How did america help Japan after the war?

Question

and how did it help japan become advanced?

Answer 1

after rebuilding most of what we bombed, we showed the best ways to improve their industries and manufacturing capabilities. Look at most of our automotive and electronic imports

Answer 2

The US didn't help Japan much after WW2. Only when the Korean War started did the US get heavily involved in recovery operations in Japan.

As part of the recovery efforts after WW2 the Marshal Plan was proposed.
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_plan#Areas_without_the_Marshall_Plan
"Japan too, had been badly damaged by the war. However, the American people and Congress were far less sympathetic towards the Japanese than they were to the Europeans. Japan was also not considered to have as great a strategic or economic importance to the United States. Thus no grand reconstruction plan was ever created, and the Japanese economic recovery before 1950 was slow. However, in 1950 the Korean War broke out and Japan became the main staging ground for the United Nations war effort, and a crucial supplier of material. One well known example is that of the Toyota Company. In June 1950, the company produced 300 trucks, and was on the verge of going out of business. The first months of the war saw the military order over 5000 vehicles, and the company was revived. During the four years of the Korean War, the Japanese economy saw a substantially larger infusion of cash than had any of the Marshall Plan nations."

Since Japan was not considered to be of strategic or trade importance General MacArthur was left pretty much alone to do what he wanted to do. He reformed the Japanese Constitution, as part of the requirements of surrender and he organized the defense of Japan. To prevent another Japanese War, and the horrors committed by the Japanese Army their Constitution was rewritten to prevent its troops to participate in ANY foreign war. In fact the Japanese Military is called the Japanese Defense Force. During Desert Storm Japan wanted to provide support operations to the Allies, but their constitution prevented that.

Therefore it was a requirement of the US to permanently station troops in Japan; Okinawa (part of Japan) has a large US Naval and Marine base. When the Korean War started out the troops stationed in Japan were the first reinforcements sent to the beleaguered troops pushed back into the Pusan Perimeter in South Korea.

Money was poured into Japan as part of the support operation. This money was meant to build up a supply source and supply chain to help the troops in Korea. General MacArthur made a surprise landing at Inchon and pushed the North Koreans up to the Chinese border. After the Chinese entered the war the UN Forces were pushed back to the 38th Parallel (where things started; this border was set after WW2 for temporary control of the Japanese occupied lands—but the Communists wouldn’t let North Korea go).

The Korean War is still officially an ongoing war with only a Cease Fire in effect. A large presence of US troops are kept on the border and in the country to safeguard it. This was an outpost against Communism so it was an important location. When China became Communist as well this made the US bases in Japan extremely important. Because of this the US Government has helped rebuild Japanese factories and the economy. By doing this Japan was able to get more advanced factories in the US for far cheaper. Most of the US support was long term, low interest loans made to the government. The Japanese government turned around and gave loans and grants to build the economy; mainly by building new advanced factories. Some of these factories were able to operate at a loss for years (supported by the government), which allowed them to get a good hold in the US Market. It wasn’t until a new treaty was forged with Japan in the 1970s did they stop that practice.

Another thing that the Japanese Government sponsored was a pattern for long term investments and research and development (R&D). This is what allowed Japan to surpass the Western World in the field of electronics. Companies like Sony were willing to operate at a loss, tie up a lot of money in R&D, and make long range plans. In the US a five year program is considered a long term one, while Japanese are willing to spend twice as much time in these programs. With all these advantages Japanese industries were able to create more advanced programs and so leap frog over Western development.

The US helped to rebuild the Japanese economy during and after the Korean War. The problem we have of cheap Japanese imports is a problem that we created. Of course the Japanese have always been hard working people so they have a lot to do with their own success as well.

The Philippines were also gifted by some of the same programs.

During the Vietnam War Japan became an important support base for US Troops so it was still in the best interests of the US to have an economically strong Japan.