ABSTRACT
World War II may have devastated Japan physically, but its surviving population retained its most important asset: a collective knowledge and experience of how to build and operate an industrial economy. The diverse group of Americans who were assembled to administer the Occupation of Japan knew relatively little about their host country and did not feel compelled to learn a great deal about it. By 1948 Cold War tensions had begun to mount in East Asia. The United States began to revise its policy toward Japan with the aim of strengthening and accelerating its economic recovery. Soon, Japan's war reparation payments were discontinued and basic industries such as coal and steel were given priority by economic planners. Inflation, due to poorly controlled credit and currency allocations, plagued the recovery for several years until Washington sent Detroit banker Joseph Dodge to Japan. Business leaders sought changes in the antimonopoly law that had been imposed by the American occupiers.
