A Portrait of Postwar Japan

Immediately after the end of WWII, Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the United Nations forces, made the assertion that Japan would never be a world power again. Despite his prediction, Japan ascended into the world's second largest economy in just over two decades. How did Japan achieve this "miraculous" comeback?

In the middle of the 1980's, finance took over the main role in the Japanese economy. Real estate values and stock prices escalated giving birth to a "bubble economy." When it burst, the foundation of Japan was greatly shaken. How could this happen and what happened next in the land of the rising sun?