ABSTRACT
The years 1948 to 1960 were packed with momentous changes. At the start of this period, Japan was still an occupied country afflicted by economic chaos, mass unemployment and political instability. The Korean War (1950-3) gave the first major boost to Japan’s economy as the USA’s armed forces placed orders with Japanese companies to furnish them with equipment and supplies needed to prosecute the military campaign. During the course of the Korean War, Japan signed a peace treaty with the USA and its allies in 1951 (although not with the USSR and its allies) which was a preliminary step towards ending the Occupation and the recovery of formal independence in 1952. In the political sphere, the so-called ‘1955 system’ gelled in that year and set the mould of politics until well into the 1990s. Under the 1955 system, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party formed the government without interruption, thereby forging a triangle of enduring and profitable links between politicians, bureaucrats and employers.
