Why did Japan's heavy industry rise so quickly?

The fundamental reason for the rapid rise of Japan's heavy industry is economic militarization. Starting from the Inukai Cabinet, fiscal policy has been drastically changed, military expenditures have been significantly expanded, and public debt issuance has been expanded. From 1931 to 1936, total annual expenditure expanded by approximately 50%, from 1.477 billion yen to 2.282 billion yen. Among government fiscal expenditures, military expenditures accounted for 28.4% in 1930, 30.8% in 1931, increased to 35.2% in 1932, and remained between 38 and 40% thereafter. These military burdens have been passed on to the Japanese people. Total domestic debt nearly doubled (from 4.7 billion to 9.3 billion), and currency issuance and the price index both increased by approximately 40%. In 1936, the average domestic debt burden per Japanese was more than 90 yen. If combined with external debt, it would exceed 100 yen. The national income of the country that year was approximately 14.6 billion yen, and military expenditure accounted for approximately 7.4% of the national income.

The expansion of military demand has caused the heavy industry and chemical industry centered on the military to develop abnormally, and the industrial structure has also undergone major changes. In 1929, heavy industry and chemical industry accounted for only 30.28% of the total industrial output value. In 1933, its proportion began to exceed that of light industry, reaching 54.8% in 1938. During the same period, the share of light industry dropped from 35.1% to 22.2%. The proportion of employees in heavy industry and chemical industry also increased significantly, from 23.7% in 1929 to 53.6% in 1939. From the 1930s onwards, Japanese capitalism began to shift into the heavy industry stage.

In the process of economic militarization, the Japanese government has brought private industry into the track of serving military supplies and fostered a number of new chaebols with the military industry as their parent body, mainly including: "Nissan" Concern, "Nissan" Concern, large power chemical company Sen Concern, "Nissao" Concern, "Riken" Concern and Nakajima Aircraft Concern, etc. The old chaebols have strong capital and have long held monopolies in basic industry, light industry, domestic market and export trade.

In contrast, new chaebols generally rely on the support of state capital and professional banks, adopt new technologies, develop emerging industries such as electromechanical and chemicals that are closely related to the military, and "develop" colonies. Chasing high profits. They have closer ties with military forces and colonial expansion policies, forming a class alliance between warlords and plutocrats.

In the process of economic militarization, old chaebols such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi also closely followed the military situation. Before the September 18th Incident, investment in shipbuilding, coal, copper, aircraft, steel, aluminum and other sectors was increased, and huge profits were made from military inflation. After the September 18th Incident, the old chaebols quickly shifted their focus to the munitions industry. In 1937, the Mitsui Zaibatsu's total capital was 1.72 billion, including 325 million yen in military investment. Among other old chaebols, Sumitomo had the lowest military investment, but it still accounted for 14%, and Mitsubishi had the highest at 26%. Among the total capital of the new chaebol, Japan's military investment is 50.7, Japan's investment is 53.8, Japan's investment is 93.4, Mori's is 83.2, and Riken's is 95.3.

After economic militarization, Japan's military strength and equipment level have been greatly improved. By the time of the July 7th Incident, the number of various artillery pieces of the Japanese army had surpassed that of France and was close to that of Britain and the United States. From the very beginning of its formation, Japanese capitalism has had a strong military flavor. Its biggest characteristics are that it aims at military affairs, relies on war to prosper, and seeks benefits from colonies. It has a strong nature of military aggression.