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They just re-focused all their effort from being a militaristic power to being a trade power.

• interfixus 9y ago
  Oh yeah, they just did that. Simple as pie.
  • partycoder 9y ago
    Let me rephrase it: They took their existing mindset/hard work, stopped spending it on military (in part due to a paradigm shift and also restrictions imposed by foreign powers) and started spending it purely on industrialization, technology, infrastructure, trade, education, science... a self-reinforcing effect that made them incrementally more productive.
    • interfixus 9y ago
      No disagreement on the first part. I remmain to be convinced that Japanese demography will prove of any negative consequence whatsoever in the long run. globally, population neds to shrink. The Japanese are showing us how to. The West how to not.