To be honest, while Japan's achievement is impressive, Western Europe enjoys the same level of revitalization thanks to pretty much the same reasons, which I see as an indicator that Japan's success is not that special during the post-war era. The communist takeover of mainland China and the Korean War all drives US's decision to make Japan its influence hub in Asia and pouring tons of money/tech/resources into it. In that sense Japan's success also attributes to a lot of external factors that need to be inspected under historical context.