A Modern Economic History of Japan : Sho Ga Nai (It Is What It Is)

The modern economic history of Japan is an extraordinary tale.The country rose over the course of just a hundred and twenty odd years from outright backwardness to the elite tier of the most advanced economies.This was a unique achievement, and one realised despite the nation succumbing to a damaging interlude of ugly totalitarianism and subsequently suffering the most demoralising of military defeats. If Japan's progress before World War II was impressive, the decades following its subjugation and occupation by the US saw it record hitherto unheard of rates of economic growth.By the 1980s, such was Japan's record of unrelenting achievement, not only did it spawn a rising tide of political resentment among its competitors, but it also encouraged them to adopt important aspects of the country's economic model. The belief at this time, both at home and abroad, was that Japan's success was set to continue.Such predictions, however, proved wide of the mark. The powerful forces that had dri