Was the defeat of Japan in WWII a blessing in disguise ?

It is certainly possible to argue (though not everyone would agree) that losing WWII was a blessing in disguise for Japan.  Because Japan lost WWII, and because of the Cold War, Japan was more able to become a world economic power.  Incidentally, the defeat in WWII could also be seen as a moral blessing, one which made Japan a “better” country.

Before WWII, Japan had become, in some ways, a very brutal country.  Japanese were certainly oppressive towards foreigners in their empire and in places they wanted to conquer.  They were willing to commit atrocities like the Rape of Nanking.  They were willing to subjugate the Koreans whose land they had conquered.  This brutality also showed up in things like their treatment of Allied POWs during the war.  Finally, they were somewhat brutal towards their own people.  Discipline in the military was harsh.  People, both military and civilian were conditioned to believe that they should die rather than surrender to an enemy.  This led to things like the mass suicide on Saipan late in the war.  Japan’s government was harsh towards dissidents, creating a police state in which freedom was quite curtailed.

Because it lost the war, Japan went (or was forced) in a different direction.  It became a democratic country with healthy respect for human rights.  It renounced military capabilities, becoming a country dedicated to peace.  In short, Japan became a country in which people acted and were treated more morally.  This can clearly be seen as a blessing in disguise.

In addition to its moral change, Japan’s economic outlook changed after the war.  Before the war, it had been prosperous, but not a world power.  After initial post-war hard times, Japan’s economy boomed.  This was helped in large part by the US’s desire to have Japan as a bulwark against communism in East Asia.  It was also helped when the US used Japan as a major supplier for things it needed to fight in the Korean War.  Japan’s economy was also able to boom because it no longer put any significant amount of its national efforts towards the military.  This freed up money and other resources to be used in the civilian economy.

In these ways, we can clearly argue that it was a blessing in disguise for Japan to lose in WWII.