Japanese Foreign Trade and Economic Relations with the Rest of the World from the Tokugawa Times to the Present

Résumé du document

The history of modern Japan is history by itself. It reflects around the increasing contact with the outside world. As opposed to previous Japanese historic periods, modern Japan as a whole can be characterized as an era in which the country interferes with foreign nations more than ever before. Its interference has been so significant and can be viewed in the increase in Japan's GDP. If one compares Japan from the Tokugawa times to the present modern day, it is an indisputable fact that Japan is focused on increasing its influence and impact on the outside world. One can record that this has been the most remarkable feature of modern Japan. This growth for Japan is also vital as it plays a predominant role in the understanding of its political, social and economic history over the past four centuries. An excellent illustration of this phenomenon is the evolution of theJapanese foreign trade and economic relations with the world from 1600 till date.

Extraits

[...] Yet, Japan's relations with the Western world began to change in the end of the Tokugawa period, as the Tokugawa order was challenged both internally and externally. In the 1800's, the Western world took a special interest in Japan, and whalers, merchant ships and gunboats from Europe and America approached Japanese coastlines. The Bakufu (or military government) had been confronted with such issues before, but had always managed to refuse the western economic order and limit its foreign trade relations. [...]

[...] Japanese exports were hurt by their lack of competitivity: Japanese goods had climbed in cost during the First World War and were overpriced in world markets. And when Japan's economy had begun to recover from the crisis, it was hit by a new one: the Depression Crisis of 1929, which had plunged the United States and the rest of the developed world into a profound recession. It was World War II that would help Japan's economy rise again. The outbreak of World War I had presented the Japanese government with tremendous opportunities to extend its power over Asia, a continent that was of strategic importance to Japanese industry, both as a source of raw materials and cheap labor, and as a huge market for Japanese finished goods. [...]

[...] Japan's entire industry and infrastructure were supporting this transition to an economy drawn towards the rest of the world. The revolution in transport was one of the major causes of this economic change, with Japan's thirty-four hundred mile-long railway (by 1900) lowering the transport cost of raw materials to factories, and that of finished goods to harbors, for export.[10] The highly concentrated zaibatsu, which had capital, skilled-labor and technological know-how, played a major role in the manufacturing of Japanese goods destined for export. [...]

[...] Many army officials argued that Japan had to take over Manchuria to restore its economy. The Kwantung Army fomented a blow up of some track of the southern Manchurian railway and blamed the Chinese for this terrorist act. This served a pretext for Japan to take control of most southern Manchuria. Meanwhile, Japan's relations with the rest of the world worsened, as the discontent of the international community pushed Japan to resign from the League of Nations. The invasion of Manchuria was the cause of dramatic changes with respect to Japanese economy. [...]

[...] When the United States occupied Japan, the country was facing widespread starvation, households were spending two-thirds of their income on food and the national output of industrial goods was as low as the exports. In conclusion, modern Japan's increasing relations with the rest of the world have been the causes of both its failures and its success. There would have been no Meiji revolution in the end of the nineteenth century without Japan being pushed by the west towards modernization. Yet, Japan was mostly responsible for the outbreak of World War II in Asia by its imperialist military policy and its will to expand over the continent. [...]