TOWARDS A PACIFIC CENTURY

JAPAN AFTER WWII

• GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR AND EMPEROR HIROHITO

• ALLIED OCCUPATION FORCE TOOK CONTROL FOR SEVERAL YEARS

• U.S. WANTED TO DEMILITARIZE JAPANESE SOCIETY AND HELP REBUILD THE ECONOMY

• 1951 PEACE TREATY

• US SECURITY TREATY – GAVE U.S.MILITARY BASES IN JAPAN TO PROTECT THE COUNTRY

CONSTITUTION OF 1947

• PUT IN PLACE A BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE

(CALLED THE NATIONAL DIET), AN

INDEPENDENT COURT SYSTEM, A LIMITED

MONARCHY, AND AN EGALITARIAN

ELECTORAL PHILOSOPHY.

• GUARANTEED HUMAN RIGHTS

• GAVE WOMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE

• PACIFIST IN NATURE, IT CREATED A

NATIONAL SELF-DEFENSE FORCE (NO ARMY,

NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS)

“THE JAPANESE MIRACLE”

• JAPAN DEVELOPED A VERY SUCCESSFUL EXPORT-BASED

ECONOMY AFTER IT RECOVERED FROM WWII.

• THIS LED TO A HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING IN JAPAN

• KEIRETSU (“INFORMAL INTERLOCKING ARRANGEMENTS”)

DEVELOPED OUT OF THE ZAIBATSU OF PRE-WAR YEARS

• GOVERNMENT WAS VERY INVOLVED IN THE ECONOMY. MITI,

(KNOWN AS METI SINCE 2001), THE MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL

TRADE AND INDUSTRY, SUBSIDIZED EXPORTS.

• ON THE OTHER HAND, IMPORTS WERE SOMETIMES RESTRICTED

(SEE E.G. RICE OR BEEF)

• LAND REFORM ALSO TOOK PLACE. FARMS WERE LIMITED TO 7.5

ACRES.

• ECONOMY THRIVED IN THE 1980S BUT FELL INTO A RECESSION IN

THE 1990S. MUCH STAGNATION SINCE THEN.

JAPANESE EDUCATION SYSTEM

• VERY STRONG

• 240-DAY SCHOOL YEAR (CF. 180 DAYS IN

THE US)

• UNIFORMS WORN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

• FOCUS AT SECONDARY LEVEL IS ON

GETTING INTO PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES

• CRAM SCHOOLS

• ONCE ACCEPTED INTO A UNIVERSITY,

STRESS IS MUCH LESS

JAPANESE CULTURE – AN EXAMPLE OF SOFT POWER?

SOME EXAMPLES OF INTERESTING WRITERS:

• YUKIO MISHIMA (1925-1970) AND THE

GOLDEN PAVILION

• HARUKI MURAKAMI (1949- ) AND A WILD

SHEEP CHASE

• BANANA YOSHIMOTO (1964- ) AND

KITCHEN

ONGOING DISPUTES WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

• LEGACY OF WWII (WITH KOREA: ISSUE OF

COMFORT WOMEN; WITH CHINA: THE

YASUKUNI SHRINE (TOKYO) AND NANJING

MASSACRE)

• BORDER DISPUTES (WITH RUSSIA: OVER THE

KURILE ISLANDS; WITH CHINA: SENKAKU (OR

DIAOYU) ISLANDS))

OTHER PROBLEMS

• DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BURAKUMIN (ETA),

KOREANS

• SEXUAL INEQUALITY, ESP. IN THE WORKPLACE

• LOW RATE OF IMMIGRATION

• GRAYING OF POPULATION

• DECLINE IN POPULATION

• LOW BIRTHRATE

• HIKIKOMORI (SHUT-INS)

• PROBLEM OF NATIONAL DEFENSE (CONTINUE

TO RELY ON AMERICANS?)

HIKIKOMORI = SHUT-INS OR RECLUSES

SOUTH KOREA

• SYNGMAN RHEE, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE

REPUBLIC OF KOREA (I.E., SOUTH KOREA)

AFTER WWII

• AN AUTHORITARIAN RULER, HE LED HIS

COUNTRY FROM 1948-1960

• AN ANTI-COMMUNIST, HE WAS IN CHARGE

OF SOUTH KOREA DURING THE KOREAN

WAR (1950-1953)

PARK CHUNG-HEE

• A MILITARY STRONGMAN, PARK TOOK OVER

SOUTH KOREA IN A COUP D’ETAT IN 1962

• HE RULED FOR 17 YEARS UNTIL HE WAS

ASSASSINATED IN 1979

• HIS DAUGHTER PARK GEUN-HYE WAS ELECTED

SOUTH KOREA’S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN

2015

AFTER THE RULE OF GEN. PARK AND HIS SUCCESSOR, GEN. CHUN DOO HWON, ENDED IN 1988, SOUTH KOREA

BECOME MORE DEMOCRATIC, ESP. DURING THE PRESIDENCIES OF KIM YOUNG SAM AND KIM DAE JUNG

• KIM YOUNG SAN WAS PRESIDENT FROM

1993-1998

• KIM DAE JUNG WAS PRESIDENT FROM

1998-2003

• KIM DAE JUNG IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE

SUNSHINE POLICY (OPENING TOWARD

NORTH KOREA)

CHAEBOLS

• A CHAEBOL IS A LARGE BUSINESS

CONGLOMERATE

• IN KOREAN, IT MEANS “WEALTH OR MONEY

CLAN”

• CHAEBOLS HAVE CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO

SOUTH KOREA’S ECONOMIC SUCCESS, ESP.

REGARDING EXPORTS

• THEY HELPED SOUTH KOREA BECOME ONE OF

THE LITTLE TIGERS (ALONG WITH TAIWAN,

SINGAPORE, AND HONG KONG)

NORTH KOREA

• KIM IL-SUNG

• COMMUNIST DICTATOR OF NORTH KOREA

FROM 1948-1994

• FOCUS OF A CULT OF PERSONALITY

• BACKED PHILOSOPHY OF JUCHE, OR SELF-

RELIANCE, FOR HIS COUNTRY, ESP. REGARDING

THE ECONOMY

• SUCCEEDED BY SON KIM JONG-IL (1994). KIM

JONG-UN HAS RULED SINCE 2011.

TAIWAN (OR REPUBLIC OF CHINA)

• JIANG JIESHI (+1975) – LEADER OF TAIWAN

UNTIL HIS DEATH

• TAIWAN HAS APPROX. 23 MILLION PEOPLE.

IT HAS A STRONG, EXPORT-ORIENTED MARKET

ECONOMY.

• IN THE 1980S TAIWAN WENT FROM BEING A

MILITARY DICTATORSHIP AND ONE-PARTY

STATE (DOMINATED BY THE KUOMINTANG) TO

A MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY

• TSAI ING-WEN, A MEMBER OF THE

DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY, IS

TAIWAN’S CURRENT PRESIDENT

• IT IS NO LONGER A MEMBER OF THE UNITED

NATIONS

THE PHILIPPINES

• THE PHILIPPINES IS AN ISLAND-BASED COUNTRY SOUTH

OF JAPAN AND EAST OF CHINA. IT HAS APPROXIMATELY

102 MILLION PEOPLE. PRIOR TO WWII, IT WAS A

SPANISH, THEN AN AMERICAN COLONY.

• FERDINAND MARCOS RULED THE PHILIPPINES FROM

1965-1986.

• HIS DICTATORSHIP WAS ENDED BY THE PEOPLE POWER

REVOLUTION LED BY CORAZON AQUINO. SHE BECAME

THE PHILIPPINES’ FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN 1986.

• RODRIGO DUTERTE WAS RECENTLY ELECTED AS THE

PHILIPPINES’ NEW PRESIDENT

SINGAPORE

• IT GAINED FULL INDEPENDENCE FROM GREAT BRITAIN IN 1965.

• IT IS A SOVEREIGN CITY-STATE OF OVER 5 MILLION PEOPLE. IT

HAS DEVELOPED INTO AN IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL AND

FINANCIAL CENTER. IT IS MULTICULTURAL IN CHARACTER.

• EXTERNAL TRADE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ITS SUCCESS.

• IT HAS A MULTI-PARTY POLITICAL SYSTEM. IT HAS EMPHASIZED

STABILITY, SOMETIMES AT THE EXPENSE OF FREE SPEECH.

• LEE KUAN YEW, FOUNDER OF THE PEOPLE’S ACTION PARTY,

WAS THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF SINGAPORE. HE WAS IN

OFFICE FROM 1959-1990.

INDONESIA

• INDONESIA WAS RULED UNTIL 1949 AS A DUTCH COLONY.

• UPON INDEPENDENCE, IT BECAME ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST

COUNTRIES. TODAY IT HAS OVER 250 MILLION PEOPLE. MOST OF

ITS CITIZENS ARE MUSLIM.

• SUKARNO (1901-1970) – A LEADER OF HIS COUNTRY’S

INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT, HE SERVED AS INDONESIAN’S

PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE FROM 1949 TO 1967.

• SUKARNO WAS A VERY GOOD SPEAKER. HE ALSO OPPOSED

WESTERN-STYLE DEMOCRACY (SEE HIS “GUIDED DEMOCRACY”)

• HE WAS REPLACED AS INDONESIA’S LEADER BY GENERAL

SUHARTO. SUHARTO SEIZED POWER IN A 1965 COUP D’ETAT AND

THEN BLAMED THE COUP ON INDONESIA’S COMMUNISTS. IN

REPRESSING THE COMMUNISTS, PERHAPS AS MANY AS ONE

MILLION INDONESIANS WERE KILLED.

SUHARTO, THE INDONESIAN LEADER AFTER SUKARNO

• MORE PRO-WESTERN THAN SUKARNO, GENERAL

SUHARTO RULED AS A DICTATOR FROM 1967-1998

• DURING HIS RULE, PEOPLE HAD LIMITED FREEDOM.

HE IMPOSED HIS NEW ORDER IDEOLOGY ON THE

COUNTRY. (SUKARNO FAVORED AN OLD ORDER

IDEOLOGY.) INDONESIA BECAME A POLICE STATE.

• PROTESTORS FORCED SUHARTO TO RESIGN IN

1998. HE WAS REPLACED BY ABDURRAHMAN WALID

AS THE RESULT OF A NATIONWIDE ELECTION.

• INDONESIA’S CURRENT LEADER IS JOKO WIDODO.