The Showa financial crisis refers to the period in 1927 when Emperor Hirohito took the throne. It is believed that the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 helped bring on this depression which caused many banks and factories to close down, two years before the Great Depression in the United States. Japan took on a more government-involved approach to the economy in response. The ShÅwa period (æ˜å’Œæ™‚代, lit. ... Hirohito (April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989) was the 124th Emperor of Japan who reigned from 1926 to 1989. ... Great Kanto Earthquake The Great Kanto Earthquake (é–¢æ±å¤§éœ‡ç½ KantÅ daishinsai) struck the Kanto plain on the Japanese main island of Honshu at 11:58 on the morning of September 1, 1923. ... The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to 1939. ...
In the 1970s, the term "Showa [year] n" was revived, in the newspapers, journals, and especially by people of an older generation, because of a variety of reasons.
It was partly a negative reaction to the first international oil crisis started by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1973 that led to a jump of international oil prices by over ten times and a subsequent oil boycott to all pro-American countries including Japan.
However, in their depictions of the war, the war "appeared as a natural catastrophe which 'happened' to Japan," and the people "'were embroiled' in the war by their reckless leaders." (Gluck, 12) In other words, there was no serious self-reflection over who caused the war.
It also led to a debt crisis; a large proportion of the huge debts that had been run up turned bad, which in turn led to a crisis in the banking sector, with many banks having to be bailed out by the government.
Eventually, many became unsustainable, and a wave of consolidation took place, and as such here are now only four national banks in Japan.
The official figure is a little under 5%, but this is a considerable underestimate — the real level is probably around twice that.
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