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Outline I. Japan &# 038; America A. OvervieLocation 2. Population 3. Language 4. Flag 5.
Map of Japan 6. Cultural Overview B. World War Pearl Harbor 2. Declare War 3.
VJ Day 4. Postwar Japan 5. Re-Arming Japan C. InternmenInternment 2. Relocation 3. Requirements 4.
Aftermath D. Religio Buddhism 2. Kamakura Diabusta 3. Converting 4. Role of Religion in Japanese Culture E. Japanese Economy 1.
Trading Partners 2. Technology Race 3. Stock Market Systems 4. Management Styles 5. Recent Banking System Collapse 6. Production of Cars &# 038; Move to Produce Autos in U.
S. 7. Japanese Investments in the U. S. F. LeisurHarmonyLand 2. Harmony Land II 3.
Puroland 4. Puroland Picture 5. Seagaia 6. Map 7. Tourism G.
Sport Favorite Activities 2. Golf 3. Baseball 4. Handball 5. Famous Teams 6. Olympic Ski Jumping Heroes H.
Cartoon Anime Picture 2. What is Anime? 3. Popularity in America I. NintendHistory of Company 2.
The Beginning 3. Rise of Japanese Technology in Game Systems 4. First Systems-Nintendo 5. Super Nintendo 6. Next Wave of 64 Bit Systems a) Nintendo 64 b) Competition from Sony Playstation 7. Mario Symbol of Nintendo 8.
SNES 1 9. SNES 2 10. Game Boy J. Land of the Rising Sun/Conclusion 1.
Japans Future 2. Relationship With the U. Japan, the untrustworthy little giant or the United States trading partner? Do we need them as much as they need us, or can we close down our economic ties with Japan and still have a healthy economy? After World War II, I believe that most United States citizens wanted to crush Japan to punish them for the war. The United States government and business leaders knew, however, that Japan was a good place to export American made goods.
Clearly the United States wanted to disarm Japan but they also wanted to be able to trade freely with Japan and export our goods to the citizens of Japan. In many respects this would be our reparation for the suffering they caused us during World War II. The United States, however did not anticipate that Japan would become the economic giant that it became in the relatively short time years following World War II. A country that may have lost the war but won the bigger battle for economic supremacy that cause the United States to re-tool and re-think its manufacturing policies. It is important to understand the history of Japan and how the United States miscalculated what they though was Japans cultural limitations to truly understand how the United States helped and watched helplessly as Japan built itself into an economic giant that competes with the United States for supremacy. Japan is an island country in eastern Asia.
It is made up of four large islands and more than 1, 000 smaller islands. The Sea of Okhotsk is to the north of Japan, the Pacific Ocean is on the east and south of Japan, as well as the East China Sea to the south, and on the west, Japan is bounded the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. The four major islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the largest island), Shikoku, and Kyushu. The combined area of these islands is about 140, 000 square miles (Encarta, Japan).
Tokyo is Japans capital and largest City. The estimated population of Japan in 1996 was 125 million people. Seventy-eight percent of the population live in urban areas and the population density is 860 persons per square mile (Encarta, Japan). This compares to the United States population of 267 million people, more than twice Japans population, with 75 percent of the population living in urban areas, which compares almost exactly to Japan but the United States has only 76 persons per square mile compared to Japans 860 per square mile (Encarta, Japan). The red disc on the Japanese flag represents sincerity and passion, and the white background represents honesty and purity.
The sun has been the symbol of Japan and the emperor since at least the 14 th century. The flag was officially adopted in 1870 (Encarta, Japan). The earliest record of Japans existence is from 660 BC. Early documents indicate that the first Emperor, Jimmy, ascended the throne in 660 BC.
In 400 AD Chinese culture and technology began to filter into Japan (Encarta, Japan). Confucianism and Buddhism spread through out Japan. In 1192 the first Shogun, or military head of the Japanese government was appointed by the Emperor. In 1543 Europeans began arriving to trade and spread Christianity (Encarta, Japan).
In the 1600 s Japan cut ties with the outside world and stopped the spread of Christianity through out the islands. In 1854 American Commodore Perry secured a treaty that opened Japan to foreign trade and by 1912 Japan was fully modernized (Encarta, Japan). Japan established itself as a world power in 1905 by defeating the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea and in 1937 Japan went to war with China and by 1938 Japan occupied most of China (Encarta, Japan). Japans military expansion and its growing political dominance in Asia began to worry the United States. Relations between the two countries were further strained by the growing immigration of Japanese to the United States.
The American labor movement resented the Japanese who were willing to work for lower wages and work longer hours. In 1906, after Japanese and United States negotiations, they agreed to limit the number of Japanese laborers allowed to enter the United States (Encarta, Japan). The American labor movement never believed that the problems with Japanese immigrants was fully resolved and they continued to believe that the Japanese were taking jobs away from U. S.
citizens. This anti-Japanese sentiment continued for years but Japan was actually on the side of the United States in World War I to fight Germany and China. In the settlement after World War I, Japan was given the Pacific Islands and almost complete dominance over Asia (Encarta, Japan). Several treaties was signed that loosen Japans dominance over Asia and restore land to China but Japan never fully honored these treaties.
In 1926 Hirohito, the grandson of the Emperor Meiji, succeeded to the throne and declared enlightened peace as the official designation for his reign but in 1927 the Prime Minister, General Baron Tanaka Giichi resumed an aggressive policy towards China (Encarta, Japan). This was due primarily to Japans expansion in industry and the need to place its products in new markets (China and Asia). The Chinese did not take this new aggressive policy lightly. Japan began the military occupation of Manchuria but the Chinese resented Japans interference in what was really part of China. The League of Nations protested the occupation of Manchuria and Japan officially withdrew from the League in 1935 (Encarta, Japan). Japan then began an aggressive military occupation of China to stop the boycott of Japanese goods by the Chinese.
At this point Japan was really being lead by the military and war with China began in 1937. The beginning of World War II in Europe gave Japan new opportunity for military dominance in Asia. Japan signed treaties with the Axis powers Germany and Italy and a neutrality pact eventually with Russia. This allowed Japan to move more aggressively in French territories, the East Indies and in the Netherlands (Encarta, Japan). The United States became increasingly concerned over the protection of American property in eastern Asia. In October of 1941, General Tojo Hideki, became the Prime Minister and Minister of War.
He was anti-American. The United States continued to try and negotiate a treaty with Japan but that stopped with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese without warning attacked the United States military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This was the main naval base for the United States. After the attack the United States declared war on Japan, as well as all the other Allied powers, except Russia. The first two years of World War II saw the dominance of the Japanese military in the Pacific Ocean.
The tide began to turn in the Battle of the Coral Seas and the defeat of the Japanese in the Battle of Midway. In 1944 General Douglas MacArthur drove out the Japanese one island at a time. During that time Tojo was forced to resign weakening the military hold on the Japanese government. In 1944 the United States began a series of bombing raids over Japan. Eventually the United States used the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 on the City of Hiroshima and two days later on the Japanese City of Nagasaki. The Allied Powers agreed that only unconditional surrender would be acceptable from the Japanese government and on August 14, 1945 Japan accepted the Allied terms signing the formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 (Encarta, Japan).
Perhaps Americas greatest shame during World War II was the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II. By the spring of 1942, over 110, 000 people of Japanese descent were moved into Internment Camps as the U. S. called them Encarta, Internment of Japanese Americans). The Reason?
The United States thought that if they looked like the enemy, they were the enemy. The U. S. government then issued a statement saying that We are just trying to protect our military technology from sabotage. Some of the Japanese Americans took the United States government all the way to the Supreme Court to fight the Internment policies but the Supreme Court wasnt much help.
The Supreme Court listened to the case Korematsu vs. The United States, and ruled that in case of war, keeping the Japanese locked up was legal. In recent years the United States government has apologized to the citizens interned during World War II. The United States Army was designated, by the Allied powers, as the army of occupation in the Japanese home islands. General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
The objectives of the occupation policy were declared to be, basically, the democratization of the Japanese government and the reestablishment of a peacetime industrial economy sufficient for the Japanese population. MacArthur was directed to exercise his authority through the emperor and existing government machinery as far as possible. Among other Allied objectives were the dissolution of the great industrial and banking trusts, the assets of which were seized in 1946 and later liquidated (Encarta, Japan). A program of land reform, designed to give the tenant farmers an opportunity to purchase the land they worked, was in operation by 1947, and an education program along democratic lines was organized. Women were given the franchise in the first postwar Japanese general election in April 1946, and 38 women were elected to the Japanese Diet. Subsequently the Diet completed the draft of a new constitution, which became effective in May 1947 (Encarta, Japan).
The rehabilitation of the Japanese economy was more difficult than the reorganization of the government. The scarcity of food had to be offset by imports from the Allied powers and from the United States in particular. Severe bombings during the war had almost nullified Japanese industrial capacity. By the beginning of 1949 aid to Japan was costing the United States more than $ 1 million a day (Encarta, World War II). Beginning in May 1949 work stoppages took place in various Japanese industries, notably coal mining. The government accused the Communist Party, which had polled 3 million votes in a recent national election, of instigating the strike movement for political purposes, and MacArthur concurred in this view.
Subsequently the government launched a large-scale investigation of Communist activities. Mac Arthurs labor policies were sharply criticized in June 1949 by the Soviet member of the Allied Control Council. In his reply, MacArthur accused the USSR of fomenting disorder in Japan through the Communist Party and of callous indifference in repatriating Japanese prisoners of war (Encarta, Japan). For the next year communism and repatriation were dominant issues in national politics. The Soviet Union announced in April 1950 that, excluding approximately 10, 000 war criminals, all prisoners (94, 973) had been returned to Japan, but according to Japanese records more than 300, 000 prisoners were still in custody of the USSR (Encarta, Soviet Union). Allied negotiations during 1950 relative to a Japanese peace treaty were marked by basic differences between the United States and the Soviet Union on several issues, especially whether China should participate in the drafting of the document.
In May the American statesman John Foster Dulles, adviser to the U. S. secretary of state, was named to prepare the terms of the treaty. More than a year of consultations and negotiations with and among the Allied powers, Japan, and East Asian nations that had fought against Japan culminated, on July 12, 1951, in the publication of the draft treaty. The USSR, which had been consulted also, maintained that the document was conducive to the resurgence of Japanese militarism (Encarta, Soviet Union). The peace conference opened in San Francisco in early September.
Of the nations invited, India, Burma, and Yugoslavia refused to attend. During the conference discussion was limited to the previously prepared treaty text, a procedure that nullified Soviet attempts to reopen negotiations on its various provisions. Forty-nine countries, including Japan, signed the treaty; the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Poland refused to do so (Encarta, Japan). By the terms of the treaty, Japan renounced all claims to Korea, Taiwan, the Kurils, Sakhalin, and former mandated islands and relinquished any special rights and interests in China and Korea; the right of Japan to defend itself and enter into collective security arrangements was recognized; and Japan accepted in principle the validity of reparations claims, to be paid in goods and services in view of the countrys insufficient financial resources (Encarta, Japan). At the same time, the United States and Japan signed a bilateral agreement providing for the maintenance of U. S.
military bases and armed forces in and around Japan to protect the disarmed country from aggression or from large-scale internal disturbances (encarta, United States). On April 28, 1952, the Japanese peace treaty was signed which allowed Japan to fully govern itself. There was a time when Made in Japan meant inferior quality goods. The United States was literally asleep at the wheel when Japan became dominate in the production of automobiles and electronic goods. Before the United States knew what was happening Japan had passed them in their technology and ability to deliver a low cost and high quality product at prices well below United States prices. Japan in the early 1980 s faced urban overcrowding, environmental pollution, and unproductive agriculture, but had the highest rate of economic growth and the lowest inflation rate among leading industrial nations.
Economic growth began to slow in the mid- 1980 s, in part because the yens strength against the U. S. dollar had a dampening effect on exports (Mcintyre, Doom and Gloom, 2). Hirohito died in January 1989, and his son Akihito succeeded him as emperor, inaugurating what was officially called the reign of Heisei (achieving peace). In April Takes hita resigned as prime minister as the result of a bribery and influence-peddling scandal; his successor, Uno Sosuke, implicated in a scandal, resigned in July and was replaced by Kaifu Toshiba (Mcintyre, Doom and Gloom, 2).
The LDP won decisively in the parliamentary elections of February 1990, even though the Tokyo stock market had begun a decline that would last until mid- 1992 and see the Nikkei average lose almost two-thirds of its value. Unable to cope with economic troubles and lacking the confidence of prominent party members, Kaifu was replaced in late 1991 by another veteran politician, Miyazawa Kiichi. National attention was diverted in June 1993 by the marriage of Crown Prince Naruhito to a commoner, Ozawa Mask (Encarta, Japan). Confidence in the government continued to decline as the Japanese public became increasingly frustrated with the stagnant Japanese economy and corruption in the government (Mcintyre, Doom and Gloom, 2). In June 1993 several Liberal Democrats, led by Hata Tsutomu and Ozawa Ichiro, defected from the party, enabling minority parties in the parliament to band together and force new parliamentary elections. In the July elections the Liberal Democrats lost their majority, ending their 38 -year dominance of the Japanese government.
A fragile seven-party coalition was formed; the LDP became the main opposition party. Hosokawa Morihiro, a former Liberal Democrat and leader of one of the coalition parties, was elected to head the government. However, amid allegations that he had accepted an illegal loan in 1982, Hosokawa stepped down in early April 1994. Later that month, the seven-party coalition chose Hata as Prime Minister.
Soon afterward, the largest of the seven parties withdrew from the coalition, leaving Hata without a majority in the Lower House of the parliament. He subsequently resigned in late June. Murayama Tomiichi, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDPJ; formerly the Japan Socialist Party), was elected prime minister a few days later, becoming the first Socialist to lead Japan since 1948 (Mcintyre, Doom and Gloom, 2). Meanwhile, Ozawa led a merger of the major reform parties to form the New Frontier Party (NFP), which became the leading opposition party. Murayama, whose coalition government was weak, resigned in January 1996, and the Diet elected LDP leader and former trade minister Hashimoto Ryutaro to the post. During the early and mid- 1990 s Japan and Russia continued their territorial dispute over the four southernmost Kuril Islands.
Relations were further strained in August 1994 when the Russian coast guard fired at Japanese fishing boats near the islands. Despite these differences, relations between Japan and Russia improved in December 1994 when Japan agreed to provide Russia with economic and humanitarian aid, which it had previously made conditional on the return of the islands. In April 1996 Prime Minister Hashimoto and Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed to revive efforts to settle the dispute. At a summit meeting in April 1996, the leaders of the United States and Japan signed a military-cooperation agreement calling for Japan to provide logistical support for U. S. forces in UN peacekeeping operations.
At the same time, the United States agreed to return about 20 percent of the land it occupies on Okinawa, where protests against the U. S. military presence had become heated after the September 1995 abduction and rape of a 12 -year-old girl by three U. S. soldiers. In September 1996 Hashimoto, who had become Prime Minister after Murayama resigned in January, dissolved the Diet and called for new elections to be held in October.
Hashimoto chose to call elections early in order to take advantage of his high popularity in the polls. The elections resulted in his party failing to win a majority of seats in the Diet; however, Hashimoto again joined in a ruling coalition with the SDPJ and Sakigake (Encarta, Japan and the New Economy). Perhaps most surprising to the United States was Japans technology is vast compared to that of the United States. For instance, when a Nintendo game is released in Japan, it can be up to a year before the game is released in the United States.
The video game industry is a big part of the technological industry. Nintendo, one of the largest manufacturers, started producing Nintendo? Entertainment Systems (NES) in 1985 (web). The two most popular characters were Mario and Luigi, who were always trying to rescue Princess Toadstool from the evil Bowser. In July of 1988, Nintendo of America Inc. published the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.
The game library for the NES grew to 65 titles, helping to broaden the demographics to include more adults (web). In 1989 Nintendo released The Adventure of Link, sequel to the top-selling game The Legend of Zelda in the U. S. Started World of Nintendo displays in U. S.
to help market Nintendo products. Studies show that children are as familiar with Mario as they are with Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny! Introduced Game Boy, the first portable, hand-held game system with interchangeable game paks. Nintendo Power magazine became the largest paid-subscription publication in its age category (web). In 1990 the Nintendo Power Fest featuring the Nintendo World Championships toured the country, and Japan entered the 16 -bit market by releasing the Super Famicom in the fall (web). Nintendo has impacted The United States by providing means of entertainment for people who like to sit around all day.
Nintendo had dominated the home-video game market until Sega Enterprise of Japan introduced Genesis, a 16 -bit home video game system that featured better graphics than Nintendo's 8 -bit System. Then Nintendo came out with its one 16 -bit system, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), in 1991 (web). In 1994, the Super Game Boy accessory was released, expanding the library of games that could now be played on the Super NES! Everyones favorite heroine, Samus, returns in another long-awaited sequel, Super Metroid. Nintendo helped pioneer the development and implementation of an industry-wide rating system (web). This year also saw the introduction of a game that would set a new standard in video game excellence.
Using proprietary Advanced Computer Modeling (ACM) graphics, Donkey Kong Country took the holiday season by storm! Nintendo Gateway projected to reach 40 million travelers. In 1996, Nintendo 64 launched in Japan on June 23. Thousands lined up to be the first to experience the worlds first true 64 -bit home video game system. More than 500, 000 systems were sold the first day (web).
In early September, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy pocket, a sleeker, 30 -percent smaller version of the worlds most popular hand-held video game system. On September 29, Nintendo 64 launched in North America (web). The entire initial shipment of more than 350, 000 units were sold out in three days (web). Super Mario 64 is proclaimed by many as the greatest video game of all time! For the Super NES we saw the release of the third game in the continuing Donkey Kong series, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble. Nintendo has sold millions of each game system they produce.
In fact they have produced 7 million hardware units for the Nintendo 64, 46 million hardware units, 300 million games for the Super Nintendo, 60 million hardware units, 200 million games for the Game Boy system, and for the original Nintendo system, 62 million hardware units, 500 million games have been produced (web). Japan and the United States have been linked together more by Mario then by any treaty or trade agreement ever signed between the two countries. Is Japan, the untrustworthy little giant or the United States trading partner? Clearly, many in the United States see the Japanese as a little of both. Do we need them as much as they need us, or can we close down our economic ties with Japan and still have a healthy economy? It has become apparent that we live in a global economy and that Japan is an integral part of the economic mix that helps the United States economy.
There still are many who believe that Japan should never be trusted and that we should not become so dependent on their imports as well as our exports to them. Like it or not World War II has been over for fifty years and most of todays world leaders were not even alive during that war. Today kids in the United States look to Japan for technology and entertainment advances. It appears that Japanese kids look also look at the U.
S. culture and try to copy a more American lifestyle. The two countries are becoming more alike. It is, however, important to continue to study the history of Japan and its culture so we are never again taken by surprise as Japan wages its own economic war for supremacy. Works Cited Hatcher, Peter.
The Ministry: How Japans Most Powerful Institutions Endanger World Markets. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. 330 pp. Japan, Microsoft? Encarta? 98 Encyclopedia. ? 1993 - 1997 Microsoft Corporation. Internment of Japanese Americans. Microsoft?
Encarta? 98 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation 1993 - 98. Japan, Microsoft? Encarta? 98 Encyclopedia. ? 1993 - 1997 Microsoft Corporation. Japan and the New Economy, Microsoft? Encarta? 98 Encyclopedia.
Microsoft Corporation 1993 - 98. Macintyre, Donald. Ministries of Shame. Time.
Com (23 Sept. 1998): 2 pp. Online. Internet. 27 March. 1998. Macintyre, Donald. Asia's Doom and Gloom Time. Com (20 April. 1998): 4 pp.
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Research essay sample on World War Ii Persons Per Square
