Week 4- Nina Huang

After WWII, the “Yoshida Doctrine” which was named after Yoshida Shigeru helped Japan stand back up and rebuild the country. The doctrine’s first goal was to create new jobs for the Japanese troops and the unemployed Japanese citizens so that Japan could recover and grow from the large losses, such as the decrease in population and the damaged buildings, in the war. The second goal was to keep the country “lightly armed” because Japan wanted to have some defense to protect its people and thought that ‘“guns” were a waste of [valuable] resources” (Tang). The last goal was to make part of their land into a U.S. base for the armed forces so that they could get protection from the U.S.

While Japan was rebuilding its country form the war, the textile industry was one of the long tradition that helped Japan rebuild itself. Some people like Kensuke Ishizu wanted to create menswear for the Japanese youth who were emerging into the middle class. He was influenced by the Ivy League in America, so he created the “men’s ready-to-wear company called Van Jacket" (Fernandez, 1). He wanted “to bring American style to Japan” and wanted to create the Ivy League style of clothing for the Japanese youth. He thought that this style of clothing could show that the Japanese youth now have their “own basic style that could last forever” (Fernandez, 4).

Since the Yoshida Doctrine helped Japan recover economically from the war, I think Japan has achieved national aesthetics status today. Japan has become an economic powerhouse and is doing well in things such as cuisine, technology, and clothing. Some of their food, like ramen and sushi, is so popular that there are different versions of it and can be bought in other countries. For technology, it is already advanced since they have laptops that are sold in other countries and have realistic robots that look like humans. Besides that, their clothing for menswear and womenswear is also sold in other countries. One of Japan’s clothing stores, UNIQLO, is located in other places besides Japan such as the U.S., Korea, and Canada. This clothing store is one of the brands that have branched out to oversees and have become popular there too.

Question: Why did the U.S. give vast amounts of food and monetary assistance to Japan when Japan was its enemy during WWII?

Works Cited

http://mistercrew.com/files/2010/08/van_jac_1.jpg

Fernandez, Chantal. “How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion In Japan.” Fashionista, 2 Dec. 2015.

Tang, Siew Man. "Japan’s Grand Strategic Shift from Yoshida to Koizumi: Reflections on Japan’s Strategic Focus in the 21st Century."Akademika 70 (2007): 117-136.