> My original point had nothing to do with looking for an indicator of
> imperialism, though. It only made a simple point: Japan has been
> economically better off than all other Asian nations, Africa, Latin
> America, and the Middle East, because it never became a Euro/American
> colony and was subject to the fewest malign foreign interventions in
> the age of colonialism.
It may be true that Japan has been better off because it suffered few foreign interventions, but so did two other, mutually contrasting cases: Ethiopia (except for 1935-41) and Thailand.
I don't know enough about Japanese history to comment further, but I have a hunch there is more to the picture than an absence of imperialism.
regards,
Grant.