Kenneth's Ch 37 Outline Pt 1

Kenneth Li Euro Hist. Period 6th 4-18-08 Ch. 37 pg. 1033-1049 I. East Asia in the Late Twentieth Century A. Intro 1) History of East Asia divided into 2 phases since WWII. i) Several East Asian nations became Communist but achieved only small improvement in conditions of the peoples. ii) Japan led way, achieving economic growth that has often been spoken of as miraculous but can more sensibly be described as singleminded. 2) Taiwan and South Korea began their economic development a decade or 2 later and from much lower level. i) Viewing progress of these countries, it would appear that values of East Asian heritage- hard work, frugality, family orientation, thirst for education, and concern for getting ahead. 3) Communist nations, China, North Korea, and Vietnam did less well. i) China was wracked by almost continuous political convulsions. ii) Contrast between low productivity of Chinese in China and remarkable productivity of same people in Hong Kong and Taiwan was startling. 4) Vietnam plagued by wars during early decades didn’t develop at all. i) North Korea did a bit better following end of Korean War, but South Korea did much better. 5) Second phase of postwar East Asian history was eighties and nineties. i) Japan’s per capita product zoomed past that Germany and that of United States. ii) Especially notable were advances in democracy in Taiwan and South Korea. 6) Most marked change occurred in China even while maintaining Communist dictatorship, introduced many features of market economy. i) As economy grew, society changed. ii) Only North Korea resisted changes sweeping rest of Communist world. II. Japan 1) For Japan, already bogged down in occupation of China, decisions in 1941 to go to war with United States and its allies was desperate gamble. i) Japan was far weaker than United States. ii) Japanese military misread statements about how America had no stomach for drawn-out war. 2) By early 1945, Japan was poor, hungry, and ill-clothed. i) Yet despite wretched condition, Japanese people steeled themselves for invasion and final battle in defense of homeland.

ii) In early August, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria. iii) Emperor broke the deadlock, and Japan accepted Allied terms of unconditional surrender. 3) After years of wartime propaganda, Japanese reacted with shock at fact of surrender, deep sadness at having lost the war, relief that bombing was over and apprehension about what would come next. i) Receptivity to new democratic ideas and their repudiation of militarism led one Japanese writer to label era “second opening of Japan.” A. The Occupation 1) General Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Commander for Allied Powers in Japan. i) Chief concern of first phase of occupation was demilitarization and democratization. ii) Ultranationalist organizations were dissolved and Home Ministry was abolished. iii) In addition, 210,000 officers, businessmen, teachers, and officialsleaders of wartime Japan. 2) As part of democratization, Shinto was disestablished as state religion, labor unions were encouraged, and holding companies of zaibatsu combines were dissolved. i) Most radical undertaking was land reform that expropriated landlord holdings and sold them to landless tenants at fractional cost. ii) Needless to say, some of these reforms merely accelerated changes already underway in Japan, and all reforms depended on cooperation. 3) None was more important than new constitution, written by Government Section of MacArthur’s headquarters and passed into law by Japanese Diet. 4) Changed Japan’s polity in 5 respects: i) British-style parliamentary state was established in which cabinet became committee of majority party of coalition in Diet. New constitution also added American style independent judiciary and federal system of prefectures with elected governors and local leaders. ii) Women were given the vote. iii) Rights of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, free press, and free assembly guaranteed. iv) Article 9, no-war clause, stipulated “The Japanese people forever renounce war as sovereign right of nation” and will never maintain “land, sea, and air force” or “other war potential.” v) Constitution defined new role for emperor as “symbol of state deriving his position from will of people with whom resides sovereign power.”

5) Japanese people accepted new constitution and embraced democracy with uncritical enthusiasm. i) Had been readied for the changed status of the emperor by speech on Jan. 1 1946, in which he renounced all claims to divinity. ii) By late 1960s most Japanese had come to feel considerable affection for Emperor Hirohito who had shared their wartime and postwar hardship. 6) By end of 1947, most of planned reforms had been carried out. i) To create climate in which new democracy could take root and flourish, occupation in its second phase turned to Japan’s economic recovery.

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ii) United States also gave Japan 2$ billion in economic aid. 7) Outbreak of Korean War in 1950 marked start of 3rd and final phase of occupation. i) By time Japan regained its sovereignty in April 1952, effect of changeover was hardly noticeable in daily life of Japanese people. ii) Although attacked by the left, security treaty became cornerstone of Japan’s minimalist defense policy. B. Parliamentary Politics 1) In 1945, Japan had parliamentary potential that harked back to rise of part power in Diet between 1890 and 1932. i) Had the country been occupied by Soviet Union efficiency of its bureaucracy, its wartime economic planning organs, its educated disciplined work force, and its receptivity to change Communist

2) Japan’s postwar politics can be divided into 3 periods. i) First, from 1945 to 1955, was continuation of prewar party politics as modified to fit new political environment. ii) Japanese Socialist Party, which won 26 percent of vote in 1947, was heir of moderate prewar socialist party, which had received 9 percent of vote in 1937. iii) Yoshida had been ardent imperialist but he had favored close ties with Britain and United States had opposed rise of militarism. iv) Pro-business and anti-Communist, he was so autocratic in his dealings with bureaucrats and lesser politicians that he was nicknamed “one-man Yoshida.” 3) Long second period from 1955 to 1993 has been called one and half party system. i) Held power throughout this period, the “LDP” ii) Had split in 2 in 1951 and come back together in 1955. 4) What did it mean to have one-party rule fore 38 years? i) In immediate postwar years, strength of conservatives was simply continuation of prewar constituencies. ii) It was widely recognized as more able than other parties. iii) Rule by single party for such long period provided for an unusual continuity in government policies.

iv) From 1955 to 1960, Japanese politics was marked by ideological strife. v) These leaders rather highhandedly modified several occupation reforms recentralized police, strengthened central government control over education, and even considered a revision of constitution. vi) After 1960, confrontations politics declined. vii) These moves inaugurated more peaceful era. viii) In many areas a consensus emerged as LDP consulted opposition politicians before presenting bills to Diet. 5) Another trend was steady decline in LDP popular vote form 63 percent in 1955 to 55 percent in 1963, to 43 percent in 1976. i) By late seventies conservatives faced possibility that they would have to form coalition to stay in power. ii) For next 14 years party enjoyed a stable majority in powerful Lower house of Diet and maintained its rule. 6) Even though it received less than half of popular vote, LDP maintained its Diet majority because its opposition fragmented. i) In 1964, Value Creating Society, a Nichiren Buddhist sect that grew to include almost on-tenth of Japanese population, formed Clean Government Party. ii) Competition at polls between candidates from these smaller opposition parties benefited larger LDP. 7) Third era of politics began with 1993 election in which established parties lost ground. i) Biggest loser in election was Japanese Socialist Party, which dropped from 136 to 70 seats. ii) Death of socialist ideology was confirmed when socialists joined LDP in coalition government. iii) Whether single conservative party would reemerge to govern in future, or whether future governments would be based on coalitions, remained in hands of Japanese electorate. C. Economic Growth 1) Extraordinary story of economic rise of East Asia after World War II began with Japan. i) Shipbuilding, machine tools, steel, heavy chemicals, automobiles, and consumer electronics and optics led the way. ii) By late 1970s Sony, Toyota, Honda, Panasonic, Toshiba, Seiko, and Canon were known throughout world for quality of their products. 2) Several factors explain this growth. i) International situation was also favorable: oil was cheap, access to raw materials and export markets was easy, and American sponsorship gained Japan early entry into the World Bank, etc. 3) Revolution in education contributed as well. i) By the early 1980s, almost all middle school graduates went on to high school and almost 40 percent of high school graduates went on to higher education, a percentage equal to higher European nations.

ii) This upgrading of human capital and channeling of its best minds into productive careers let Japan tap the huge backlog of technology that had developed in United States during and after the war years. 4) Another factor was abundance of high-quality, cheap labor. i) Immediately after war about 47 percent of Japan’s labor force was in agriculture by 1996, less than 6 percent worked on land. ii) Industrial workers in Japan during immediate postwar decades were more highly unionized than those in United States, but basic component of labor organization was company-based union rather than a trade union. 5) Government aided manufacturers with tariff protection, foreign exchange, and special depreciation allowances. i) Small budgets for defense spending and welfare enabled government to keep corporate taxes low. ii) Critics who spoke of “Japan Inc” as though Japan were a single gigantic corporation overstated the case: competition between companies in Japan was fierce, but government was more supportive of business than it was regulative. 6) By 1973 Japanese economy had become mature. i) Behind statistic of slower growth was change in composition of economy: smoke stack industries declined while service industries, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, scientific equipment, computers, and robots grew. ii) These policies led to friction and demands from United States and Europe that they be abolished. 7) Even slower growth or no growth at all characterized the nineties. i) In 1991 the “bubble” burst: land prices dropped by 30 percent or more, and stocks owned shares or bought property at exaggerated prices felt poorer; banks that had made housing or margin loans incurred huge losses. ii) Some small companies went bankrupt, large companies restructured and cut their research budgets, some workers were laid off or retired early, and fewer new graduates were hired. 8) As recession-bound Japan approached twenty-first century, observers asked why Japanese government dillydallied, taking only palliative measures. i) Another was absence of national consensus in favor of bailout. ii) They increased their savings and hoped that Japan would muddle through. D. Society and Culture 1) Triple engines of change in postwar Japan were occupation reforms, economic growth, and rapid expansion of higher education. i) In 1995 one aberrant and apocalyptic cult released nerve gas in Tokyo subway, leaving Japanese shocked that something so “unJapanese” can happen.

ii) Middle-class parents of high school students saw after-school jobs as appalling waste of precious time that might better be used for study. 2) Yet ability of society to absorb strains and to lend support to individual was also impressive. i) Lifetime employment gave both workers and salaried employees a feeling of security. ii) Of children born in Japan, 1.1 percent was to unwed mothers; in United States figure was 30.1 percent. iii) Despite crowded housing and social pressures, by most objective measures society was stable and healthy. 3) Even apart from recession economy however, there were several clouds on the horizon. i) They asked whether changes could be made in time. ii) After 2015, when baby boomers retire, Japan will have higher percentage of non-working old than any other society in the world. 4) Great tradition of Japanese art continued in poetry, painting, the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and Kabuki and No theaters. i) Films by Itami Juzo- Tampopo and A Taxing Woman- combined humor and biting satire. III. China 1) Story of China after 1949 might begin with four Ma’s: Malthus, Marx, Ma Yin-ch’u and Mao Tse-tung. i) Mao Tse-tung, faithfully following teachings of Marx, purged Ma and closed down population institutes at Chinese universities. ii) In face of crisis, in 1981 Chinese government adopted national policy ran contrary to the deep rooted Chinese sense of family but argued that without it China’s future would be bleak. A. Soviet Period (1950-1960) 1) Civil war in China ended in1949 as last troops of Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. i) Decade that followed is often called the “Soviet Period” b/c Soviet model was adopted for government, the army, the economy, and higher education. 2) First step taken by Communist government was military consolidation. i) Tiber, for example, was seized in 1950. ii) They were occupied by Chinese army and were settled by sufficient number of Chinese immigrants to change ethnic complexion. 3) Political consolidation followed. i) Most powerful elite was Communist Party. ii) He ruled through Standing Committee of Political Bureau of party’s Central Committee. iii) Party expanded from 2.7 million members in 1947 to 17 million in 1961.