The Economic Miracle period witnessed, as its name suggests, tremendous economic growth throughout Japan. However, that growth came at a cost to Japan’s organized working class as well as white collar workers whose pursuit of productivity often compromised their health.
Ikeda Hayato managed to garner the necessary support to become the President of the LDP and the Prime Minister of Japan after Kishi Nobusuke’s resignation in 1960. He would prove to be almost the polar opposite of his arch-conservative predecessor, creating much of the social safety net which Japan continues to enjoy today. His successor, Sato Eisaku, lobbied for the return of Okinawa Prefecture and was forced to wrangle with complicated geopolitical challenges and domestic disturbances.
Conservatives and Leftists both experienced party mergers after the 1955 general election. However, it was the Liberal Democratic Party who would emerge as the big winner for the foreseeable future.
The Allied occupation changed Japan’s social norms in a variety of ways. When the occupation ended, some of those changes would remain while others would fall by the wayside. In the midst of rebuilding, economic chaos, and privation, the Japanese film industry entered its golden age.
Japan’s economy expanded rapidly during the postwar rebuild – too rapidly. Hyperinflation created unrest and frustration which the labor movement hoped to harness. Meanwhile, the diet passed a sweeping land reform which radically transformed Japan’s agrarian sector.
While the Allied occupation forces had initially supported the restoration of far-left parties to Japan’s political arena, the advent of the Cold War led to a reversal of sorts which included de-purging those who had supported imperial-era war crimes and purging some on the left whose loyalty to the US was in doubt.
The aftermath of the Pacific War led to an Allied occupation of Japan, during which time Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) Douglas MacArthur and his subordinates attempted to reorganize the Japanese state away from militaristic authoritarianism and transform it into a contemporary liberal democracy.
Although the Axis Powers were clearly losing ground throughout late 1944 and early 1945, Japan continued fighting for months after Germany surrendered, often exacting horrific casualties upon both Allied forces and their own civilian populations. The Allies turned to extreme measures in hopes of forcing the unconditional surrender which they sought, culminating in the first use of nuclear weapons in history.
Prime Minister Tojo Hideki planned two major offensives for 1944 which he hoped would reverse the Empire of Japan’s fortunes in the Pacific War while Allied forces continued to make costly but successful incursions onto Japanese territory.
Resistance grows in the Philippines as Allied forces in the Pacific continue making incursions onto Japanese territory. Meanwhile, a new offensive effort in China as well as a fresh German offensive against Russia threatens to tilt the war back in favor of the Axis Powers.