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A Short History of Japan: from Samurai to Sony M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page i A short history of Japan M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page ii Dr Curtis Andressen is a senior lecturer in the School of Political and International Studies at Flinders University, South Australia. He has been a willing student of Japan for over two decades and has spent several years living there. Curtis Andressen has published widely on a variety of aspects of contemporary Japanese Society and is co-author of Escape from Affluence: Japanese students in Australia and author of Educational Refugees: Malaysian students in Australia. Series Editor: Milton Osborne Milton Osborne has had an association with the Asian region for over 40 years as an academic, public servant and inde- pendent writer. He is the author of eight books on Asian topics, including Southeast Asia: An introductory history, first published in 1979 and now in its eighth edition, and, most recently, The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future, pub- lished in 2000. M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page iii A short history of Japan From Samurai to Sony Curtis Andressen M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page iv For my parents, Thorsten and Marilyn Andressen Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. First published in 2002 Copyright © Curtis Andressen, 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Andressen, Curtis A. (Curtis Arthur), 1956– . A short history of Japan: from samurai to Sony. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 1 86508 516 2. 1. Japan—History. I. Title. 952 Figures from A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilisations, Second Edition by Conrad Schirokaner, © 1989 by Harcourt, Inc. reproduced by permission of the publisher. Set in 11/13 pt Sabon by DOCUPRO, Canberra Printed by South Wind Productions, Singapore 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations viii 1Introduction 1 2 In the beginning 16 3 Chaos to unity: Feudalism in Japan 47 4 Modernisation and imperialism 78 5 War and peace 104 6 The miracle economy 128 7 Japan as number one? 147 8 Bursting bubbles 178 9 The way ahead 210 Glossary 223 Notes 228 Selected further reading 231 Bibliography 236 Sources 240 Index 241 v M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page vi Japan’s lands and cities. M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS o book is written without a lot of support. Many N Japanese friends and colleagues over the years provided valuable insights into their society. Keen Western observers of Japan also helped me to understand Japanese culture, and prominent here is Peter Gainey. A number of people provided a great deal of help in the editing stage, including my hardworking parents and Andrew MacDonald. Peter, again, proved to be invaluable at this stage. Debbie Hoad was a dedicated and creative research assistant. I also owe a debt to Professor Colin Brown for his encouragement to undertake this task. Any errors or omissions, of course, remain the responsibility of the author. Finally, a special thank you to Blanca Balmes, for her love and unwavering support. vii M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page viii ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank ANA All Nippon Airways APEC Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation forum ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations CEO chief executive officer DAC development assistance committee EEOL equal employment opportunity law EU European Union FTA US–Canada Free Trade Agreement GDP gross domestic product GNP gross national product JAL Japan Airlines JNR Japan National Railways JR Japan Railways LDP Liberal Democratic Party MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry MOF Ministry of Finance NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NEC Nippon Electric Company NIC newly industrialising country NIE newly industrialising economy NTT Nippon Telephone and Telegraph viii M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:56 PM Page ix Abbreviations ODA official development assistance OECD Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries POW prisoner of war PRC People’s Republic of China SCAP Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers SDF Self Defence Forces SDPJ Social Democratic Party of Japan UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia ix This Page Intentionally Left Blank M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:53 PM Page 1 1 INTRODUCTION EW COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN the subject of so much Fscholarly attention yet remain so elusive. Who exactly are the Japanese? Are they peace-loving or war-like? Creators of stunningly beautiful art forms or destroyers of pristine natural environments? Isolationist or expansionist? Considerate of other cultures or arrogantly dismissive? Willing members of the international community or shy and fearful of engaging with others? Wildly successful or perched on the edge of economic ruin? Newspapers over the past few decades have provided all of these images. In the late 1980s Japan appeared on the verge of an economic takeover of the world. The purchase of Columbia Pictures by Sony and the Rockefeller Center by Mitsubishi Real Estate at the time were two of the more dramatic examples of Japanese economic power. In Australia residents of Queensland’s Gold Coast (with the notable exception of local real estate agents) protested the Japanese buy-up of prime real estate. The reaction in many parts of the world was fear. Movies such as Rising Sun intimated that there was a rather sinister plot by inscrutable kingpins to make Japan the next superpower by taking control of the global economy. Yet governments around the world at the time vied for the 1 M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:53 PM Page 2 A Short History of Japan investment opportunities held out tantalisingly by Japanese megafirms. So what happened? Since the early 1990s this image has been turned on its head. Suddenly Japan is a giant with feet of clay. Financial institutions are closing their doors, or merg- ing, and their leaders are being marched off to jail or are hanging themselves in hotel rooms. At the same time, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in power almost continuously since the end of the Pacific War, has managed to remain in control of the government, while voter apathy—reflected in the 1995 election of former comedians as governors of both Tokyo and Osaka—is at an all-time high. The recession in Japan, which has dragged on for more than a decade, seems to present a problem too large and complex for the govern- ment to handle. Politicians appear unable to dissociate themselves from long-standing interest groups, so stimulus packages designed to pull Japan out of recession continue to take the form of pork-barrelling, with massive contracts awarded to construction companies and the like who in turn fill LDP coffers. Unfortunately, the money is not spent effec- tively, public confidence has not been restored, and Japan’s economy in the early twenty-first century continues to slump. Part of the problem concerns the demographic profile of Japanese society. Voting is not compulsory, and those who vote are disproportionately older and more conservative, so out- dated policies tend to endure. Japan also has a very rapidly ageing population, with high numbers of people entering retirement over the next ten to twenty years. At the same time the birthrate has dropped to its lowest levels ever, so there are fewer and fewer people to support an ageing population. Hence, when contemplating retirement, older Japanese workers have a tendency to save even more than usual. This lack of spending continues to inhibit economic recovery. Japanese companies, too, which appeared unstoppable in the 1980s, are suddenly looking for international partners to help them out of their dire financial straits, hence the recent link-up between Nissan and the French automobile company Renault, preceded by the American company Ford’s massive 2 M4.47377 SHJPDF F5 Dn 6/27/02 8:53 PM Page 3 Introduction purchase of Mazda shares. At the same time many Japanese companies, which continue to make world-class products, are posting record profits, and through the 1990s recession Japan enjoyed huge trade surpluses. It is an unusual type of economic downturn. Furthermore, Japan continues to hold by far the greatest foreign exchange reserves of any country in the world, is second only to Germany in overseas assets and has been the world’s largest creditor nation since 1985. The country pro- vides nearly 16 per cent of the world’s economic output and is therefore, for a range of reasons, watched carefully by other countries. On the international front, however, Japan is relatively subdued.
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