ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether Japanese ports provide a different perspective on port competition. Japan is a maritime nation. The country is divided into many islands, among which four main islands where economic activities concentrate. From the biggest source of rice on the Japan Sea side, ship owners carried rice all way westbound to Kanmon Strait and then navigated the ships eastbound through the Setouchi Inland Sea to Osaka. In modern times, World War II, Japan has been playing a role of a locomotive, pulling the growth of the Asian economy along. The history of the logistical relationship between United Kingdom and the European Continent and that between Japan and the Asian Continent resemble each other. The Industrial Revolution started in the island nations and spread into the neighbouring continental countries. After World War II Japan was allowed by occupying Allied Forces to construct ports again only in 1948.
