Japan+and+the+Pacific+Rim


 * Japan + Pacific Rim Notes**

[|CCOT ESSAY]

East Asia in Postwar Settlements
 * At the end of WWII, several reasonably stable, non-conformist countries emerged along the Pacific Rim. Linked to the West, they maintained a neo-Confucian emphasis on the importance of conservative politics and a strong state.
 * **New Divisions and the End of Empires**
 * MI: After WWII, East Asia was divided in postwar settlements, but most countries except Japan deviated from the agreements, becoming independent.**
 * restructuring after WWII - Korea divided between Russia and US, Taiwan restored to china, US regained Philippines, Europe hot back holdings in Vietnam, Malaya, and Indonesia, Japan occupied by US fores intending to reform in order to prevent another instance of military aggression
 * Pacific Rim areas didnt settle nicely -- Philippines, Malaya, Indonesia became independent in a decade
 * Taiwan was a republic seperate from China - Korea had had its US-intervened N-S conflict where South Korea almost lost its independence
 * only Japan proceeded somewhat according to plan - recovered while accepting a very different political structure
 * **Japanese Recovery**
 * MI: The US occupation repaired Japan, taking it from the disaster zone it was in 1945 to a democracy with a reformed economy, no military, and an excellent education system, while still implementing its own traditional culture.**
 * 1945 - in shambles, following war and atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 * US occupying forces --> new period of selective westernization
 * wartime political structure torn down by General Douglas MacCarthur - military & police disbanded, officials removed
 * US pushed for Japan to become a democracy
 * economic reform also introduced to help small farmers but it had little effect bc big business regrouped quickly
 * new constitution made parliament the supreme govt body - civil libs, gender equality
 * Military forces w potential for war were abolished forever, Japan was now unique in its very low military strength
 * popular w public
 * still put culture into these politics - ex 1963 law called for respect to the elderly, contrast to the West
 * 1955 **Liberal Democratic Party** - led government into the 1990s
 * became a true democracy but still had an emphasis on one party in order to keep control (tradition)
 * more women's rights, less nationalism in textbooks and broader opps for poor,
 * developed meritocratic system where academic success was highly valued - but once occupation was over, they returned towards education where tradition was too highly emphasized
 * **Korea: Intervention and War**
 * MI:**
 * far more troubled than Japan's - Soviets occupied part of Korea & couldnt agree w US on how to unite zones
 * --> US sponsored the Republic of Korea in the south, matched by the Soviet-dominated People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the north.
 * North Korea became communist - emphasis on Kim Il-Sung just like w Stalin, until his death in 94
 * South Korea had ongoing military presence - headed by nationalist Syngman Rhee - parliamentary institutions that were very authoritarian in tone
 * June 1950 - North Korea attacked South Korea --> Truman-led "police action" to draw another line of defense against communism -- Korean war lasted until 1953 when a new American administration was able to agree to an armistice
 * Korea then continued dual pattern of development
 * Kim concentrated his power over the military, the one political party, and the govt
 * South Korea got lots of funds and better weapons from the US
 * 1961 south korea army officers took over w a civilian govt as a front
 * still, though economic change occurred and although there was high tension w north korea, no war broke out
 * **Emerging Stability in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore**
 * Taiwan
 * Chinese nationalists retook Taiwan bc communists couldnt get to it since they had no navy
 * US gave aid to Taiwan up until the 60s
 * Hong Kong -- British colony until 1997 when it was returned to the Chinese
 * Singapore - retained large Brit naval base until 1971, when Britain completely withdrew from east Asia - became an independent nation in 1965
 * by end of the 1950s - political stability emerged

Japan, Incorporated

* Main pts of Japanese history from the 1950s on were intense economic growth and unique political and cultural forms as the nation proved that industrial success didn't depend on Westernizing
 * **Japan's Distinctive Political and Cultural Style**
 * politics = conservative stability
 * Liberal Democratic Party dominated from 1955 on - changes in leadership were negotiated within the party, werent a result of a shift in votes
 * strong cooperation w business - state set production and investment goals while lending pub resources to help industries
 * social
 * govt campaigned for birth control and abortion --> slowed pop growth
 * important traditional elements preserved, which made public ok w rapid economic change (poetry, painting, tea ceremonies stayed the same, history honored in films)
 * no notable cultural contributions to the world - creativity was not shown on an international level
 * sometimes culture was used to enact change - flamboyant postwar writer Hiraoka Kimitoke, updated No plays w themes like homosexuality, came to hate western ways, ritual suicide in 1970
 * **The Economic Surge**
 * extreme economic growth - top two/three economic powers in world
 * japanese corps became known for high quality of their goods
 * factors leading to this achievement
 * active government encouragement
 * company unions careful not to impair company's productivity
 * more concern for good of company than promise of individual benefits
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Japanese social life didnt follow west either - women still concentrating heavily on child rearing and household duties
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">shame directed towards non-conformist behaviors in school
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">few lawyers, few mental patients -- but things that promoted competition stressed the Japanese out much more
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">pop culture - baseball, tennis, golf, weird Westernization like children eating knives and forks,
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">ongoing tension between change, w its Western connotations, and commitmet to Japanese tradition and identity
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">pollution became a serious issue
 * <span style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1990s - shaky coalition govts replaced the Liberal democrats, some economic decline