Images of Japan and reflections of the UK in British newspaper coverage of Japan’s ‘miracle’ economic growth between 1952 and 1972

Chen, Yuhua (2022) Images of Japan and reflections of the UK in British newspaper coverage of Japan’s ‘miracle’ economic growth between 1952 and 1972. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

Over 150 years ago, Japan sought to industrialise whilst preserving her independence in the context of a British-dominated international economy. The Japanese admired and copied many features of British industry, and moved towards industrialisation in a relatively short space of time. In the early 20th century the relative positions of the two countries within the world economy began gradually to change, with Japanese goods challenging those from Britain in both British domestic and overseas markets, and Japan’s economy finally overtaking that of the UK by the late 1960s during its economic ‘Golden Age’. This thesis looks at the images of Japan presented in British newspaper articles that covered UK trade with, and UK trade competition with Japan between 1952 and 1972, the time during which Japan finally overtook the UK economically. It focusses in particular on British reporting of the formal trade agreements between the two countries, UK exports to Japan and its imports from Japan, and Japan’s economy itself. It also looks at reports on the two countries’ performance in third markets, in particular the People’s Republic of China, Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore. The images presented of Japan when related to trade are considered in conjunction with analysis of the actual trade performance of the UK and Japan. I conclude that historical and emotionally-based images of Japan (and the UK) were consistently presented by correspondents and commentators through this period of time as prevalent across British industry, although particularly by the early 1960s such images were increasingly challenged in articles as Japan’s ‘miracle economic growth’ was becoming apparent. Analysis of these images and their presentation in articles has a broader significance in highlighting the likelihood of historical and emotional-based images having the potential to influence economic behaviour.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2022 Yuhua Chen-Hudson
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Sets:	Departments > Economic History
Supervisor:	Hunter, Janet
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4719

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