The purpose of this research is to examine the ways in which Japan's defeat in 1945, and the subsequent Allied Occupation of 1945-52, can be said to constitute a historical "now" for Japan, which is to say a new baseline for judging past, present, and future.
After World War II, Japan was vanquished, and what had been an imperialist economy was transformed into a capitalist system. The fact of that transformation was dominated by an internal shift from a defeated military empire into a superior force in international economics. Japanese politics stabilized as well, transforming from an imperialist police state to a government engaged in economic development and the conscious practice of stability. As was an occupied country after World War II, Japan was in theory subject to the whim of the occupying power. But in real terms, Japan appears to have developed economically in part because the American occupation was specifically and programmatically intended to help Japan rebuild. The rebuilding effort was well suited to the highly organized Japanese society, and Boyle (1993) points out that Allied efforts to rebuild Japan's economy were focused by Cold War rivalry and the need of the U.S. for an Asian ally after the Korean War and after mainland China's communist revolution. It can be argued, in retrospect, that this need made Japan's transformation into an international economic superpower decisive. As Boyle notes, the view of Japan as a vital ally against Asian communism "was not always matched by a particular appreciation of the future economic significance of Japan" (Boyle, 1993, p. 352). But as events unfolded in the economic aftermath of the Occupation, it is precisely because the Japanese relied on outsiders for defense purposes that they could concentrate energies on economic issues. Without the need for continued statist imperialism and the militarist attitude attached to it, Japan could essentially raise internal and then in...