The Land od the Rising Yen

course the loss of the war meant a great deal
of suffering, humiliation and tragedy; but it also made efficient rebuilding
much easier. Japan had to start from scratch and received all the help she
needed. Without the war and the destruction which followed in its wake,
Japanese industry could not possibly be half as up-to-date as it is.
    That was the Second World War.
Further wars meant further strokes of luck. The Korean War was a godsend,
coming just at the right moment. It was fought on Japan’s doorstep and money
galore poured in. The blessings of the Korean War had not even been fully
counted when the Americans — Japan’s best friends — obliged with the Vietnam
War, another huge source of income.
    (3) The third factor is Japan’s selfishness. After the Second World War Japan paid voluntarily — bilaterally
negotiated — reparation to her former enemies, the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, etc. This was decency rather than selfishness, one may object. That’s true; but
there was a great deal of foresight and clever calculation involved. These
reparations were paid in goods. Afterwards Japan helped the underdeveloped
Asian countries, also by sending them goods. At first, the Japanese were hated
and resented, but people got used to them; permanent contact on a man-to-man
basis convinced these former enemies that the Japanese were honest, likeable
people. The Australians used to loathe them; they are fully accepted in Australia today. Before they knew where they were, they got used to Japanese goods;
Japanese firms were solidly entrenched on their soil; Japan did a roaring trade with them. Another economic blessing of the lost war. Trade, in
this case, did not follow the pious missionary; it followed the penitent
pacifist.
    Japanese goods are competitive today
because the workers are still paid low wages. Wages have undoubtedly risen but
they started from rock bottom. Japanese wages today are half of European wages
and one third of United States wages. Prices are twenty per cent cheaper than
in Europe and thirty-five per cent cheaper than in the United States, so the Japanese worker is worse off than either his European or American
counterparts. It is largely these low wages which help Japanese goods to be
internationally competitive. (Social insurance has also improved lately but the
whole system is far inferior to the British National Health Service and
Japanese workers are much worse off in this respect too.)
    Japan is also one of the most protectionist countries
in the world. Japanese industry still plays the part of the little boy who has
recently started from scratch and needs very gentle treatment. They cannot let
foreign competitors in because their industry is too fragile. If it is, it is a
fragile giant; a gentle bulldozer; a feeble bull in the china-shop. The
motor-car industry is the worst of the lot; but in every field the Japanese
make concessions to foreign competitors only when their own export is
threatened — and even then always the minimum concessions. Every advantage
which they are never slow to claim for themselves — such as, say, landing
rights of foreign aircraft — has to be fought for tooth and nail and is
resisted to the last ditch. Japan claims all rights and facilities for her own
exports but she has discovered that it is better to sell than buy; better to
export than to import; better to make money than to spend it. Perhaps the same
thoughts have — at least en passant — occurred to other nations too, but
they know better by now. This is Japan’s first taste of true prosperity: she
was used to being a poor country all her life. Japan can still get away with
her pose of weakness, particularly in America where the guilt of the atom bomb
still lingers on. So poor little Japan — the third largest industrial power in
the world — has to be helped and nursed by economic giants like Britain and France.
     
    Does all that mean that Japan is a happy, carefree country? I am afraid it does not. Wages have risen but the wages
structure is still not much higher than in Venezuela. The standard of living —
notwithstanding the number of washing machines — is still much below that of Britain. Tokyo is growing into an uncontrollable mess and traffic — on road and rail — is
becoming impossible. The life of commuters (and there are millions of them) is
hell. (The railways employ professional pushers. These men stand on the
platforms, charge the mass of humanity and by sheer