Deck 14: Economic and Social Transformations

Question 1

What was the major shift in sources of energy in Japan of the 1950s-1960s?

A) From coal to oil
B) From coal to nuclear
C) From oil to nuclear
D) From domestic oil to imported oil

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following industries was NOT at the cutting edge of the postwar boom?

A) Shipbuilding
B) Iron and Steel
C) Silk production
D) Automobiles

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following internal factors did NOT contribute to the Japanese boom of the 1950s through 1970s?

A) Abundant capital from a high domestic savings rate
B) High quality human capital
C) A large and growing domestic market
D) Refurbished wartime plants and equipment

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following did Japanese consumers buy on credit during the 1960s?

A) Television
B) Sewing Machines
C) Refrigerators
D) All of the above

Question 5

Why did Charles de Gaulle call Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato a 'transistor salesman'?

A) Because Ikeda had earlier worked for a transistor manufacturing company
B) Because the Japanese government policies aimed to encourage Japanese exports
C) Because Japan's chief export was electronic transistors
D) Because France was competing intensely with Japan to export to the US

Question 6

Why is it reasonable to identify a 'transwar' period?

A) Because many trends that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s persisted into the 1950s
B) Because World War II had no impact on Japanese politics
C) Because of continuities from World War I to World War II
D) Because the word 'trans' in this context means 'only'

Question 7

Which of the following was NOT a legitimate exit point for students in the education system of the 1950s?

A) After primary school
B) After middle school
C) After high school
D) After university

Question 8

Which of the following elements of prewar life did NOT persist in the Japanese countryside into the 1950s?

A) Thatched roofs
B) Landlord-tenant tensions
C) Traditional clothing
D) Oxen-plowed fields

Question 9

Which of the following did NOT erode the assets of prewar elites?

A) Large-scale theft during the disorderly Occupation era
B) Allied bombing during wartime
C) High inflation between 1945 and 1948
D) Land reform

Question 10

Who were Japan's post-war 'rōnin' (masterless samurai)?

A) Freelancing college graduates workers with no long-term employment.
B) Unemployed ex-soldiers who engaged in theft and extortion
C) Unemployed immigrants from abroad
D) High school graduates taking "gap years" to study for university exams

Question 11

What were 'danchi?'

A) Government-run rice fields
B) Traditional Japanese extended families
C) Government-financed apartments
D) Privately built single-family homes

Question 12

Which of the following changes did NOT take place in Japanese society in the post-war decades of high economic growth?

A) Dating became popular
B) Bedrooms were separated from kitchen and dining rooms
C) Wives began to take part-time jobs
D) Women were reluctant to marry and lived on their own

Question 13

What was the 'water trade'?

A) Plumbing
B) Bar hostessing
C) Fishing
D) Fountain design

Question 14

Female industrial employed increased significantly in which industry in the 1960s?

A) Textiles
B) Iron and steel
C) Automobiles
D) Electronics

Question 15

To which country did the largest number of non-Japanese residents in postwar Japan claim allegiance?

A) North Korea
B) South Korea
C) Taiwan
D) China

Question 16

Which demographic groups tended to study 'home economics'?

A) Boys
B) Low-achieving students
C) Poorer students
D) Girls

Question 17

What was the total daily circulation of Japan's newspapers by 1960?

A) 2 million
B) 12 million
C) 24 million
D) 90 million

Question 18

When NHK begin to broadcast television?

A) 1923
B) 1936
C) 1945
D) 1953

Question 19

Which of the following events did NOT take place in the 1950s or 1960s?

A) The marriage of Crown Prince Akihito to a commoner, Shōda Michiko
B) The ongoing popularity of the comic strip, Sazae-san
C) The Sapporo Winter Olympic Games
D) The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games

Question 20

Why was Mishima Yukio's death notable?

A) Because he called for a military coup d'etat and publicly committed seppuku
B) Because it was broadcast live on radio and TV
C) Because he was a famous writer who had just won the Nobel Prize
D) Because he was killed by government troops