508 Quotes About Japan

Certainly, it is beyond dispute that there were many warnings signs of the attack, including code intercepts, radar signals, sightings and intelligence given to America not only by its own agents but also by other nations such as the Dutch.

Okinawa was lost on 21 June, after almost 3 months of fierce fighting in wchich 110k Japanese troops and an estimated 150k civilians died. On the American side about 13k were killed and a further 40 injured. These were the highest American casualty figures in the entire war, and suggested the Japanese defense was indeed going to be tenacious.

Many who might be considered more culpable were never brought to trial. Among those who escaped trial were the staff of the unit 731, who had conducted numerous biological and chemical warfare experiments on civilians and prisoners of war. The whole business of 731 was hushed up by the Americans, who offered immunity in return for scientific data from the experiments that their own ethics and laws prevented

There was no real wish to dismantle the imperial institution itself, for this had a useful role in keeping the nation together, in maintaining national morale and also in legitimizing Occupation policy. The Japan specialists in the State Department were not unaware of the deep-rooted importance to Japanese people of the exercise of power being legitimized by high authority such legitimization, anarchy might prevail and expose the nation to communism.

Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road, which showed the darker side of American society, was one example of the banned book, while samurai movies were among the 236 films condemned by Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers as feudalistic and militaristic. Alle reference do SCAP's involvement in government reforms were also prohibited.

Another major economic reform, seen as being in the interests of both demilitarization and democratization, was the move to dissolve the zaibatsu. At the end of the war tje Big Four - Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumimoto and Yasuda - controlled between them 25% of Japan's paid-up capital, and 6 lesser zaibatsu a further 11%.

The greatest boost for Japan's economy, however, came from another external source. In June 1950 communist North Korean troops crossed south of the 38th Parallel, the recognized dividing line between the zones of Korean Peninsula, and the Korean War started. Yoshida termed this a "gift of the gods".

Japan's economy continued to grow at around 4% during early 80's. Its trade surplus with America, which had started to develop since the late 70's, became massive, typically in order of US$ 40-50 billions.

Japan's total land assets at the time were equivalent to no less than 60% of the entire land value of the planet - 200 times the 0,3% of the planet it occupies in geographical terms.