Ikeda took a number of effective measures in order to realize the creation of business-friendly environment.

As a result, the amount of capital investment:

 28% in the whole industry
 35% in the automobile industry

Since the economy recovered, household prevalence of TV became almost 100%, double of what it used to be. Also, a fourth of Japanese family owned a car which was not common before the Second World War.

Tokyo Olympic Games

Source: The Japan Times

In the middle of the high growth of the economy, 1964 October, Tokyo Olympic Games was opened. The Olympic opening ceremony was the Ikeda’s appearance as Prime Minster. He later resigned soon after and passed away on 13th August 1965 from throat cancer.

3 years after Ikeda’s death, in 1968, Japan’s GNP exceeded ¥52 trillion (=$144 billion) and double income was achieved. As a result, Japan became the world 2nd largest economic power.

Shimomura’s theory brought out Japan’s abilities. It was a miracle for Japan because the timing of this was perfect.

Osamu Shimomura

The Ashes of the War

Back then, Japanese people had a bunch of stuff that they really wanted to get, and companies were capable of providing them. In order for the companies to meet the demand, they worked very hard.

One of the war slogans “Why don’t we try to get something?”

Many elderly people say,

“We lost the war, but achieved economic restoration. As a result, people realized that they had already risen from the ashes of the war. Then, they started to think that they were allowed to buy anything whatever they wanted. During WW2, we were forced to contribute anything to the country for the battles and live with poor lives.”

Strong Desire

For people of those days, there were too many stimulating material stuff. For instance, every guy wanted to drive a car with one’s girlfriend along the ‘Shonan’ coast in Kanagawa prefecture. In addition, in 1960’s, the quality of housing was basically poor and there was no air conditioner but many people were living together in a unit, which was really uncomfortable.

However, a car provided them some sort of private space where they were able to use air conditioner and audio. Also, no one could disturb them. Therefore, people were eager to buy cars for not only a form of transport, but for personal and beneficial space.

But now, the economy is definitely capitalist and seems as if it will never go back to this. If we thought Japan was born in 1945 (the end of WW2), this country would be already 72 years old.

Therefore, the idea of forcing a 72-year-old elderly person to grow up at a rapid rate is a ridiculous idea. Finding the way of living in mature person’s own way is needed, being the opposite of Abenomics.

To be continued …