Japanese Social, Political, and Economic Development - Research Paper Example

? Japanese Social, Political and Economic Development Outline Introduction Background People Economy Contact with the west Wars with china and Korea World War I Conclusion Introduction Japan has grown from humble beginnings to one of the most well recognized countries within Asia, and even throughout the world. This has occurred through the role of Japan in war, their contact with Western countries, the growth of their economy, the people of Japan and their culture. This discussion examines each of these elements in detail, and argues that Japan is now one of the most competitive and developed country within Asia. Background According to the discussion by Roman A Cybriwsky, Japanese legend reaffirms that Japan was founded in the 600 BC by the Emperor Jimmu, who was a first ruler and direct descendant of the goddess of the sun and ancestor of the currently ruling imperial family (Cybriwsky, 1994). In AD 405, the Japanese court officially agreed to implement the Chinese writing system. Hand in hand with the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century, these two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the start of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. The history was written down around 400 AD. With the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held by influential court nobles, and the military governor’s. Japan, is comprised of islands, which extends along to Pacific coast of Asia (Flath, 2000). There are four main islands, extending from north to south, these are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa Island, which in size measures about 380 miles and lies southwest of Kyushu. In total, there are about 3,000 smaller islands are part of Japan. The total land area of Japan is slightly smaller compared to California. More than 70% of the country is hilly, with a many mountains cutting across the main islands. The country has its highest mountain which is well known as Mt. Fuji (12,388 feet). Because of this, little flat area exists and many hills and valleys are cultivated all in most regions. Japan is located in a volcanic zone along the Pacific depth where low-intensity earth tremors, volcanic activity are felt within the islands. Therefore, harmful earthquakes are bound to occur severally. It is recorded in history that massive earthquake of about magnitude 9.0 in scales and tsunami hit northeastern Japan's Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. This causes hot springs of water to arise, which are many and have been formed as a result. All of these factors make Japan a historically and geographically interesting country. This makes it appealing to tourists, and makes it very noticeable worldwide. People Japan's population is currently about 127 million, this growth rate from the 20th century has emerged as a result of scientific, industrialization, and sociological changes experienced within the country (Broadbent, 1990). However, the birth rates have decreased significantly from the 1970s. In 2005, Japan's population had declined for once, than earlier predicted and in the year 2010, the population growth rate was 1.0%. However, it was observed that better sanitary and health standards produced a life expectancy exceeding by far that of the United States. Japan has developed to an urban society, where we have only about 1% of the labor force engaged in agriculture. Many of the peasant farmers supplement their income with part-time jobs in nearby towns and cities (Broadbent, 1990). Study shows about 80 million of the urban population is heavily concentrated on the Pacific shore of Honshu and in northern Kyushu. The majority of the population centers include: Metropolitan Tokyo with a population of about 8.9 million; Yokohama with 3.6 million; Osaka with 2.6 million; Nagoya with 2.2 million; Sapporo with 1.8 million; Kyoto and Kobe with 1.5 million each; Kawasaki and Fukuoka with 1.4 million each, and Saitama with 1.2 million (Cybriwsky, 1994). This large population in Japan causes the problems of industrialized societies in the world where overcrowding of the cities, congested roads, air pollution, among others occurs. The two major form of worship in japan are Shintoism and Buddhism. Shintoism is grounded on myths and legends originating from the early tradition worship of natural phenomena. Since it was not concerned with problems of after deaths which dominate Buddhist thought and Buddhism simply accommodated itself to local faiths, the two religions comfortably coexisted, and Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples often became administratively linked. Today many Japanese are adherents of both faiths. Buddhism first came to Japan in the 6th century and exerted great influence on its intellectual, artistic, social, and political life. Most funerals are conducted by Buddhist priests, and many Japanese visit family graves and Buddhist temples to pay respects to ancestors (Broadbent, 1990). Confucianism arrived with the first great impact of Chinese influence into Japan between the 6th and 9th centuries. Overshadowed by Buddhism, it remained as an organized philosophy into the late 19th century and remains today as an important influence on Japanese thought and values. Christianity was introduced into Japan in 1549, was virtually removed out by the government a century later; it was reintroduced in the late 1800s and has spread slowly with time. Today Christianity has an estimated 3 million followers throughout Japan (Cybriwsky, 1994). Among the three traditional religious beliefs, many Japanese nowadays are turning to a great variety of popular religious movements normally grouped together under the name "new religions." These religions draw on the ideology of Shinto, Buddhism, and folk superstition which have developed in part to meet the social needs of elements of the population. The officially recognized new religions in number are in the hundreds, and total membership is reported in the tens of millions. Economy Japan's has been characterized of industrialization, and has a free-market economy, which is the third largest in the world (Banno, 1998). Its economy is highly efficient and competitive in areas associated to international trade, but productivity is far lower in protected areas such as agriculture, distribution, and services. Japan is well endowed with industrial leaders and technicians, who are well-educated and industrious work force, high savings and investment rates, and intensive promotion of industrial development and foreign trade produced a mature industrial economy. Japan having little natural resources, trade helps it earn the foreign exchange nee to purchase raw materials for its economy. Japan has achieved one of the highest economic growth rates in the world from the 1960s through the 1980s, this economy slowed dramatically in the early 1990s, when it collapsed, due to stock and real estate prices. Japan however recovered from its worst period of economic stagnation since World War II (Allison, 2004). The GDP in Japan improved at an average of rate about 1% yearly in the 1990s, compared to growth in the 1980s of about 4% per year. Japan experienced several consecutive years of growth since the early 2000s and their economy began to slow in line with global economic conditions, and this saw country sink into its first recession in in 2008. As worldwide demand for its goods went down, the Bank of Japan reported real GDP growth of -5.5% in year 2009 (Broadbent, 1990). However, it recovered slightly in 2010 and recorded a real GDP growth of 4.4%. The earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, devastated the northeast coast of Honshu Island, washing away buildings and infrastructure, killing thousands, severally damaging nuclear power plants, and displacing more than 320,000 people. This left a million households without water. Radiation also leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant causing mass evacuations and the declaration of an exclusion zone. The sad news is that radioactive iodine has been found as far as 100 miles from the plant, water, milk, fish, beef, and certain vegetables, at levels that make these foods unfit for consumption and create possibility of long-term contamination of the area. Energy-cutting efforts by electric companies and train lines have slowed the order of business in Honshu Island, and Japan’s financial markets have declined dramatically. For a state of stability, the Bank of Japan injected moneys into the economy. This money is used in the costs of the damage like rebuilding homes and factories which costs from $235 billion to $310 billion (Flath, 2000). In August 2011, the government revised its fiscal year inflation and adjusted GDP predicted to 0.5%. Government plans called for massive spending, as high as $295 billion, on reconstruction efforts in disaster-affected areas to stimulate economic growth. Less than 15% of Japan's land is arable, this causes the agricultural economy to be is highly subsidized and protected and yield per hectare crop is among the highest in the world, Japan maintains an overall agricultural self-sufficiency rate and Japan normally produces surplus of rice but imports large quantities of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans, primarily from the United States. It is ranked as the fourth-largest market for U.S. agricultural exports (Cybriwsky, 1994). Having heavy dependence rate on imported energy, Japan has targeted to diversify its sources and maintain high levels of energy efficiency. Since the oil shocks of the 1970s, Japan has reduced reliance on petroleum as a source of energy, statistics show from more than 75% in 1973 to less than 50% in 2009. Japan’s important energy sources also include: coal, liquefied natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropower. Today Japan enjoys one of the most energy-efficient developed economies in the world. Deposits of gold, magnesium, and silver Japan can also be found but Japan rely on foreign sources minerals essential. For example, iron ore, coke, copper, and bauxite is imported. It is often perceived that Japan is performing poorly economically, especially in light of the recent global recession. However, this is not the case. The Central Intelligence Agency information for Japan shows that the country is performing well. This resource is highly accurate and up-to-date. It currently has the fifth highest GDP worldwide, which is strongly focused in the service sector (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Japan remains an important country worldwide, as its business is crucial to American companies and other organizations in the Western world. The Forbes report on Japan’s growth and economy shows that it has been through some difficult and unpredictable times. In 2008-2009, Japan’s economic growth suffered a dramatic downturn, strongly related to the tsunami and earthquake, which occurred in 2011. The author of this report takes a lot of information into account, and argues that Japan has been subject to a wide range of difficulties, yet they continue to push forward and try to recover (Conerly, 2011) Contact with the West The first contact with the West occurred in about 1542, when a Portuguese ship, cancelled off its mission to China, landed in Japan (Allison, 2004). During the next century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, such as Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries. During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's suspected that the traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused them to place foreigners under progressively tighter restrictions. Japan forced all foreigners to leave and withheld all relations with the outside world except for severely restricted commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. This isolation lasted for 200 years, until Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy negotiated the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854 (Cybriwsky, 1994). Furthermore, when other measures of success are considered, Japan is actually doing well, even better than the United States. For example, in the period where Japan’s economy is often argued to be failing, the average life expectancy has grown from 78.8 to 83, putting the life expectancy of Japanese citizens approximately four years more than for Americans. The account surplus of Japan is perhaps the most significant measure, in 2010 this surplus was $196 billion, while in the United States, the account deficit in 2010 was $471 billion (Fingleton, 2012). This article shows that Japan should not be written off as performing poorly economically, as by many measures, the country is doing better than the United States. Within several years, renewed contact with the West profoundly altered Japanese society. The feudal system was abolished, and numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Western legal and educational system and constitutional government along parliamentary lines. In 1898, the last of the "unequal treaties" with Western powers was removed. In a few decades, by creating modern social, educational, economic, military, and industrial systems, the Emperor Meiji's "controlled revolution" had transformed a feudal and isolated state into a world power (Banno, 1998). Wars with China and Korea Japanese leaders of the late 19th century termed the Korean Peninsula as a potential threat to Japan. It was over Korea that Japan became involved in war with the Chinese Empire in 1894-95 and with Russia in 1904-05 (Allison, 2004). The war with China established Japan's domination of Korea, while also giving it to Taiwan Japan defeated Russia in 1905, the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth which awarded Japan certain rights in Manchuria and in southern Sakhalin, which Russia had received in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands. World War I World War I allowed Japan, to fight on the side of the victorious Allies, and to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific (Allison, 2004). The era brought Japan prosperity and went to the peace conference at Versailles in 1919 as one of the great military industrial powers of the world and was given official recognition as one of the "Big Five" of the new international order. It became member of the League of Nations and received a mandate over Pacific islands north of the Equator formerly held by Germany (Broadbent, 1990). In 1920s, Japan moved toward a democratic system of government. However, the parliamentary government was not grounded deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential. In 1933, Japan quit from the League of Nations (Allison, 2004). The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 followed Japan's signing of the pact with Nazi Germany the previous year .After years of war, resulting in the loss of 3 million Japanese lives and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan signed an instrument of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945. The World War II made Japan to lose all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. Manchukuo was dissolved, and Manchuria was returned to China; Japan renounced all claims to Formosa; Korea was occupied and divided by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The war placed Japan was under international leadership of the Allies through the Supreme Commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. U.S. objectives were to ensure that Japan would become a peaceful nation and to establish democratic self-government by the freely expressed will of the people. Political, economic, and social reforms were put forth. Japanese constitution was effected on May 3, 1947. The United States and 45 other Allied nations signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan in September 1951. The U.S. Senate reviewed the treaty in March 1952, and under the terms of the treaty, Japan regained full sovereignty on April 28, 1952 Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government with a secret ballot for all elective offices. Sovereignty, previously embodied in the emperor, is vested in the Japanese people, and the Emperor is defined as the symbol of the state (Cybriwsky, 1994). Japan's government is a parliamentary form of democracy, with a House of Representatives (also known as the Lower House and the Upper House). Executive power is vested in a cabinet comprising of a prime minister and ministers of state, all of whom must be civilians. The prime minister must be a member of the Diet and is designated by his colleagues. He has the power to appoint and remove ministers, a majority of whom must be Diet members (Cybriwsky, 1994). The judiciary is independent. Conclusion Japan has emerged as one of the most developed and most competitive in Asia with its roots grounded in a strong economy, political structures and social orientation. It has a large population and despite being an island, it is able to take part in most economic activities and political matters and compete well. Japan has strong roots of historical development and relevant in understanding the today’s world in broader perspective. REFERENCES Allison, G. D. (2004). Japan's Post War History. California: Cornell University Press. Banno, J. (1998). The Political Economy of Japanese society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Broadbent, J. (1990). Environmental Politics in Japan. New York: Cambridge University Press. Central Intelligence Agency. (2012, April 26). Japan Economy Profile 2012. The World Factbook Retrieved May 1, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html Conerly, B. (2011, December 21). Japan's economic forecast, 2012-2013: A business perspective Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2011/12/21/japans-economic-forecast-2012-2013-a-business-perspective/ Cybriwsky. (1994). Japan. New York: McDonald and woodward publishers. Fingleton, E. (2012, January 6). The myth of Japan's failure, The New York Times. Flath, D. (2000). Japanesee Economy. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More