During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945 and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only active deployments of nuclear weapons in war to date.
Six days after the detonation over Nagasaki, on August 15, Japan announced its surrender to the Allied Powers, signing the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, officially ending the Pacific War and therefore World War II. The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan's adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding the nation from nuclear armament.The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them, as well as their strategical importance, is still debated
JAPAN AFTER WORLD WAR II
Nagasaki after the warWith the same energy, commitment and discipline that characterized the process of modernization in the Meiji period, the Japanese pulled themselves up by their bootstraps after World War II and transformed their nation into a strong democracy and an economic dynamo.
Many Japanese see the postwar Showa era—from 1946 to 1989—as a time when Japan faced its challenges and accomplished things no one thought was possible, giving the Japanese a collective sense of achievement and great hopes for the future. There is a lot of nostalgia these days for this period. One Ginza resident told the Asahi Shimbun, “I think this was time of when people were able to find enjoyment in things. There is more room to dream when a nation is developing rather than in world that’s complete and perfect.”
Japan’s postwar political scene closely paralleled that of Italy. Both were led by a largely self-serving, criminally-connected conservative elite maintained power by offering itself as a bulwark against Communism.
Relatively little money flowed into Asia to rebuild the war-torn nations. Most of the aid money that the U.S. had its disposal was earmarked for Europe and the Marshall Plan.
Per capita income in Japan rose 10 times between 1950 and 2008.
