<P> Besides Ikeda's adherence to government intervention and regulation of the economy, his government pushed trade liberalization . By April 1960, trade imports had been 41 percent liberalized (compared to 22 percent in 1956). Ikeda planned to liberalize trade to 80 percent within three years . His plans however met severe opposition from both industries who had thrived on over-loaning and the nationalist public who feared foreign enterprise takeovers . The Japanese press likened liberalization to "the second coming of the black ships," "the defenselessness of the Japanese islands in the face of attack from huge foreign capitalist powers," and "the readying of the Japanese economy for a bloodstained battle between national capital and foreign capital ." Ikeda's income - doubling plan was largely a response to this growing opposition and widespread panic over liberalization, adopted to quell public protests . Ikeda's motivations were purely pragmatic and foreign policy based, however . He moved toward liberalization of trade only after securing a protected market through internal regulations that favored Japanese products and firms . </P> <P> Ikeda also set up numerous allied foreign aid distribution agencies to demonstrate Japan's willingness to participate in the international order and to promote exports . The creation of these agencies not only acted as a small concession to international organizations, but also dissipated some public fears about liberalization of trade . Ikeda furthered Japan's global economic integration by joining the GATT in 1955, the IMF, and the OECD in 1964 . By the time Ikeda left office, the GNP was growing at a phenomenal rate of 13.9 percent . </P> <P> In 1962, Kaname Akamatsu published his famous article introducing the Flying Geese Paradigm . It postulated that Asian nations will catch up with the West as a part of a regional hierarchy where the production of commoditized goods would continuously move from the more advanced countries to the less advanced ones . The paradigm was named this way due to Akamatsu's envisioning this pattern as geese flying in unison with Japan being an obvious leader . </P> <P> In 1973, the first oil - price shock struck Japan (1973 oil crisis). The price of oil increased from 3 dollars per barrel to over 13 dollars per barrel . During this time, Japan's industrial production was decreased by 20%, as the supply capacity could not respond effectively to the rapid expansion of demand, and increased investments in equipment often invited unwanted results--tighter supply and higher prices of commodities . Moreover, the Second Oil Shock in 1978 and 1979 exacerbated the situation as the oil price again increased from 13 dollars per barrel to 39.5 dollars per barrel . Despite being seriously impacted by the two oil crises, Japan was able to withstand the impact and managed to transfer from a product - concentrating to a technology - concentrating production form . </P>

What were the keys to japan's economic growth