Japan\'s Stubborn Modernization Japan, One

Japan's Stubborn Modernization Japan, one of the great but still embattled economies of the world is a key figure in the technological and economic modernization of global retail, consumption and trade. Though the orientation thusly is typically traced to the Western occupation of Japan began in consequence to its surrender at the end of World War II, the article entitled Japanese Spirit, Western Things, makes the argument that in fact Japan has been in a process of self-directed modernization and growth since western arrival had opened its doors to international trade. As the article explains it, Japan had been brilliantly effective at engaging trade with foreigners without allowing the type of broad-based cultural whitewashing that usually accompanies it. At the crux of the article in question is the argument that the Japanese had held at bay these inherently colonial American impulses while simultaneously capitalizing on the opportunity to engage the world outside of itself in commercial exchange. Characterized in a cited work of fiction with what the article deems the most succinct representation of America's relationship with Japan from the time of its initial 1853 arrival via the voyage of Commodore Perry to even past the brutal resolution of the War in the Pacific, it is stated perceptively that "th' trouble is whin the gallant Commodore kicked open th' door, we didn't go in. They come out." (59) Indeed, the Japanese would demonstrate themselves powerfully oriented for the burgeoning international trade practices that were defining the global economy. Indeed, the war machine that would ultimately come to blows with the United States nearly 100 years after its maritime arrival would be armed to the teeth with technology and arsenal appropriated by a century of fluid movement within the boundaries of global exchange. Ultimately, Japan has accomplished what the article refers to as an economic miracle by rising to become one of the world's most powerful economies while remaining partially closed off to the world market. Indeed, the comment cited above underscores the ire which Japan has earned by functioning as one of the world's chief exporters while failing to invest itself in any meaningful aspect of importing. Likewise, it has resisted foreign investment and corporate assistance even as it has actively pursued corporate ownership in other countries. The overarching impact, most especially in the decades following western occupation, would be a rapidly modernizing economy in Japan, a flooding of the world market with more affordable Japanese-manufactured automobiles and electronics and a continued closed-door policy to western goods or companies. In a certain regard, it is reasonable to argue that modernization under these terms has been very successful. In just 50 years, Japan emerged from its role as an agriculturally-based military culture to serve as one of the core industrialized nations defining the path of technological and retail modernity. However, there are also myriad trespasses against trade balance which suggest that it is philosophically out-of-step with a globalizing world community. This could place it in a challenging position as it actively denies its markets access to competitive global products. It does seem likely that the shared interest of such consumer-market economies as the United States and Japan will bring the two into collaboration on resolving corporate interests concerning the global expansion of the service industries. It is herein that modernized and technologically-dependent societies are commonly invested in the availability of unrestricted commercial lines for access to global service operators. This is only one example of how the globalizing atmosphere is likely to cause Japan to fall more directly into step with the perspective held by other globally trading nations that a proper balance between import and export is both a show of good faith and a practice conducive to more balanced modernization.