Central Themes for a Unit on Japan
in the World Cultures Social Studies Curriculum

III. Contemporary Nations and Cultures - Postwar Japan
[suggested time: 5- 7 lessons]

• Postwar Reform - 1945-1955 and Thereafter
• Economic Recovery and Growth
• Social Relations
• School and Work
• Culture Preserved

Postwar Reform - 1945-1955 and Thereafter

1. Peace and Democracy -- the dual goals of reforms under the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-52, were shared by the Japanese, who were eager to root out the causes of war and authoritarianism. This second modern phase of aggressive change based on Western models (now primarily America) resulted in fundamental, far-reaching reforms comparable to the Meiji reforms of the 1870s. A new constitution (1947) established a democratic polity with the emperor now as symbol of the state and renounced war and the maintenance of armed forces.

2. The inclination toward political stability is revealed by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party having remained in power since 1955 and the related tendency toward social stability shows itself in the coherence of Japanese society through and since the postwar reforms.

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Economic Recovery and Growth

1. The domestic economy was rebuilt after the devastation of the war and then expanded by export-led growth in the 50s and 60s. Trade provided the capital to purchase nearly all essential natural resources, from oil to food and lumber Japan's increasing success in world markets since the 70s elicited criticism from its trading partners, particularly from the U.S. The combination of dependence upon -- and difficulties with -- the world economy presents Japan's most vexing international problem.

2. The period of high growth that brought prosperity to Japan in the 60s was followed in the 70s by problems associated with the costs of rapid development: pollution, emphasis on national growth rather than individual benefits, etc. In the post-industrial economy of the 80s, more emphasis has been placed on the individual consumer, spending for quality of life, and domestic consumption in general (an attempt to bring the inward and outward economies into balance.

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Social Relations

1. The family retains its importance in the relationship between the individual and society; the reproduction of communal, village-like ties occur in schools, companies, and neighborhoods. Social habits of consensus and harmony characterize the Japanese means of making decisions and resolving conflicts, again stressing the primacy of the social group. Individual identity is gained within the collectivity rather than against it, so that growing up, for example, is less a matter of learning to "fight your own battles" than learning to pull together with others.

2. The homogeneity of society as a whole in Japan has advantages in terms of social order and national identity and disadvantages in dealing with people ethnically different such as the Koreans within Japan and foreigners in general. The ethnic homogeneity is echoed by a greater socioeconomic homogeneity than in many other countries: the predominantly middle-class status of most of Japanese society. The network of human relations that is so important in Japan thus operates in a society in which many people are more alike than different.

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School and Work

1. Education -- the Japanese school system, operates socially within classes, in terms of tracking for higher education and careers, and in relation to the social values inculcated in school. The role of sports, different values of winning or losing than in the US, the phenomena of juku (after-school tutoring) and "examination hell" (college entrance exams), and the overwhelming importance of school as the central experience of childhood all reveal aspects of Japanese society that can usefully be compared to the students' own experience.

2. Workplace -- the Japanese company is the locus of social value for men, as the family and neighborhood are for women and school is for children. "Lifetime employment" and promotion by "Seniority" have until recently been distinctive features of the Japanese workplace; the samurai of old was transformed into the sarariman (salaryman) of today, with loyalty to the firm resembling the earlier loyalty to the lord. These elements are changing now as leisure time expands, the nature of the workforce is altered by robots and an expanding service sector, and job mobility increases.

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Culture Preserved

1. Japanese tradition-in-modernity accommodates the pursuit of change even as it preserves custom and culture, often by enshrining it in different forms. Examples include: festivals celebrated in city blocks as they once were in villages, the incorporation of Kurisumasu (Christmas) into the calendar without dislodging the traditional New Year's, and the infusing of ultramodern lifestyle with the reconstituted values of Japanese tradition.

2. The identification of Japanese culture as the defining characteristic of national identity creates both a strong sense of Japaneseness and an exclusionary stance toward those who are not Japanese, which means the rest of the world. Reconciling these two attitudes is a problem for Japan today, often evoked by the calls for "Internationalization."

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