Without U.S. suppression, is it possible for Japan to become a superpower?
Since World War II, in order to suppress the rise of socialist powers such as the Soviet Union and China, the United States** has turned its back on Japan, which has risen up to fight back.
Later, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, world standards turned into a superpower and many other powers. In order to better control Japan, the United States suppressed it militarily, economically, politically, and culturally.
Without U.S. suppression, can Japan really become a superpower? Does it really have such potential?
After World War II, the United States provided assistance to Japan by:
The first is financial aid. After World War II, the United States imposed a military occupation of Japan, and after the Japanese side signed the "Japanese Constitution" drafted by the Americans, Japan's status as an American follower was formally established. After that, the United States began to support the Japanese economy.
In the decades that followed, the United States began to use the Marshall Plan to Japan's advantage, providing substantial financial and technical assistance for Japan's reconstruction and development, and Japan later became an economic power in Asia.
At the same time, on the one hand, it actively supports and helps the Cold War strategy of the United States, including but not limited to the economic blockade of China by the United States and China's direct and indirect participation in the Korean War; On the other hand, it has also made use of the financial support of the United States to go all out to develop the national economy and realize its dream of becoming a great power.
In addition, the United States provided food aid to Japan. After World War II, due to the effects of nuclear radiation, Japan's already small arable land became even smaller, and there was a food crisis. Proceeding from its own national interests, the United States has carried out both soft and hard land reform at home and compulsory grain requisition abroad, thus effectively solving the problem of grain shortage in Japan.
Externally, the implementation of food aid, through economic support and material aid, has changed Japan's concept of grain consumption, and at the same time, it has also profoundly affected the transformation of Japan's grain structure, making Japan more and more dependent on imports from the United States and more and more inseparable from the United States.
Most importantly, the United States provided military assistance to Japan. Militarily, the U.S. has helped Japan strengthen its defense capabilities, for example, U.S. and Japanese leaders often work together to develop new missiles, as was done in 2017"Standard - 3 Block IIA"Anti-missile interceptor missile.
In addition, U.S. assistance to Japan in the field of science and technology cannot be ignored. After the signing of the security treaty, the United States transferred some industries to Japan, such as the semiconductor industry, which means that Japan has gone from lagging behind the United States as a whole for more than a decade, and later in 1989, the global market share of Japanese chips surpassed that of the United States, which is not the result that the United States wants to see.
Of course, in addition to the conventional assistance mentioned above, the United States will also provide disaster relief assistance in the event of a natural disaster in Japan and lend a helping hand when Japan's economy is in trouble.
However, this does not mean that the United States wants to see Japan surpass it. After all, what they wanted was never a power that could compete with them, but a puppet that could be used to control Asia. After all, what they wanted was never a great power that could compete with them, but a puppet that could be used to control Asia.
From the 60s to the 90s of the 20th century, with the help of the United States, Japan's manufacturing industry and some high-tech industries have developed by leaps and bounds, and there is even a faint tendency to catch up with the United States. Even in highly competitive fields such as textiles, steel, automobiles, semiconductors, etc., American and Japanese companies first experienced commercial friction in the 80s of the 20th century.
At the same time, Japan, relying on cheap labor costs, created twice the output value at one-third of the wage level of the United States, and quickly conquered the American market through involution.
This is clearly not what the United States wants to see. Therefore, the United States took action.
At that time, Japan's real estate market and ** market were hot, and people continued to flood the market, and the Japanese economy grew with it. Japan seized this opportunity to become one of the largest economies in the world, and even Japan began to dream of surpassing the United States.
As a result, the United States, through the Plaza Accord and tight monetary policy, directly plundered Japan's development gains and completely destroyed Japan"The world's number one power"dreams. As a result, the Japanese economy, which is dependent on external demand, is under tremendous pressure, and the Japanese economic bubble burst. The real estate market and the **exchange*** A large number of companies and banks have gone bankrupt or are in trouble in Japan"The Lost Decade"This is the end of it.
Also, remember the Constitution?That constitution stipulated that Japan would give up the right to war and could only maintain its Self-Defense Forces, not an army. At the same time, the situation was exacerbated by the subsequent security treaty between the United States and Japan, which brought the development of the Japanese armed forces to a complete standstill.
Even if there is a constant domestic voice, Japan does not have enough military strength to confront the United States.
Japan is probably also aware of its arrogant attitude, and in the future, it can only follow the United States step by step, and in line with the needs of the United States, it will pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger to profit from it.
Returning to the topic discussed at the beginning, is it possible for Japan to become a superpower without the United States? Let's start by concluding: impossible.
There are several main reasons for this.
Let's start with geography. Japan is an island nation located in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of 3780,000 square kilometers. Whether it is the former superpower of the Soviet Union or the current superpower of the United States, Japan's land area is too small and insignificant compared to the previous two to support its development and prosperity, nor can it support its revolution to become a superpower.
Second, Japan faces Russia across the Sea of Japan to the north and Chinese mainland across the East China Sea to the west, and every move affects the hearts of neighboring countries. Coupled with the influence of Japan's militarist culture, neighboring countries do not trust Japan, and without the pressure of the United States, Japan would not have been able to develop and grow.
Then there is the issue of demographics. According to the latest data, the number of people over the age of 65 in Japan has reached 36.27 million, accounting for 29% of the total population1%, while the birth rate is declining year by year. The number of births in 2023 is about 700,000, a new low in eight years.
Of course, Japan** did not sit idly by. It has adopted a series of incentives to deal with this. For example, over the next three years, starting in FY2024, the national and local governments** will invest about 3 trillion yen (about 20 billion yuan) in an additional budget to stimulate an increase in the birth rate through the issuance of additional child subsidies and childcare leave benefits.
These measures have not worked, and the trend of pedophilia in Japan continues. If Japan fails to increase its birth rate in recent years, its economic development and social stability will inevitably be negatively affected.
Japan's dependence on energy imports is also a factor that greatly limits its development. Due to its vast size and islands, Japan is relatively poor in natural resources, especially oil and natural gas.
According to statistics, in Japan's primary energy structure system, oil accounts for about half of the total, while more than 99% depends on imports, of which about 67% of oil imports come from Middle Eastern countries; Natural gas accounts for about 13% of the total volume, and more than 95% is imported, mainly from places such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia.
Therefore, even without the United States, there are still people in Japan who can control the development of the energy sector alone. Even in an effort to reduce its dependence on imported energy, Japan** has been actively pursuing other energy sources such as renewables and nuclear power in recent years.
Japan has been heavily reliant on energy imports in recent decades due to its reliance on basic technologies and high costs, which have not been able to fully meet Japan's energy needs due to its reliance on basic technologies and high costs.
But scientific and technological innovation is by no means easy, and it will be difficult for Japan to get rid of dependence in a short period of time, let alone become an independent superpower.
Let's talk about military power. Under the pressure of the United States, although Japan does not have such powerful military enterprises as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and NEC, they are all doing favors for third parties. Among them, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' orders for aerospace, defense, and space operations in 2023 even reached a record 999.4 billion yen.
If the United States had taken control of Japan, Japan might have been able to form its own military system and use its powerful equipment to build an iron-clad army.
However, judging by Japan's refusal to acknowledge history, this is not necessarily a good thing for neighboring countries. Therefore, it is likely that Japan will be suppressed and excluded by its neighbors before it has even begun to establish its hegemony, and its ambitions will die prematurely.
In addition, Japan's current strong economy is based on the absence of a strong army. Once Japan begins to build a well-equipped army, excessive military spending can divert resources from other important areas such as social welfare, education, and infrastructure development.
It could also lead to an increase in the country's debt, increasing its economic burden and affecting its financial stability. It could even exacerbate already tense international relations.
Finally, let's talk about national identity. Some scholars believe that Japan's emphasis on unionism, adherence, and strict adherence to even unreasonable rules has limited the development of its capabilities in some cases. Whether it's a person or a country.
Of course, these factors do not make it absolutely certain that Japan cannot become a superpower. The future is changing rapidly, and perhaps Japan can find new energy sources and effectively get rid of the restrictions of the United States. But in the short term, this will be difficult to do, even without the United States.
The international situation is changing rapidly, and the relations between countries are complicated. We should be concerned not only about ourselves, but also about international relations and the social situation in neighboring countries. Take Japan, for example.
Although Japan has the support of the United States, Japan has been able to surpass the United States in some areas, which is not what the United States wants to see. Therefore, in recent years, we have seen from many news reports that the United States has been suppressing Japan in various ways.
Is it possible for Japan to become a world power without the United States? Of course not. From a geographical, economic, and international point of view, it is difficult for Japan to become a world power in the short term.