In the period after the World War II, a large part of the world was restructured, especially the Pacific Asia (Borthwick, 1992).

One of the most dramatic changes that took place in Asia was that several countries that had been colonized or semi-colonized emerged in the years following the War as independent, self-governing states, freed from colonial rule. In Southeast Asia, for example, between 1949 and 1959, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia attained independence. Singapore gained the right to self-governance in 1949. However in this region, two countries managed not only self-governance but also diplomatic international relations. These two countries were Korea and Japan.

Though Japan had not only been physically destroyed by its enemies, but mentally and spiritually defeated by its surrender in the wake of the War, it managed to overcome this sense of defeat and started to build its way up. In the initial years after the war that is from 1945 to 1952, it was subjected to the humiliating conditions of Occupation by the Allied Forces. For the first three years of Occupation, General MacArthur, as

highest commander of the Occupation Forces had shut down all state financial institutions and corporations, with the exception of the Bank of Japan in order to make sure that all production of military material had ended. Factories were stripped of equipment to provide for reparations to the countries that had been victims of Japanese aggression. It were the bitter memories of the period of Occupation, led by the US, that the Japanese later found hard to forget. Japan became a US ally later on during the Cold War only when the Occupation ended and US began to provide economic help. As a result, Japan managed to step out of a strategically disadvantaged position so much so that in the late 50s and then 60s Japan was viewed as a source of trade, investment and aid to the region. Once this happened, Japan started to improve its relations in the realm of international politics. In the 1950s and 1960s, Japan's policy in Southeast Asia revolved around economic diplomacy, where relations were low-key and focused more on economics than politics. Therefore it was after 1970s, with the Americans withdrawing from Vietnam, that the Japanese gained a strategic advantage in internationa

Some topics in this essay:
Southeast Asia, Cold War, War Occupation, Vietnam Japanese, Bank Japan, Japan Japan, America Murphy, Vietnam Malaysia, Asia Borthwick, World War, cold war, southeast asia, international relations, external environment, allied forces, japan korea, international politics, american support, world war, economic power,