The Tiny Country That Thought It Could (And Did)

   Japan: How it became and stayed rich

   Japan's trade only really flourished when it used capitalistic ideals, advanced technology, modernized, and stayed open for the world to trade. And I can prove it. 

   In order to understand why the tiny country of Japan has a better economy than say Africa, which is a much larger country with a lot of natural resources, the reader must delve into Japan's history. As with most countries, the economy of Japan has had it's ups and downs.

 The First Down: 

-Japan had a relatively flourishing trade with mostly other Asian countries until the 1630's

-shogunate(ruler) issued a series of decrees that banned trade, foreign travel, and the building of ships
-seclusion lasted til the late 1850's
-did foster closer trade with the Asian countries
-trade declined between even these countries as supply and demand lessened
-weak technology skills attributed to this decline as well  because Japan did not benefit from inventions made due to seclusion
-Notice how in this down Japan did not have technological skills, was not trying to modernize, and had a seclusion policy that kept it from trading with the rest of the world
The First Up:
-Commodore Matthew Perry (of the U.S.) demanded the opening of Japanese ports
-Japan had little power so was forced to do that
-was able to keep opium out of the country unlike China (notice how dependent China became)
-new western technology introduced
-Capitalistic ventures flourished with this technology
-this industrialization was needed in order push Japan towards becoming a world power in trade
The Second (Small) Down
-during World War 2downturn
-Japan cut off from normal trading partners 
The Second Up (Continues Still Today)
- opened up again when U.S. finally decided to start reform japan
-democracy, education, and capitalism implemented with the U.S. reforms
So Japan is saved from poverty through capitalism and democracy. Who should be saved next?
Source: World History in Context, Japan (a history of world trade)
Taken from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9491427/Japan-trade-deficit-widens-as-EU-exports-plunge.html and http://www.tofugu.com/2012/03/30/the-richest-man-in-japan/