The Zaibatsu of Japan practically ran the nation's economy. Over the span of many decades going into the early 1900s, the families who owned these titanic businesses grew to possess plutocratic amounts of wealth.

Unchecked expansionism allowed their industrial combines to become vast mini-economies within the Japanese nation. But then, over a very short period of time, this vast wealth and income inequality abruptly ended. These families lost their control and then their companies. 

In this video, we are going to look at how Japan's richest families got to be so rich. How the authorities came to attack and consume their fortunes. And what doing so meant for the Japanese economy post-War.