How did world war ii affect life in japan

  Even before the massive US conventional, and ultimately nuclear, bombing campaign of 1945, which incinerated many Japanese cities, including Tokyo, and killed hundreds of thousands of people, the Japanese people suffered greatly in WWII. Thet had to work very hard and to survive with a minimum of food and clothing, as the nation's resources were mobilized for military use. Privations were greatly increased, especially in 1944, by the US submarine campaign. The loss of hundreds of Japanese merchant ships (marus) severely limited the flow of imported food,oil etc. Many people were nearly starving since the military had priority for what little food there was. Civilians also had a lower priority for available fuel. Loss of tankers and oil imports severely affected transportation. Without oil to spare for cars or buses, many people had to get around on bicycles.

Somewhere around 200,000 civilians were killed as a direct consequence of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the devastating radioactivity left many people permanently scarred. Japan's military was decimated by the war, and their economy suffered heavily. However, between the end of World War 2 and the end of the Cold War, Japan underwent what is known as the "Japanese Economic Miracle". They rapidly become an economic power. They were the second largest economy by the 1960's.