ECONOMIC GROWTH OF POSTWAR JAPAN

t the end of World War II, most Japanese believed that the postwar reA habilitation would be filled v'ith hardships and that it would take many years to attain the prewar level of standard of living. Japan was heavily destroyed by the war and was cut off from the traditional neighbour Asian market. With a national territory reduced to the size of the State of . California, of which not more than 16% is arable, it was considered as an almost impossible task to support her 100.000,000 inhabitants. The postwar revival and expansion was, however, so fast that it astonished the Japanese themselves. In 1953, the per capita real tlational income had reached the average prewar level of 1934-1936, and the rapid economic growth still continued. In 1949 the per capita income was $ 100, in 1959 it was about $300, and in 1961 it reached the $400 mark,1 or about half of that of West European nations but flve times that of Southeast Asian countries. (See Table 1)