Rise Like the Phoenix

even go to the extent of tying bombs on to their bodies and jumping down the funnels of ships so that they could not fail to make a direct hit. Now, the problem facing MacArthur was how to direct such fanaticism towards some positive, peaceful goal. An American commentator, Author Lewis, wrote: "When Japan surrendered, 40 years ago, General Douglas MacArthur undertook not just to occupy, but to remake the country. If he had been asked then what his most extravagant hope was, I think he might have said: ‘To channel the drive of this aggressive people away from militarism and into economic ambition.’” One way for the Japanese to respond to American overtures would have been to engage in unending guerilla warfare. They could have, alternatively resorted to verbal protests in the press and from public rostrums. But Japan unreservedly accepted the proposals of its conqueror and immediately began diverting its energies away from war and towards progressive ends. It totally ceased its direct confrontation with America and concentrated all of its energies on scientific education and technical progress. Japan began to make rapid economy advances which culminated in great commercial successes. In 1971, for example, it exported to America goods to the value of 6 billion dollars. A.book entitled, Japan: The 40-year Miracle, which elaborates at length upon the total destruction of Japan and its extraordinary progress in the space of 40 years, sums up the position in just one sentence: "The nation rose like the mythical phoenix from its own ashes." (Newsweek, August 12, 1985)