Japan Rising, Book Review Example

Japan was experiencing a decade of true economic prosperity in the 1980s. The Japan that hosted the Yoshida Doctrine was replaced with ‘Checkbook diplomacy’. As Kenneth Pyle describes the rise of Japan in the contemporary global economic environment, Japan had to bring itself back after the devastation it faced during World War II. Pyle’s book gives a profound analysis in the context of the external global influences as well as the internal conflicts within the island nation. With the context of Japan’s historical background and the events that shaped the nation, Pyle’s account of the development of the nation is thorough and philosophically-dissected to provide multiple perspectives as to the course of Japan and its difficult progress into the nation of formidable socioeconomic prosperity and influence in the globalized international environment of today.

Despite numerous pundits casting their doubts on the ability of Japan to preserve its longstanding traditions while adapting to the progressive political and socioeconomic state of international relations, Japan has proven adept at maintaining its heritage and traditions while adapting to the ever-changing global climate. As long ago as Commodore Perry’s landing in 1853, Japan first began matching the global movement toward industrialization. The vast, incalculable change that enveloped the world as industrial innovations arose now threatened the tradition that comprised Japan’s intricate fabric. Despite dismantling the traditional feudal system that defined so much of Japan’s nationalistic identity, the leaders in Japan managed to retain the reverent Confucian hierarchical framework that dictated the domestic social sectors, leaving an emperor as the governmental head.

Pyle takes a moment to emphasize this enormous shift in the domestic climate of Japan by providing a glimpse into the similar course of Germany at this time. In Germany, the radical shifts brought about by industrialization caused the modernization; like Japan, Germany was another nation that was rich in tradition and historical makeup. In the adoption of realpolitik, a Prussian doctrine that placed emphasis on nationalism and self interest, Germany retained its pride in the nation’s history and cultural uniqueness while industrialization took it to new heights of progress and socioeconomic prosperity. In order to maintain relevance in the changing global environment, Japan retained the samurai order of the feudal era as a theoretical foundation for all changes in domestic and global policy.

Pyle details some of the historical context that provided the ideological fundaments of Japan’s governmental policies. In 1905, for example, Japan experienced a monumental victory over Russia. This was one of the achievements that highlighted Japan as a serious international actor in the eyes of the global community. Japan’s soil is practically devoid of any natural resources; as a result, Japan must trade with other nations to have access to crops, fossil fuels, precious metals, and other natural resources. Through the adoption of the Western practice of colonization, Japan acquired Russian resources through its imperialistic expansion. Through this acquisition by force, Japan served as an example to other Asian nations, which turned toward similar methods to acquire the resources they lacked from countries that had them.

Japan slipped into a period of fascism in the 1930s. Once the United States retaliated against Japan for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan was humbled and was halted in its nationalistic ambitions as it devoted all of its resources to rebuilding itself after the U.S. forces devastated the nation.

Subsequently, during the Cold War, Japan developed a system of mercantilism as the basis of its foreign policy. At that time, Prime Minister, Shigeru Yoshida mapped out plans for Japan’s rehabilitation after the United States forced its surrender at the end of the second world war. Moving funds from military augmentations to an industry based on exports, Japan complied with the U.S. condition of Article 9, eradicating its military while devising a new use for the funds that was invaluable to Japan’s fiscal recovery. By zeroing in on the plethora of consumerist needs from the United States primarily, Japan began exporting its unique products while closing itself off to reciprocal importations from U.S. industries. In mere decades, Japan rose by capitalizing on its unique products for export and resisting excessive imports which would diminish the financial gains of its exportation market. It has ascended to the world’s second largest economy, the groundbreaking technology and electronics it exports creating an insurmountable force as other nations struggle to keep up with its technological breakthroughs.

At the conclusion of Pyle’s exhaustive detail of Japan and its historical uprising, the author discusses a ‘lost decade’ in which Japan was stagnant in virtually all competitive realms. After the Cold War, Japan seemed to endure a period of little progress and little achievement. In the 2001 election of Junichiro Kozumi, the country’s ambitions seemed to be galvanized again through various policies that removed roadblocks that were cumbersome to the creativity and development of new products. Koizumi removed regulations that impeded the progress of businesses. He also worked on many institutions that would keep the government honest in its dealings and created government accountability in areas where the Japan’s best interests were not the primary focus of a politician’s agenda. By casting aside the old corrupt ways of capitalistic cronyism, bureaucratic strongholds, and sectional dominance, Koizumi brought a new agenda of laissez-faire deregulations, constitutional revision and a system of checks and balances that would finally hold the government accountable for its actions.

Along with these policies, Japan solidified its commitment to an alliance with the United States by offering its aid in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The underlying hope is a abolishment of Article 9 due to its unbridled fidelity in assisting the United States’ cause. Another projected goal of Japan’s is an open trading policy with China. The attempts to appease the United States and China often run at cross purposes, which, Pyle predicts, will be a painstaking endeavor to balance the favor between Japan and both the United States and China.

In conclusion, Japan Rising is an invaluable resource into the cause and effect relationships and historical fabric that has made Japan what it is today. Through the course of foreign policy changes, regime shifts, and history’s indelible impact on the decision-making in Japan, Pyle has composed a brilliant, multidimensional text that truly explains the nature of what Japan was, is, and will become in the near future.