas MacArthur, to exonerate the Japanese emperor from any responsibility for his country’s conduct in World War II. Part of an American strategy for making Japan an ally in the Cold War, the policy misled ordinary Japanese about the causes of the war. Also, learn about other controversial decisions of the occupation.

How did postwar Japan go from utter devastation and poverty to astonishing prosperity? Focus on the role of American occupation authorities in setting up Japan for success, both by design and by accident. See how the promotion of free trade and land reform paved the way for growth; political reform encouraged new blood and new ideas; and the Korean War provided a windfall of export opportunities.

Focus on the 1960 political crisis over a new security treaty with the US that ironically brought an era of stability to Japanese politics. Then-prime minister Kishi Nobusuke used dictatorial methods to outflank leftist opponents, causing his own downfall, but also establishing a rule for his successors: Don’t be “Kishi.” The outcome helped cement Japan’s place in the international order.

Investigate the causes of the Japanese economic miracle, especially the planning role of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Observe that market success sometimes came in spite of the MITI—as with an upstart electronics company called Sony. Look at total quality management and other practices identified with Japanese industry, which in fact originated in the United States.

Learn how a misunderstood Japanese euphemism shaped US President Richard Nixon’s relationship with Japan, leading to policies that Japanese officials dubbed the “Nixon shocks,” notably the ending of the gold standard and America’s reproachment with China. Combined with the 1973 Arab oil embargo, these measures threatened Japan’s economic and strategic position. Discover how the nation coped.

Trace the shifting public mood in Japan through its popular and award-winning films. Mark highlights some of his favorites—from dramas made immediately after the war with their focus on loss and survival, to satires of middleclass prosperity in the 1970s and ’80s, and finally to dark comedies in the 1990s that chronicle economic stagnation and the futility of playing by the rules.

By the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to overtake the US lead as the largest and most innovative economy in the world. Emblematic of Japan’s preeminence was car manufacturing, which outcompeted US automakers thanks, in part, to Detroit’s missteps. This lecture also delves into Japan’s failures, including its inability to match American successes in the crucial high-tech field of software development.

The Japanese economic miracle fueled steady growth in asset and stock values that crashed spectacularly in the 1990s, eventually dropping by a catastrophic 75%. Study what made Japan’s resulting slump far more long-lasting than similar crashes in the US. The differences have partly to do with the public mood in Japan and, also, the ineffective responses of government, banks, and industry.

See how Japan’s financial collapse led to protracted unemployment, petty crime, and broken families. As in Lesson 7, Mark uses popular culture for insight, including the 2008 film Tokyo Sonata, about an office worker who doesn’t tell his family he’s been fired. Instead, he goes to the park every day with other laid-off businessmen in suits, who all pretend to hold jobs while vainly seeking work.

Since the end of WWII, Japanese voters have favored the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partners more than 90% of the time. What accounts for the LDP’s success through good times and even bad times, suffering only a short setback after the collapse of the asset bubble in the 1990s? Also, why haven’t rival left-wing parties been able to gain a significant political foothold?

Learn that Japan’s equivalent of 9/11 is 3/11—March 11, 2011—when a severe earthquake rocked the country’s largest island, triggering a tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear power disaster. Like 9/11, the calamity has had repercussions far beyond the loss of lives and property. Mark concludes the course by analyzing Japan’s resulting political, economic, and social challenges.