FOREIGN OFFICE FILES FOR JAPAN AND THE FAR EAST

Series Two: British Foreign Office Files for Post-War Japan

Part 5: Complete Files for 1963-1965

(PRO Class FO 371/170743-170800, 175999-176054 & 181067-181112)

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

"These British archives provide invaluable analyses of Japan's social, economic and political development, and fully document her changing relations with Britain and the Commonwealth."

Dr Gordon Daniels

Reader in Modern History University of Sheffield

and President of the European Association of

Japanese Resource Specialists

Providing the complete run of all available Foreign Office files for Japan for the years 1963 to 1965, Part 5 of this Series offers scholars the opportunity to chart Japanese events during a period of rapid social, economic and political development.  Following on from the previous four Parts of this Series, which covered crucial period of Japan’s history from the end of the Allied Occupation in 1952 to 1962, this instalment focuses on three years in which the seeds of earlier policies began to produce tangible and impressive results.  It was during these years that Japan truly established herself as a dominant global economic power, overtaking the leading European nations in economic growth and in many areas of industrial production. In 1964 Japan became a member of the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development,; the following year her election to the UN Security Council further underlined her arrival as a major global force. 

It was however, also a period of increased world instability with many areas potential of crisis; a number of the most serious such as China, Korea, Laos and Vietnam, located in Asia.  These aspects of the cold war, played out within striking distance of Japan, were a source of constant worry both to Japan and her western allies.  However, despite the doubts of those who recalled the militaristic and authoritarian nature of Japan's pre-war and war-time regimes, 1963 found Japan a self-assured and increasingly prosperous nation, firmly wedded to the western powers and the democratic ideal.  This adoption of western political principles was not slavishly modelled on a western, specifically American, model but was tempered with many traditional Japanese political institutions (most notably the retention of the Emperor as heads of state) and whilst Japan remained a firm ally of the United States, by the mid-1960s she had the confidence to pursue her own policies when necessary.  Nowhere is this more visible than in Japan’s dealings with the People’s Republic of China, with whom successive Japanese administrations continued to develop economic ties.  Although full diplomatic links with the People's Republic were not established until 1972, the signing of a five year trade memorandum in November 1962 ushered in a period of trade and 'semi-official' relations between the two nations, which culminated in the opening of a Chinese trade mission in Japan the following year.  Japan also strove to develop close ties with the Soviet Union, resulting in increased trade and political contact.  As relations with the People's Republic of China took a turn for the worse following the ratification of a treaty between Japan and South Korea in 1965, relations with the Soviets grew correspondingly warmer, climaxing with an invitation for the Japanese Prime Minister to visit Moscow the following year.

Another expression of Japan’s rising self-confidence and a potent symbol of her post-war rehabilitation, was the staging of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.  As well as giving Japan an enormous world profile, the games were used as an opportunity to undertake a number of large scale capital projects, the most famous being the laying of a new railway line between Tokyo and Osaka.  It is telling that the 'Bullet train' which ran on this line was the fastest and most advanced service of its kind in the world.

Internally the period 1963-1965 witnessed a relative stability in Japan's political affairs following the turbulent events of 1960.  Throughout the entire 1960's the country was governed by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party under the premiership of Hayato Ikeda, and following his resignation in November 1964, Eisaku Sato.  Although generally standards of living continued to rise, Japan's economy was not without its problems.  Throughout the mid-sixties Japan managed to build up impressive trade surpluses in the global market, but suffered from a slow domestic demand, further hampered by rising prices.  Nevertheless, despite these problems, the Liberal Democratic Party maintained a firm grip on power, aided by the factional and dogmatic nature of the main left wing opposition parties.  The Japan Socialist Party, in particular, was caught up in a struggle between pro-Beijing and Pro Moscow factions that distracted it from properly fulfilling its opposition role. 

These files cover all the major events effecting Japan during a critical time in world history.  Through the views and interpretation of highly trained British diplomats and consular officials, they serve to detail how Japan developed politically, economically, socially and globally, providing a unique primary source for researchers and scholars.  Key Files include:

• Annual Reviews for the years 1962, 1963 and 1964
• Weekly political reports and Internal political situation
• Japan's Foreign policy
• Political and commercial relations between Japan and various other countries including China, USSR, USA, UK and France
• Economic situation
• Visits to Japan by foreign politicians
• Visits by Japanese politicians to other countries
• The 1964 Olympic Games
• Defence and the armed forces

The period covered by this microfilm collection, is one of marked significance for Japan.  Study of these documents will help illuminate not only how Japan's relations developed with her regional neighbours, trading partners and allies, but also show how she came to be one of the dominant global economies.  As the British Ambassador notes in his Annual Report for 1965, the period witnessed a "slow but significant advance towards Japan's proper position as a world power; some cautious and almost unwilling reaction to the pressure of world events and some flexing of the national muscles under the grateful shade of the American umbrella".  But such a world status carried responsibilities as well as advantages, and the Ambassador went on to warn that Japan would have to change some of her traditional policies: "the basic problem is ideological - Japan's refusal to stand up and be counted on any issue likely to interfere with her trade is beginning to catch up with her."  It is this changing nature of Japan's role in the global political and economic arena, and the challenges that such changes brought forth, that is perhaps the most interesting areas of study, and one that the documents in this collection explore in detail.

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