Japanese Economic Miracle
postwar Japan's boom
From Defeat to Occupation
MacArthur as viceroy, Article 9, land reform, the Korean War boom that ignited the recovery
1945–1952
The Yoshida Doctrine and the Korean War Boom
Minimum rearmament, the American security umbrella, and the LDP-dominated 1955 System that would govern Japan for thirty-eight years
1948–1960
Income Doubling and the High-Growth Years
Ikeda's Income Doubling Plan, MITI's industrial guidance, the Toyota Production System, and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics that announced postwar Japan to the world
1960–1970
Japan as Number One
The 1973 oil shock survived, the export juggernaut, trade friction with America, and the Plaza Accord that set up the bubble
1970–1985
The Bubble Years
The Nikkei peaks at 38,957, Mitsubishi buys Rockefeller Center, Murakami Haruki, and the Showa-Heisei transition that bracketed the era
1985–1991
Daily Life and Culture
The salaryman day, examination hell, the train system, kawaii, baseball, and Japanese cuisine going global
1960–1991
The Burst
The 1990 crash, the bad-loan overhang, the Yamaichi collapse, the Kobe earthquake, and the Aum Shinrikyo subway sarin attack that defined the era of unease
1990–1997
Legacy
What the miracle accomplished, the demographic crisis already visible in 1991, and what comes next for Japan and for everywhere else
1991 onward