Japan is one of the world's leading economic powers when concentrating on its Gross Domestic Product of four point two trillion United States dollars. Its economy is only second to the United States in terms of production. However, Japan has not always contained a relatively strong economy. The Japanese's economic strategies have boosted economy to new heights since its fall during the Second World War because of their unorthodox manner of business etiquette, innovative strategy, and strong relations with stable economies such as Canada and the United States. .
The rise to the top did not occur without a large struggle as many problems did occur after the Second World War left Japan economically devastated. Japan's journey has left them at the present with recession conditions. Following World War Two, Japan's economy was absolutely devastated. From 1937 to its defeat in 1945 Japan poured all of its strength into the war. The industrial sector was diverted into a swollen military production sector. The strongest and swiftest workers were placed in the military, and quite often sent to die on the front lines of the war. The citizens who stayed in Japan often worked in military factories, and faced the constant threat of air raids. Once the war was over there was not a need for the military industries that were created and a large number of four million citizens became unemployed.
After the war Japan was on the verge of bankruptcy in its international payments. The trade deficit had expanded drastically and the balance of payments equilibrium was completely destroyed. Since Japan was allocating all of its resources into the war and to begin with was not a country with many raw materials they had no choice but to import an excessive amount of raw material in order to produce military hardware. Even so, the war did award Japan with some benefits. The industries developed during the war became the major postwar industries, such as the steel and transportation industries.