How has Japan Survived against all odds?
Survived against what odds? Japan is sea girt in a portion of the world in which deep ocean navigation has been until quite recently almost unheard of. Until the advent of the European powers, there was no credible threat to the survival of Japan. After Matthew Perry forced the Japanese to admit international shipping in 1853, the Japanese quickly turned to England to provide them the necessary expertise to create a modern nation on the lines of what were then known as the “Great Powers.” The Japanese chose to completely reverse the anti-western policies which dominated the nation for more than two centuries during the Tokugawa Shogunate–and having so chosen, they very quickly became what they had previously abhorred as a matter of principle. I suggest that you read about the Meiji period in Japanese history. Prior to the Meiji period, the nation was ruled by the Tokugawa Shongunate, which enshrined the governance principles adapted by Tokugawa Ieyasu from the methods of the Ashikaga
