Introduction

Japan: A lot of people, very little space

World Demand for Steel

Uses for Steel

Japan After World War II

Japan and the Steel Industry Today

Japan after World War II ^16,17

The Japanese have kept a close eye on how the world is changing and have continued to bring forward new technology. As a country, Japan has worked hard to keep up with world changes and this has made the Japanese one of the top steel producers in the world for almost 40 years.

World War Two ended in 1945, shortly after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. By this time most of Japan's cities and factories had already been destroyed by American bombing raids.¹⁸ Many people in Japan had nowhere to live and no food to eat. At the same time Japan's population was growing as men came home from fighting overseas. Japan was in a very, very poor state.

The Japanese people set about rebuilding their country and by the middle of the 1950’s Japan was getting back on track! Japan had to rebuild itself from scratch and so all of its new factories were made using the latest technology. They were very modern and this made them very competitive in the world markets. Japan also began to mass produce things, getting twice as much work done as any other country in the world with half as many workers.

As the world demand for steel grew in the 1960’s Japan was ready for it. They already had the factories and the technology in place to produce millions of tonnes of steel, and so the Japanese steel industry started to grow.

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