Postwar Japan: The economy and infrastructure of the nation are in ruins. Whole cities have been destroyed and need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Civilians suffer from food shortages and rely on rationing to get food and other necessities.

Today: Japan is the leading industrial state of East Asia and supports one of the most advanced economies in the world. Following its crushing defeat in World War II, Japan created the fastest growing economy in the postwar period from 1955 to 1990. A world power in the early 2000s, Japan is outproduced only by the United States.

Postwar Japan: From 1945 to 1952, Japan is occupied by Allied forces led by the U.S. military.

Today: Japan is an independent nation and world power known for its peacetime economic might.

Postwar Japan: Individuals in Japanese cities and in the countryside experience the effects of modernization, as...