Economic Wealth Of Japan “At Any Cost”
Overall, this has been largely negative for the Japanese people and the environmental health of their nation. The history of Japan is quite complicated due to its long way of reaching current economic wealth. The country experienced an increase in economy by industrialization and colonialism before the beginning of World War II. However, Japan’s way to successful economic growth was disrupted by the respond of the United States to a Japanese invasion (World Regional Geography, 2016). That is why, Japan had to recover from American bombarding and reorganize their destroyed economic and industrial sectors.
This essay will argue that it was extremely important for Japan to reach an economic wealth “at any cost” no matter what consequences it would bring to people and the nation in general. The “at any cost” strategy was noticeable in Japan even before the World War II. Aiming to reach the industrialization, it started to colonize resource-rich regions, thus, getting the necessary raw materials and developing the manufacturing sector. It was Japanese industrial revolution, when they realized that for better development of the economy, they had to set a higher target and “grow” from using samurai swords and wooden ships. However, for that purpose local people were working as a major labor force (World Regional Geography, 2016).
This development and industrialization pattern actually demonstrates the way Japan was pursuing economic growth by taking Great Britain into account. In the late nineteenth, the country was willing to become one of the world’s most powerful colonial empires. In fact, Japan was not one of those countries with a big amount of resources and large storage of goods. Despite the above mentioned issue, it still was searching for possible resolutions and sources for their future manufacturing.
Analyzing the actions that Japan was taking in order to reach its target, we can conclude that the plan of colonization was quite effective and the goal was completed for a certain time. There is a clear evidence that via finding an alternative solution to the problem of goods, such as iron and coal, Japan demonstrated its economic wealth “at any cost” strategy even in the period of time before the war. After being economically destroyed in World War II, Japan had to recover in order to reach the goal of becoming one of the world’s most powerful countries. The colonies were retrieved and the amount of goods and resources was extremely limited. Therefore, Japan had to find a suitable alternative that could be able to reconstruct their economic sector and enhance the previous economic power. It seems to be extremely challenging to rebuild the economy and gain the name of “economic dragon” of Asia despite the consequences of the war.
However, Japan demonstrated the rapid economic growth and has returned its competitiveness. After the World War II, particularly in 1950, the country began to industrialize again. A number of new advanced technologies and business models were introduced to the Japanese economy via importing them from the western countries. Following the theory of international trade where a certain country exports its most prevalent resources, Japan shifted to mostly exporting products of heavy and chemical industry instead of those of the light industries. In 1960 they started to manufacture resources and export automobiles and electronic devices. A year later, in 1961, Japan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 12% in one year (Takayama 2017, 4). This kind of growth pattern was continuous. Since they started to import technologies and machinery, it is undoubted that manufacture and industry levels soared.
Considering the fact that the two above mentioned branches are highly important for a development of the economy, Japan was on the right way. However, there was a hidden side of such a large economic achievement. There is a clear evidence of Japan pursuing economic growth and sustainable development at any cost, despite the consequences that such strategy might bring. In the period of time between 1932 and 1968 a Chisso Corporation was producing petrochemicals and plastics and at this relatively short period nearly 27 tons of mercury was thrown to the bay of Minamata.
The consequences were frightening and this also created a chain of issues related to it. The fish was poisoned, spreading diseases among people who ate them. People suffered from illnesses that made them paralyzed and unable to speak. There were cases of infants being born with illnesses because of poisoning via the placenta (McCurry 2006, 99). According to Funabashi (2006, 10), the mortality rate caused by the Minamata disease was 36.7%.
The above mentioned facts demonstrate how the local population was affected by the industry. Without question, manufacture of goods and industry are beneficial as they make a significant contribution to the economy. Nevertheless, we should consider the fact that not a single country could grow and develop sustainably by damaging its environment and health of the population. Therefore, we can clearly notice how Japan was obsessed with pursuing an economic wealth by the damage they brought to the nation.Japan had an exact goal and a cause to complete it. Their economy was disrupted right after they intended to build a colonial empire in order to resolve the problem of the limited amount of resources for manufacturing. This issue did not prevent them from developing their industrial sector. They had to become economically powerful and despite not having enough resources, they managed to find a solution by colonization. In fact, this was the positive implementation of “at any cost” concept. Japan’s aspiration to exceed in economy in the above mentioned way did not particularly harm the environmental health of the nation and the whole country. However, by advancing and implementing the industry, an environment and a significant number of Japanese population endured the detrimental consequences from it. In this case, Japanese government allocated too much attention to improving the quality of economy instead of providing a better life for their population.
Reference List:
- Takayama, Shino. 2017. “Japanese Economy: From Miraculous Growth To The Lost Decades”. Ecodate 25(1): 3-9. Accessed October 1, 2018. http://ezproxy.nu.edu.kz:2059
- McCurry, Justin. 2006. “Japan Remembers Minamata”. Lancet 367(9505): 99-100. Accessed October 2, 2018. http://ezproxy.nu.edu.kz:2084/
- Funabashi, Harutoshi. 2006. “Minamata Disease and Environmental Governance”. International Journal of Japanese Sociology 15(1): 7-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6781.2006.00082.x
- World Regional Geography: People, Places and Globalization. 2016. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition.
