Chloe Shiau - Week 3

After the war, U.S. has destroyed cities of Japan with the nuclear bombing, so they needed to remake themselves. According to Tang Siew Man's "Japan's Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan's Strategic Focus in the 21st Century," Japan has been through a lot of changes. Some Japanese in the higher class wanted a western influence on Japan, whereas other high class such as the Meiji oligarchs restrained Japan from being influenced by Western culture. From the war, Japan has grown in fashion and especially in economics, but they lacked confidence in using their resources to form power and influence.

Because of the war and the fatalities, Japan decided to work together as a whole to reform the country  instead of pushing power to the higher class and allowing them to make decisions. This allowed Japan to become a strong economic and technological influence, and that helped them re-establish their power. At the end of Man's reading, he wrote that Japan's motto was "acting together, advancing together." This is such a powerful phrase because being able to work together played the hugest role in pushing forward into remaking Japan.

Question: Will Japan keep becoming more powerful, or have they settled with the power they have now?

Picture:

Works Cited:

http://johnchan.deviantart.com/art/Stay-Strong-Japan-201897724

. Tang Siew Man, “Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century,” Akademika 70 ( January 2007): 117