"Rich Nation, Strong Army"

Download or read book "Rich Nation, Strong Army" written by Richard J. Samuels and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1868 until 1945, the Japanese economy was fired by the development of technology to enhance national security; the rallying cry "Rich Nation, Strong Army" accompanied the expanded military spending and aggressive foreign policy that led to the disasters of the War in the Pacific. Postwar economic planners reversed the assumptions that had driven Japan's industrialization, Samuels shows, promoting instead the development of commercial technology and infrastructure. By valuing process improvements as much as product innovation, the modern Japanese system has built up the national capacity to innovate while ensuring that technological advances have been diffused broadly through industries such as aerospace that have both civilian and military applications.