Monday, May 27, 2019

Japan and Capitalism

japan Capitalism and the economic Miracle The global triumph of capitalism was the most signifi bathroomt historical issue of the 19th century. It was the triumph of a kind of society that believed in the fact that scotch development was ground on competitive private enterp pilfer and the success of acquire as much as possible from the market.It was considered that an economy resting on the solid foundations of the middle class, would not only create a conception of properly distri simplyed wealth, but similarly it would educate people, develop reasoning and increase human opportunity. Summarizing, a world of continuous and rapid material and moral development. The few obstacles that remained in the lead of this development would rapidly be solved or oercome. The history of this period is characterized by a massive break by in the global economy of industrial capitalism.Certain regions of the world beyond capitalism were put under pressure by the capitalist countries who tri ed to gain insight in their economies by opening spick-and-span markets, these regions were forced to choose between a determined resistance to fightds capitalism in accordance to their traditions and ways of life or a modernisation work on which would bring different cultural changes. Given this logic, japan was during the mid-nineteenth century under pressure from the foreign powers and the crisis of their system based on the Shoguns.This situation led to japan, to birth unwrap a complete transformation process (economic, political and social) known as the Meiji restoration, which marked the starting point of modern Nipponese society. The introduction of the unite States in the Pacific fin eithery brought lacquer to the center of occidental attempts to open their markets. Direct resistance was impossible, the weak attempts to organize had already be shown. The simple diplomatical concessions were no more than a temporary expedient.Already in 1853-1854, Commodore Perry, fr om the coupled States Navy had forced them to open certain(a) ports through the regular method of naval threatening. In 1862 the British, bombed the city of Kagoshima with complete impunity in retaliation for the murder of an Englishman by the lacquerese. The presence of Western forces was, at this point, a legitimate fact of the everyday Japanese life. publicationually in 1868 the Meiji Restoration was proclaimed, the Restoration based itself on the transfer of area power from the Shogun to the Emperor.This started a political, economic and social process that, after ten years of turmoil and provincial agrarian revolts led to the modernization of the state and study unity. Due to these facts the Meiji Restoration is considered the starting point of modern Japanese society. To carry out the task of modernization economic resources were anxiously needed in order to master the nobles resistance, to suppress revolts and upheavals of provincial farmers, to compensate land owners , to protect, to labor the industry and to installstate manufacturing complexes.It was also important to modernize and equalize the state, the armed services and the bureaucratic system. Due to the limited development of industrial capital, the new political science was forced to seek financial resources indoors the land, based on property taxes. But, in order to adapt to the changing needs of the state, these charges became tax money. These financial arrangements, launch by the politics of the restoration were the starting point of the land reforms.As for the early development of capitalism, the Japanese case marked clear differences with respect to what Western europium had already experienced. In the West the state centralized manufacturing were disappearing during the bourgeois revolution, while in Japan state factories developed across the country, based on the steel market. Cloth factories and their machinery were quickly upgraded through a process known as industrial rev olution from above, which is based on the help of the state to upgrade the existing industry.The number of state factories kept rising and peaked in the decade of the 1870-1880. After the 1880s, these companies protected by the government were then clear to public auction and were then bought by the capitalists monopoly, some of these industries grew as rich as Mitsui or Mitsubishi, who maintained close partake with the state. The Japanese revolution, allowed the development of mercantile activity and usurer capital of the old type, in order to avoid the abolishment of the feudal relations of land property, and to assure the freedom and autonomy of the self-employed person peasantry and small craftsmen.Although the classic capitalistic revolution involved the change from commercial capital to industrial capital, the Japanese revolution followed an other(a) path. In Japan the industrial revolution as well as the transformation of commercial capital into industrial capital came ab out under the monopoly of the rich capitalists, which showed the main difference from that of Western European capitalism. It is clear that this particular structure was determined by the agricultural and the feudal systems of land property, which ensured the survival and multiplication of feudal relations of production within the Japanese agri socialization.Revolutionary activists recognized that in order to carry out their purpose of saving the country, they required a process of systematic Westernization. By 1868 many had had contact with foreigners, some had even traveled abroad, people then began to recognize that conservation involved transformation. The driving force that moved Japan towards this transformation was its pursuit to arrest more Western. It looked like the West clearly had the secret of success and therefore Japan had to imitate it at all costs. Taking a set of determine nd institutions of another society and implementing it into the Japanese society was a sur prising, traumatic, and problematic attempt. However this attempt could not be done in a outward and poorly controlled way, especially in a society which was profoundly different from the West. Many began with a strong passion for the West and anything that came from across them. For some people, the refurbishment seemed to imply the abandonment of all that was Japanese, as they considered that all the past was barbaric and out of date.The proposals reached even to the renewal of the Japanese race, considered genetically inferior, and was began to be improved through interbreeding with the Western superior race, these suggestions were based on Western theories of racism and social Darwinism, they really found support at the higher and loaded Japanese classes. Certain styles of life, such as clothing or food, were less adopted than the technological or architectural styles and ideas from the West. Westernization here raised a study dilemma, unlike what had happened prior with the adoption of Chinese elements by the Japanese.Since all the Western was not as simple and as coherent, it was a whole complex of institutions and ideas which in many cases were opposite to the traditional Japanese culture. In practice, the Japanese chose the British model, which naturally served as guide towards the development of the railroad, the telegraph, textiles, and many other methods of business. France inspired the sanctioned reform and set the basis for the military reform. Universities based themselves on the German and American examples, as well as primary education, agricultural innovations and mailing systems.In 1875-1876 over five hundred foreign workers were employed, this number rose to three thousand by the 1890s. However choosing between the different political and ideological aspects was not that easy. Japan was politically against the liberal bourgeois systems of Britain and France. Liberalism was naturally opposed to the absolutist state, which was adopted in Japan after the Restoration. In turn, Westernization also was based on the adoptions of ideas, including Christianity which the Japanese people did not relate to.After some measure, a strong systemic reaction against Westernization and the liberal model began to rise within the country. This reaction manifested itself in the establishment of 1889, mostly because of a neotraditionalist reaction which virtually invented the Shinto, a new religion based on the worship of the emperor. At this time the combination of selective neotraditionalism and modernization kept rising and was creating and giving shape to the new system. However, there was tension between those who believed that Westernization meant a complete revolution and those who believed that it was the key to economic progress.Beyond these internal contradictions, Japan carried out an incredible process of modernization that made it a formidable modern power, setting them apart from the rest of the Asian countries. At this t ime it was clayey to imagine that, after half a century, Japan would be a great power capable of defeating their European counterparts in an armed confrontation. After the Restoration, the Meiji government had the task of fulfilling two main goals. On the one hand, they had to decide on whether or not to strengthen the army, in other words, to develop a military that allowed Japan to face the West.This decision marked the beginning of a disaster, as it is an important aspect to explain the origin of the appointments that led to Japan to participate in the Second World War. The second goal of the Meiji policy dealt with economic development. The decisions taken in this field would undoubtedly be the most successful and enduring aspects of the Revolution. The war left Japan with major(ip) problems over ten million unemployed, many demobilized former combatants, widespread destruction of homes and industrial plants, rising inflation, etc. Material losses were estimated to be at over a quarter of the national wealth.However, not all consequences were adverse. Unemployment meant that there was a lot of labor ready to use, the war had also raised the level of technology and production capacity of heavy industry in the field of iron, steel, machinery and chemicals. In addition to making use of these advantages, Japan had the United States behind their back. At set-back, the American aid was aimed towards achieving national self-sufficiency, taking measures to stop inflation (the Dodge plan 1949), coupled with substantial injections of capital and advanced technology.Another important event that had a direct impact on the Japanese movement towards capitalism was the Korean War. This war led the U. S. to invest twenty-three billion dollars in military spending. The occupation forces ordered every closed arm factory in Japan to be put into service, in full production, representing a major incentive for the Japanese production. In turn, the United Statesboosted the J apanese trade, especially in Southeast Asia, where treaties were signed ordering Japan to provide different articles and services to countries that had previously been occupied.None of this would have been possible without a regeneration of the Japanese industry itself. From 1946, Japan started to create a series of economic, financial and banking institutions in order to stimulate economic recovery. The Council of Economic Stimulation was created with the mission of coordinating production and economic growth, and the Reconstruction Bank which had to channel capital to certain industries to achieve the stimulation. Following this, in 1948, the Economic Stabilization Board was formed, aiming to rise production levels, the following year the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was established.These institutions, along with the contribution from the United States, had laid the foundation on which the splendid building of Japanese economic development would later be later ere cted. Several factors contributed to this along with a consistent policy of official support. The worlds economy had entered a period of expansion, the Japanese industry enjoyed good relations between companies, facilitating the movement of employees to different industries and to higher productivity jobs, making it to be the key to further economic development.Other factors were the United States transfer of technology to Japan, social changes such as land reform and the development of trade unions, which contributed to the improvement of the diffusion of income and an expansion of the domestic market. With these stimuli the Japanese industry quickly recovered and was then beginning to expand. In the 1960s, the Japanese economy was dominated by a comparatively small number of large-scale manufacturing firms such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Fuji and Sumtono, every one of which had at least seventy different affiliates.Besides these groups there were several companies that offered relat ively new products such as electronics and automobiles. Including many of what today are worldwide firms such as Hitachi, Toyota, or Nissan. Because of the control from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), they all enjoyed certain protection against foreign competition, while at the same time they were competing for a position in the domestic market, in order to avoid national monopolies.Another feature at this time was the development of products that needed advanced technology and heavy capital investment this included industries such as steel and petrochemicals, consumer goods, cameras, televisions, boats, motorcycles and of course, cars. Japan was then becoming one of the largest producers of boats, cameras, televisions and cars in the world. In 1970, just over 30% of exports went to the United States, about 15% to Western Europe and more than 15% to Southeast Asia, where the main buyers were Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore.As 1973 finished the oil crisis began, resulting in the worldwide economic changes that ended the Japanese phase of exceptionally rapid economic growth. As a country dependent on oil, Japan experienced a huge increase in their import bills and a general rise on their prices. rising slope oil prices had their biggest impact on high users of energy such as the steel industry and petrochemical industries which were once the center of the Japanese economic miracle. On the other hand, the global recession caused a fall in foreign demand for products such as boats, machinery and tools.When these changes began to take place, politicians from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry discrete to reorient the industry moving away from the manufacturing of products that heavily relied on imported raw materials and focusing (especially through technological innovations) on the new technologies that reflected higher and newer principles. This grade included the automotive industry, by 1980 Japan produced more cars than the United States, the computer industry also suffered a major development.Balance between trade imports and exports in Japan had a surplus for twenty years, which allowed substantial capital outflows in the long run. After some years and because of this Japan became one of the major creditor countries in the world. By the late 1987, Japanese investment abroad had reached a profit of twenty-three billion dollars. United States was the country where most of the investments were made, six hundred Japanese factories were based on American soil, about a hundred of which were electronics, automobiles or any other kind of technological machinery.The Meiji Restoration marked the beginning of modern Japanese society, introducing a process of modernization in a western manner. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the global triumph of capitalism, and the ideas and beliefs that seemed to legitimize it, were moving certain regions of the world (apart from the w est) towards this new set of ideas. Resistance to outside pressure did never occur, and modernization presented itself as the only means towards conservation and tradition.For a hundred years, the conflict on whether to live by an Asian fashion or by modern Western fashion was a constant theme of Japanese society. The first move towards modernization took place during the Meiji Revolution Westernization was the driving force for the transformation of Japan, since the West had the key to success and therefore, the rest had to imitate them. Almost every event that took place since 1945, seemed to strengthen the trend towards modern Parliamentary Democracy the government bureaucratic structure, trade unions, the education system, etc.Everything had its origin in European and American culture and was imitated later on by other countries. Same happened in all aspects of daily life buses and trains, offices and factories, television, newspaper, clothing, even food. On the other hand, I ne ed to formulate that the code of ethics is still largely Confucian. Nor should we ignore religion as a link with tradition because, after the war, there has been a considerable rise of new religious movements, most of whom claim to have traditional backgrounds. These phenomena are not something modern, and certainly not Western.However, it may now make perceive not to identify the Japanese as Asians. Much of the Japanese culture and tradition traces its origins to cultures outside of Japan, but these different habits had been so completely assimilated over time that had become in fact Japanese. It is in this sense why Japan cannot completely be defined as having an Asian identity neither can it be framed within the set of traits defined by the West. Japan must be understood as a society with their own characteristics which draw a nation economically and culturally unique.Bibliography Gerlach, Michael L.. Alliance capitalism the social organization of Japanese business. Berkeley U niversity of California Press, 1992. Print. Marshall, Byron K.. Capitalism and nationalism in prewar Japan the ideology of the business elite, 1868-1941. Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press, 1967. Print. Sakakibara, Eisuke. Beyond capitalism the Japanese model of market economics. Lanham, MD University Press Of America, 1993. Print. Shinto (religion) Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Encyclopedia.Web. 28 March. 2011. . Tavares, Maria da Conceicao, Ernani Teixeira Filho, y Leonardo Burlamaqui. Japon un caso ejemplar de capitalismo organizado. Santiago de Chile CEPAL, Comision Economica rica Latina y el Caribe, 1993. Print. Meiji Restoration (Japanese history) Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. . Meiji Restoration/Revolution in Japan. San Jose State University Powering Silicon Valley. Web. 2 Apr. 2011. . 2 . Meiji Restoration/Revolution in Japan. San Jose State University Poweri ng Silicon Valley. Web. 2 Apr. 2011. . 3 . Tavares, Maria da Conceicao, Ernani Teixeira Filho, y Leonardo Burlamaqui. Japon un caso ejemplar de capitalismo organizado. Santiago de Chile CEPAL, Comision Economica rica Latina y el Caribe, 1993. Print. 4 . Gerlach, Michael L..Alliance capitalism the social organization of Japanese business. Berkeley University of California Press, 1992. Print. 5 . Marshall, Byron K.. Capitalism and nationalism in prewar Japan the ideology of the business elite, 1868-1941. Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press, 1967. Print. 6 . Marshall, Byron K.. Capitalism and nationalism in prewar Japan the ideology of the business elite, 1868-1941. Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press, 1967. Print. 7 . Tavares, Maria da Conceicao, Ernani Teixeira Filho, y Leonardo Burlamaqui.Japon un caso ejemplar de capitalismo organizado. Santiago de Chile CEPAL, Comision Economica rica Latina y el Caribe, 1993. Print. 8 . Shinto (religion) Britannica Online En cyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 28 March. 2011. . 9 . Sakakibara, Eisuke. Beyond capitalism the Japanese model of market economics. Lanham, MD University Press Of America, 1993. Print. 10 . Meiji Restoration (Japanese history) Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 1 Apr. 2011.

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