Students of history will tell you that the illustrious heritage of these proud and industrious islands has not been spared the vicissitudes of bitter adversity. They will also tell you that Japan is amongst a handful of non-western countries not to bear the acerbic yoke of modern colonial rule. Thanks to deeply imbedded martial samurai traditions that evinced a strong sense of nationhood, enmeshed with a famous work ethic and discipline, it has always proven more than a handful for attempted foreign subjugation.
The rise of modern Japan, as is so often the case, is traceable to effective leadership. In this case that of Emperor Mutsuhito, also known as the Meiji, whose reign began in 1868. Instead of a typical wholesale rejection of Western ways, as many had done and continue to do, he epitomised shrewd pragmatism, with the common sense to embrace what works, even if from the hand of bitter cultural or ideological foes.
Eager to emulate Western progress, Mutsihuto assiduously studied western systems of government, industry, military and naval technology and hastened to implement them in Japan. In a matter of decades, a backward feudal country was transformed into the first non-western country to industrialise and one of the leading world powers by the outbreak of WWI. As one of the founding members of the League of Nations, it emerged from the Great War, with even greater geopolitical clout.
Entering into the brief interwar period, a cohesive, industrialised and adolescent Japan was at the cusp of great things in the world. Leadership was to play a key role in its immediate destiny, this time not for all the right reasons. Its newfound status in the world gave rise to a hubris that spawned an imperialistic belligerence that was to prove disastrous for the nation. A growth induced thirst for mineral resources coupled with a solicitous eagerness to test its newly found military muscle, led to the invasion Chinese Manchuria in 1931.
Following widespread condemnation for this act, like a spoilt adolescent, it responded by abandoning the League of Nations, invading hapless Mainland China with impunity. The characteristic absence of resistance, one of many indicting examples of the impotence of the now defunct League of Nations, served to fuel this acquisitive zeal, with further invasions across Asia during the period leading up to WWII. This coincided with similar bellicose activities by Germany across the world, a country with which it was to enter into an ill-fated alliance. The USA in turn applied trade sanctions on Japan, including a debilitating oil embargo.
Consumed with a misplaced sense of invincibility, Japan saw itself as left with no option but to plan a surprise attack on an unsuspecting US naval base, Pearl Harbour. This event was to prove a decisive turning point for the war and the century, awaking a reluctant post-war super power from its untimely slumber. Japan was to pay dearly for this gross overestimation of might, losing two million of its people, along with the regrettable fate of being on the receiving end of the inaugural use of futuristic nuclear weaponry in military combat.
The crushing defeat, suffered at the hands of the Allied Forces, led to solemn reflection that culminated into another of its many turning points. A chastened and contrite Japan saw an opportunity to once again redefine itself, something it accomplished with characteristic distinction. In fact such was the extent of its success that it rapidly grew into the second largest global economy.
At its apogee, some thought it only a matter of time before it would overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy. Its secret was a strategy to go beyond the production of low margin consumer goods. Reasoning, as David Landes notes, “if they were to have a modern economy, they had to master the heavy work: to build machines and engines, ships and locomotives, railroads and ports and shipyards”.
The implementation of this export oriented strategy, including the gross under valuation of its currency, however, concealed some serious flaws, which were to be brutally revealed in the post 1989 period known as the “lost decade”. A period characterised by ubiquitous spectres of deflation coupled with anaemic economic growth rates (So much for the omniscient pundits who saw its rise to economic hegemony, a mere formality!).
The implementation of this export oriented strategy, including the gross under valuation of its currency, however, concealed some serious flaws, which were to be brutally revealed in the post 1989 period known as the “lost decade”. A period characterised by ubiquitous spectres of deflation coupled with anaemic economic growth rates (So much for the omniscient pundits who saw its rise to economic hegemony, a mere formality!).
This era of an enduring, incurable national economic malaise lasted for more than a decade. Indeed, the country is still yet to fully extricate itself from it. Trillions of Yen injected by the Japanese government in hopes of resuscitating the apoplectic economy, have thus far only succeeded in compounding its problems, plunging it into another morass of excessive indebtedness.
The recent apocalyptic events, that have captured the world’s imagination, have coincided with continuing attempts to resolve this enigmatic economic trap. Not without macabre irony, these events could prove to be just what the doctor ordered. The expected investment in necessary infrastructure (unlike many of the failed government sponsored white elephants) may be exactly what is required to jolt the Japanese economy out of its chronic economic comma into some semblance of dynamism.
Without a doubt, the immediate future will pose innumerable testing questions for Nippon, many of which simple answers will not suffice. Beyond the passing shadows of tragedy hanging over Japan, awaiting it is the promise of a long awaited economic dawn for the land of the rising sun. History offers a demonstrable account of a people endowed with legendary resilience and resourcefulness, the kind of which has often found unexpected expression, in moments like these.
The recent apocalyptic events, that have captured the world’s imagination, have coincided with continuing attempts to resolve this enigmatic economic trap. Not without macabre irony, these events could prove to be just what the doctor ordered. The expected investment in necessary infrastructure (unlike many of the failed government sponsored white elephants) may be exactly what is required to jolt the Japanese economy out of its chronic economic comma into some semblance of dynamism.
Without a doubt, the immediate future will pose innumerable testing questions for Nippon, many of which simple answers will not suffice. Beyond the passing shadows of tragedy hanging over Japan, awaiting it is the promise of a long awaited economic dawn for the land of the rising sun. History offers a demonstrable account of a people endowed with legendary resilience and resourcefulness, the kind of which has often found unexpected expression, in moments like these.
