This is the final report in a four-part series looking at the past seven decades during which Japan maintained its national security while enjoying economic prosperity, and the ongoing social changes that could determine the country's future course.


Numbers, particularly when interpreted graphically, are often more powerful than words when explaining long-term trends and changes. Here are three graphs that tell us much about what Japan has gone through in the past seven decades, including how it suffered, prospered, peaked and declined.