The war period brought about incomprehensible suffering and death throughout the world. It ended with the surrender aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. The US would then seize control of the Japanese islands and begin to rebuild Japan, not so much as to help the people of Japan but to contain the spread of communism. The US policy towards Japan was sold as a way of helping to rebuild a defeated enemy but in reality, was used as a pawn to advance US political interests and the financial interests of individual politicians and military officers.

The post-war period was a time when the Japanese public suffered a crisis of identity. The economic and social challenges from the war only compounded the terrible human cost of the war but Japan would experience a rise through the ashes to become a world superpower within only a few decades (theme here). This wave of growth and progress came to a halt when the economic consequences of Japanese monetary policy came home to roost in the 1990’s. Today we will explore The post-war period and the Economic miracle on ICD.