Video: How Japan dismantled their oligarch ruling class in the 1930's

[JGeropoulas]

This is an interesting short video about how Japan dismantled their 1% oligarch ruling class without dismantling democracy. That is, how Japan, WITHOUT RESORTING TO COMMUNISM, broke the top 1%'s grip on wealth so that there was a more democratic distribution of wealth among all the citizens.

 

[BHelmet]

IDK, there are some serious holes here, OSIT. This sounds like a bit of an idealistic white-wash.

Land re-distribution is certainly one. The idea that the military was a disconnected foe of the industrialists is another. That is not how fascism works. Rarely does a massive shift take place without the cooperation, behind the scenes, of the big players. I would guess what happened was a re-distribution of wealth from one set of strong hands into another. The video downplays the role of post-war ham-fisted manipulation by the US and corporate interests in the US who stepped in for a big piece of the pie. Don't know if this is true but someone (my grandfather) once said SONY stands for Standard Oil of NY. The Rockefeller's. As far as I can tell, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi etc are still big names just like Bayer, Krupps etc. in Germany. In hindsight, the 1947-1950 era coincides with the solid shift of the US into the post-war military-industrial security state we have all come to know and love, and their "influence" in post-war Japan, IMO, shouldn't be underestimated or downplayed. After all, who imported and profited from all those cheap Japanese goods?

Addendum: I am old enough to remember when 'made in Japan' was an absolute joke and synonymous with inferior quality even us kids understood and laughed about. (But, I did LOVE my first pair of Zories) (OF course that changed over the decades.)

 

[JGeropoulas]

IDK, there are some serious holes here, OSIT. This sounds like a bit of an idealistic white-wash.

Land re-distribution is certainly one. The idea that the military was a disconnected foe of the industrialists is another. That is not how fascism works. Rarely does a massive shift take place without the cooperation, behind the scenes, of the big players. I would guess what happened was a re-distribution of wealth from one set of strong hands into another. The video downplays the role of post-war ham-fisted manipulation by the US and corporate interests in the US who stepped in for a big piece of the pie. Don't know if this is true but someone (my grandfather) once said SONY stands for Standard Oil of NY. The Rockefeller's. As far as I can tell, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi etc are still big names just like Bayer, Krupps etc. in Germany. In hindsight, the 1947-1950 era coincides with the solid shift of the US into the post-war military-industrial security state we have all come to know and love, and their "influence" in post-war Japan, IMO, shouldn't be underestimated or downplayed. After all, who imported and profited from all those cheap Japanese goods?

Addendum: I am old enough to remember when 'made in Japan' was an absolute joke and synonymous with inferior quality even us kids understood and laughed about. (But, I did LOVE my first pair of Zories) (OF course that changed over the decades.)

No doubt, things are never what they appear to be, and the powers-that-be often just adopt a new disguise. Still, it's nice to read of times when good seems to have trumped evil, albeit usually only briefly due to lack of comprehension of the psychopathic mind.