ABSTRACT
Ikeda, who had succeeded Kishi, concentrated on economic developments and did not take an active position on foreign affairs. Kishi was the last of the prewar and wartime political leaders to assume power in postwar Japan. The growing economic penetration of Japanese business interests into Southeast Asia in the postwar years was regarded by some people in the region as an economic version of the wartime Japanese political hegemony that was established in the name of the East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. The period from 1955 to 1961 is therefore seen as the takeoff point in postwar Japanese economic growth. Numerous interpretations have been made to explain Japan's success in strengthening and expanding its economy since the end of World War II, when its economic state was in shambles. It is interesting to note, in any case, that Japan's economic growth was not a sudden development in the postwar era.
