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Seven
Multiple Circuits of
Affluence
From LARA to Starbucks
After 1945 the United States emerged as the most influential outside force
in the political, economic and social development of Japan. Officially,
from August 1945 to April 1952 the country was subject to occupation by
the Allied Powers. In practice, however, their influence was negligible; the
United States determined the policy and exercised decisive command over
all aspects of the occupation. 1 Initially, the Americans imposed the agenda
of ‘demilitarization and democratization’, but they soon reversed course
and began to rearm Japan as a subordinate Cold War partner. The operative
document for the reverse course was drafted in September 1947
and envisioned a Japan that would be ‘“friendly to the United States,” amenable
to American leadership in foreign affairs, “industrially revived as a
producer primarily of consumer’s goods and secondarily of capital goods,”
and active in foreign trade; militarily it would be “reliant upon the us for its
security from external attack”’. 2 In the American international objectives
of counter-revolution and support of a capitalist mode of development,
Japan was to play the role both of a buffer zone against communism in Asia
and an alleged Asian model of the advantages of gradual, non-revolutionary
development along capitalist lines. 3
The outbreak of the Korean War (1950–53) sealed the Japanese-
American alliance, embedding Japan firmly in the structure of us global
strategy. It also proved an ‘elixir’ that revitalized Japan’s economy. War
orders for the us and South Korean armies benefited the Japanese textile,
construction, automotive, metal, communication and chemical industries.
As Michael Schaller explains,
during the three years of fighting in Korea, Japan earned
nearly $2.5 billion from procurements, more than the value of
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