
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993                   TAG: 9307240077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. POLICIES HELPED GIVE JAPAN THE EDGE

The tale of how the United States helped create an economic superpower in Japan - by deliberately encouraging aggressive Japanese exports to America - is told in a series of declassified documents from the 1950s.

These once-secret documents, prepared by the Truman administration in 1952, demonstrate that the Japanese economic miracle was due in part to deliberate actions by the U.S., fearful that Japan would fall prey to communism. The hardworking spirit of the Japanese people was certainly a large factor in their postwar success, but the documents show that Japan had U.S. help.

Now with Japan riding an economic high horse, Tokyo is resisting demands by President Clinton to return the favor and press Japanese companies - which became rich through protectionism at home and access to open markets abroad - to buy more foreign products. Japan says that would be managed trade and run counter to free-trade principles, an argument Clinton administration officials scoff at.

The published diplomatic papers of the 1950s show how far the United States went to manage trade in those days - to help build up Japan.

by CNB