The Rise and fall of Japanese Miracle History Essay

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The Rise and fall of Japanese Miracle
Introduction
The economic miracle of Japan was the tremendous economic growth in two decades that happened between the post-World War II period and the Cold War era. Japan became the world’s economic superpower second to the USA before its experienced demographic stagnation with no expanding workforce despite high per-worker productivity. The economic Miracle arose in Japan as a result of the benefits of Post-World War II Japan and West Germany from the Cold War. The rise in the economy happened due to the economic interventions of the Japanese government and aid from the USA Marshall Plan. The latter expansion of the USA in Japan was to slow the expansion of the Soviet influence in the Pacific and to resolve the risk of developing a feud with the Japanese citizens who would turn to the communism after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thus, the miracle economic rise in Japan featured cooperation of manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and the banks that worked together in coupled with the powerful enterprise unions with the help of government bureaucrats and guaranteed lifetime employment.
The Rapid Economic Miracle Growth of Japan
The downturn and the devastated Japanese economy rose quickly after the WWII, and by 1956 the real per capita GDP had overtaken the pre-war GDP of the 1940s. The recovery period between 1945 and1956 ensured an annual growth rate of GDP at 7.1 percent before the rapid growth era. Japan began to re-image its relationship with the West at a speed exceeding the pre-war relationships it had achieved before the WWII. The tremendous rise in economic growth enabled Japan to achieve 98 percent GDP per capita of Britain and 69 percent of the USA. Such climax of economic growth happened in 1973 before the famous bubble economy where the GDP per capita was 120 percent (Rosovsky 10).
The significant increase of the Japanese economy in post-WWII and the Cold War era of 1945 to 1993 happened in four stages. The recovery that occurred from 1946 to 1954, the high increase of 195 to 1972, the steady increase from 1972 to 1992 and the low increase from 1992 to date. Irrespective of the economic downturn after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan strived to become an economic superpower after the USA as in the 1960s (Rosovsky 10). Nevertheless, the nation began experiencing an economic recession in its growth after two decades due to the USA sanctions regarding the economic protection policy to oppress the production of Japan as well as to block the appreciation of the Japanese yen. However, Japan managed to improve on its technological advancement to raise the value of its currency to avoid the risks of depression that would affect its trade affairs. The increased performance of yen as the Japanese currency ensured the significant economic recession in the 1980s could help with the alleviation of the influences of recession as Japan imposed various economic and financial policies to stimulate its domestic demands. Separately, Japan experienced economic challenges in the 1980s and part of the 1990s due to the bubble economy that resulted in deflationary policy. The aftermath of the deflationary polic...