TOWARDS A PACIFIC CENTURY

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.