Japan - Factors for Growth

Japan’s reconstruction of its nation to become the great economic power in less than forty years after the defeat of World War II has been a somewhat remarkable exception in modern economic history. Although Japan was left with wastes and ruins of factories and infrastructures, Japan was able to reconstruct its economy from a fresh start by building on its prewar economic experience and gaining knowledge from the rest of the world. To understand Japan’s postwar economic growth, we must consider its economic development and history during the 1800s to early 1900s.

Factors for Growth

The rapid economic growth in Japan from the beginning of the 1950s to the early 1970s did not only resulted from special government policies and revolutionary events, but were also achieved by the cumulative effort and hard work by the people. The unique characteristic and ability of the Japanese people to imitate and improve the skills learned, and then applying them to their own system was the most important factor for their successes.

One of the factors that the Japanese made use of their unique characteristic to expand the economy was to improve and make practical use of technologies and technological know-how’s imported from foreign countries. The Japanese were among the best at doing such a thing and often asserted that Japan has produced very little technology of its own. However, Japan has created new technology, such as the low-cost mass production systems, by combining numerous technologies imported from abroad.

The most important point to recognize about Japan’s import of technology was that it was translated into industrial strength only because it was combined with domestic innovation. Technological improvements in Japan contributed greatly to its economic Growth, because improvements of technologies in one industry influenced the growth of many other industries.

For example, Japan’s steel industry successfully improved the quality of the special steel used in automobiles and as a result of technological progress in the casing of parts, the automobile industry, too, grew into an industry to be able to compete in international markets for the first time. Similar progress occurred in the shipbuilding