However, because Japan didn’t spend heavily on arms, it had more funds to invest elsewhere. The U.S. spent five to ten times more on defense relative to the size of its economy. Japan focused on growing its economy, while America shouldered the burden of defending it. The results were more spectacular than anyone had expected. Once derided as a country of transistor salesmen, Japan was now the world’s second-largest economy. It was challenging American industrial dominance in areas that were crucial to U.S. military power.
