Deck 11: Toward the Pacific Century

Question 1

The intent of Japan's post-World War II constitution is best described as which of the following?

A)To transform Japan into a peaceful and pluralistic society no longer capable of waging offensive war
B)To incorporate the Japanese military into the NATO command structure
C)To nationalize Japanese industry as a means to pay compensation to those victims of Japanese aggression

Answer 1

To transform Japan into a peaceful and pluralistic society no longer capable of waging offensive war

Question 2

A problem facing Japan in the immediate future is which of the following?

A)A quickly increasing poverty rate
B)A declining birth rate
C)A level of domestic violence, which surpasses that of the United States

Answer 2

A declining birth rate

Question 3

Which Japanese author writes characters that reflect the spiritual anguish of losing Japan's traditions in adopting Western culture?

A)Kenzaburo Oe
B)Soka Gakkai
C)Yukio Mishima

Answer 3

Kenzaburo Oe

Question 4

In the 1990s, how is the Japanese economy best described?

A)It declined because of economic depression in the United States, which thus no longer had the financial income to purchase Japanese exports.
B)It declined because the value of the yen rose, which hurt exports.
C)It prospered considerably because of the group nature of Japanese society, which guaranteed lifetime employment.

Question 5

Who was the leader of the People's Republic of Korea who ruled from the 1950s to the 1990s?

A)Syngman Rhee
B)Kim Il-sung
C)Park Chung Hee

Question 6

The Republic of China, based on the island of Taiwan, benefited from which of the following?

A)Financial aid from the mainland's People's Republic of China
B)The decision to establish large government-owned and government-run agricultural plantations, which would be more efficient than private farms
C)A modern economic infrastructure, the result of fifty years of Japanese rule

Question 7

One of the differences between the Republic of China (Taiwan)and the People's Republic of China was which of the following?

A)Taiwan felt no need to establish a family planning program, unlike mainland China.
B)The mainland, because of its great size and lengthy history, retained Confucius as a suitable paradigm.
C)Unlike the mainland, Taiwan actively maintained Chinese traditions and a respect for Confucian values.

Question 8

One of the fastest-growing religious sects in Japan in recent decades is which of the following?

A)Soka Gakkai
B)Yukio Apure
C)Kokutai

Question 9

It is estimated that in the Korean War (1950-1953), how many Koreans died?

A)500,000
B)Four million
C)Two million

Question 10

Which traditional religion in Japan is based on the belief in the existence of spirits in nature?

A)Shintoism
B)Hinduism
C)Buddhism

Question 11

Who was the Republic of Korea's leader who borrowed the nineteenth-century concept of "rich country and strong state" from Japan?

A)Syngman Rhee
B)Kim Il-sung
C)Park Chung Hee

Question 12

What is the status of Japanese women today?

A)They are more likely to be found in traditional roles, but this is slowly changing.
B)They have yet to achieve the right to vote.
C)They are considered social and political equals to Japanese men.

Question 13

As a result of the Korean War, what percentage of the population became refugees?

A)25 percent
B)10 percent
C)15 percent

Question 14

All of the following are correct about education in Japan except which?

A)The school year is 240 days.
B)Many Japanese children take cram courses in addition to their regular school courses.
C)Most Japanese teachers respect students as individuals and encourage personal self-discovery.

Question 15

Under the leadership of Park Chung Hee, South Korea followed which policy?

A)Economic laissez-faire with no involvement of the government in the economy
B)A series of five-year plans, which created a strong industrial base
C)A reduction of the size and power of the military in favor of massive industrial growth

Question 16

Which allied general was responsible for the political and social rehabilitation of Japan after World War II?

A)Dwight D. Eisenhower
B)George Marshall
C)Douglas MacArthur

Question 17

Japan's economic successes can be explained by all except which of the following factors?

A)Its abandonment of traditional Confucian values and the adoption of the values of Western individualism.
B)Its tradition of Confucian values.
C)World War II destroyed its industrial base, and thus, Japan did not face the problem of out-of-date manufacturing factories and equipment.

Question 18

One example of an increase in personal rebellion against the society norm in Japan is which of the following?

A)Increased enlistment in Japan's defense force
B)Abandonment of the cities for a meditative life in the countryside
C)"Tea hair"

Question 19

The agricultural reform program in Japan had what results?

A)It failed because of opposition by the allied occupation government, which was concerned about possible communist influence.
B)It was initially successful but ultimately collapsed in the face of agricultural imports from the United States.
C)It reduced the number of tenant farmers from about 50 percent to 10 percent of the total.

Question 20

Why did the South Korean industrial economy prosper from the 1960s through the 1980s?

A)High wages
B)A high rate of savings
C)Massive consumer spending

Question 21

The postwar Japanese constitution made which of the following structural changes?

A)It reduced the power of the emperor and guaranteed human rights.
B)It limited all political participation to a list of preapproved voters.
C)It gave local civil administrations control over the army and its navy.

Question 22

What is the United States-led alliance called to which both Australia and New Zealand belong?

A)NATO
B)The Trans-Pacific Partnership
C)ANZUS

Question 23

Singapore leader Goh Chok Tong has promised which of the following changes to Singapore's government?

A)A kinder, gentler Singapore
B)A more relaxed attitude to government regulations on economic activity
C)A minimum income to anyone that emigrates to Singapore

Question 24

The South Korean chaebol is the equivalent of which institution?

A)Zaibatsu
B)Meiji
C)Samurai

Question 25

What military relationship exists between the United States and Japan?

Question 26

What is the idea of Keiretsu, and why is it significant?

Question 27

Who are the Ainu?

A)An ethnic minority that live in isolated communities on the northern island of Hokkaido
B)The hereditary outcasts of Korean descent that live in Japan
C)Aging parents that are forced to live in government housing because their children cannot afford to care for them

Question 28

Which of the following statements is true about Singapore?

A)Economic success relies on continuing political authoritarianism.
B)Economic prosperity is the result of a laissez-faire philosophy of governing.
C)Economic success is beginning to undermine the authoritarian system.

Question 29

Which country ruled Singapore and Hong Kong throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries?

A)France
B)Japan
C)Great Britain

Question 30

How did the U.S. occupation affect the Zaibatsu?

Question 31

All of these statements are true of the Japanese educational system except which?

A)Literacy rates are nearly 100 percent.
B)Japanese students consistently earn higher scores on achievement tests than children in other countries.
C)The amount of work assigned increases at every level.

Question 32

Why were antimonopoly restrictions affected by Cold War concerns?

Question 33

The most crucial issue in Taiwan's future is which of the following?

A)Its political and constitutional relationship with Communist China
B)Its economic relationships with Japan
C)Its familial and social relationships with Hong Kong

Question 34

How did the 1990 economic crisis affect Japan?

Question 35

Why is Hong Kong's experience thought to have been different from other "Little Tigers"?

A)It had to overcome serious opposition to economic development from wealthy, powerful elites.
B)It was not seriously affected by colonial rule.
C)It has relied on an unbridled free market system.

Question 36

How has Japan treated the Ainu population?

Question 37

All of the following are correct about the similarities between Hong Kong and Singapore except which?

A)Both are city-states.
B)Both remained under colonial rule until the end of the 1990s.
C)Both are predominantly Chinese.

Question 38

After World War II, Japan's zaibatsu experienced which of the following changes?

A)They were allowed to continue to operate but under greater regulation.
B)They were temporarily abolished but reappeared later as an interlocking agreement known as keiretsu.
C)They were permanently abolished because cartels were no longer believed to be necessary to Japan's economy.

Question 39

Which issue is drawing Australia and New Zealand into closer relationships with Asia?

A)Cultural similarity
B)Military security
C)Economics and trade

Question 40

Lee Kuan Yew held which of the following opinions?

A)The Soviet Union was a proper economic model for Singapore.
B)Western pluralist democracy was not appropriate for Singapore.
C)The Japanese Meiji experience was an unsuitable model for Singapore.

Question 41

Describe how Australia's geopolitical alignment has changed from 1942 to the present.

Question 42

What was the result of the Korean War?

Question 43

What were the principles of the new Japanese constitution? What explains these new principles?

Question 44

What is Hong Kong's relationship to China?

Question 45

What were the arguments for removing the Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state in Australia?

Question 46

Describe the similarities and differences between contemporary North and South Korea.

Question 47

Describe Japan's demographic crisis.

Question 48

To what extent do you agree with Kenzaburo Oe's allegation that Japan has been "Americanized"? Why?

Question 49

How has the contemporary United States-Taiwan relationship affected relations with China?

Question 50

What role does contemporary Singapore play in the regional economy?

Question 51

What role did Lee Kuan Yew have in Singapore's post-independence development?

Question 52

Has the United States-Taiwan relationship mostly benefited or mostly disadvantaged Taiwan? Why?

Question 53

Why has Japan been able to offer a high quality of life to most of its citizens?

Question 54

What was Taiwan's relationship with the United States in the early postwar period?

Question 55

How did the Cold War shape the U.S. occupation and reconstruction of Japan after World War II?

Question 56

In 1951, Japan signed a peace treaty with its former enemies, including the United States, that had what result?

A)All U.S. military troops were permanently removed from Japanese territory.
B)Japan gave up claims to Taiwan and Korea.
C)The Soviet Union restored the Kurile Islands to Japan as a sign of friendship and amity.

Question 57

All of the following are characteristic of the "Japanese miracle" except which?

A)Its economic success was due to Japan's extensive oil reserves off its north coast.
B)The Japanese quality of life is among the highest in the world.
C)It is the world's greatest exporting nation.

Question 58

What model has Singapore followed, and what results has it had?

Question 59

What is the chaebol?

Question 60

Describe Singapore's traditional approach to governance.

Question 61

Some critics of Japan's recent economic developments have argued which of the following?

A)There is too little government involvement in the economy.
B)There should be more contacts between politicians and businessmen in order to facilitate economic growth.
C)There should be less government involvement, and Japan should open up its markets to international competition.

Question 62

Which of the following issues divides the United States from many of Japan's Asian neighbors and that is also divisive within Japanese society?

A)Whether or not to accept total guilt for starting World War II
B)Whether or not to develop a greater military capacity than is allowed by the 1947 constitution
C)Whether or not to return the Sakhalin Islands to Russia now that the Cold War is over

Question 63

In what ways are Singapore and Hong Kong similar? In what ways are they different? Are they more alike than not?

Question 64

How have Australia's political, cultural, and economic interests aligned, or not, since the 1940s? What conflicts has this created?

Question 65

Over what issues have contemporary Hong Kong and China most openly disagreed? What has been the result of those disagreements?

Question 66

For most of the half century after World War II, Japan could best be described politically as which of the following?

A)A democratic state where one party held power throughout the period
B)A constitutional monarchy wherein the emperor chose the prime minister and the cabinet subject to ratification by the Diet
C)A largely authoritarian society where the genro oligarchs ruled according to the 1947 constitution

Question 67

Lingering issues that have caused friction between Japan and Korea include all except which of the following?

A)The Japanese demand for economic compensation for its extensive investments in Korean transportation and industry in the decades after 1910
B)The Japanese conscription of Korean women as prostitutes during World War II
C)Discrimination in Japan against Korean residents