Noriko Yokoi - Japans Postwar Economic Recovery and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1948-62

The origins of Japans miraculous economic growth in the 1960s has been a topic that continues to interest academic inquiry. The initial focus upon internal factors has been supplemented by greater emphasis on the role played by the United States and the Western allies in promoting Japans economic welfare. This book provides the British perspective on Japans postwar economic recovery. It refutes the accepted view that Britains policy towards Japan was driven by fears that the latters economic recovery through greater trade relations with Southeast Asia would encroach upon Britains sphere of influence. Through a close examination of Britains sterling and trade policies towards Japan, the book illustrates the complex, often contradictory, yet daring British vision of Asia as a whole in the immediate postwar world.

Noriko Yokoi received her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has taught Asian history at Pace University in New York. Her research interests include international history and Japanese history.

First published 2003
by RoutledgeCurzon
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

2003 Noriko Yokoi

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-38073-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-38691-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-29721-4 (hbk)

This book is a result of my Ph.D. thesis in international history at the London School of Economics, which was funded in part by the British Council and the Japan Foundation. I should like to thank my supervisor, Dr Antony Best, for his guidance and advice throughout the writing of the thesis. I would like to thank him for directing me to William Bordens The Pacific Alliance at the beginning of my doctoral programme and challenging me to write a British perspective on Japans economic recovery. I am also very grateful to the late Professor Ralph Smith for introducing me to the Bank of England archives and encouraging me to incorporate a financial angle to the thesis. I wish to also extend my appreciation to Professor Sugihara Kaoru for guiding me to invaluable Japanese sources. My appreciation also goes to my examiners, Professor Anthony Stockwell and Dr Stephen Large, for their constructive comments and suggestions, many of which have been incorporated into this book.

I would like to express my appreciation to archivists at the Bank of England, the Birmingham University Library, the Bodleian and Rhodes House Libraries in Oxford, Durham University Library, Manchester Central Library, the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University, the Public Record Office, and Trinity and Churchill Colleges in Cambridge. Records from the Public Record Office appear by permission of the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office.

I wish to also extend my appreciation to the staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives in Japan, and in particular to Mr Nomoto, who expedited my research requests. In the United States, I wish to thank the archivists at the Dwight D.Eisenhower and Harry S.Truman Libraries, the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and the Seeley G.Mudd Library at Princeton. A grant from the Royal Historical Society and the Truman Library made it possible for me to conduct research in the United States in the summer of 1996.

This manuscript has been a long time in coming; thus there are many people to whom my appreciation is overdue both regarding the writing of the thesis and in the preparation of the manuscript. In the United Kingdom, I wish to thank Dr Janet Hunter, Dr John Kent and Professor Ian Nish for their comments on earlier drafts of the thesis. Robert W.OHara and Imelda Lauris deserve a special mention for their assistance in locating and dispatching documents from the Public Record Office. Chiara Levrini was, as always, the perfect host during my stay in London. In Japan, Dr Aaron Forsberg, Dr Takahiko Tanaka, Professor Kibata Yichi and Professor Nakanishi Hiroshi all gave valuable advice. In the United States, I am grateful to the co-heads of the Strategic Planning Department at Rapp Collins Worldwide, Andrew N.Jones and Russell L.Lapso, for granting me the one-month sabbatical to complete the manuscript. I would also like to thank Professor Barbara Blumberg, Professor Joan Rowland and Dr Ronald Frank of Pace University for their support and encouragement. Peter Sowden remained understanding throughout as I was beset by delays relating to the challenges of working in corporate America and my many close calls with downsizing. My husband, Dele Akinla II, encouraged me through the most challenging of times with his optimism and faith as I juggled full-time work and adjunct professorship with the writing of this manuscript. Without his humour and patience, the project would not have come to fruition. Of course, none of the individuals mentioned above bear responsibility for any errors that remain.

Last but not least, my parents have supported me in all my endeavours, including this one. Without them, this would never have been written. I thus dedicate this book to them.

The usual conventions concerning Japanese names are observed throughout this book with the family name followed by the given name. The exceptions are for Japanese scholars who publish in English. The terms Far East and East Asia have been used intermittently in the book due to the popular usage of the term Far East in the 1950s. An attempt has however been made to use East Asia wherever possible.