# data[].attributes.headline
Seoul Journal (In Downloads on MacBook Pro)

# data[].attributes.subject
Seoul Journal (In Downloads on MacBook Pro)

# data[].attributes.body
http://sjks.snu.ac.kr/issue/download.jsp?id=721&aid=49&ek=aba3b6fd5d186d28e06ff97135cade7f

# data[].attributes.body
Another Overview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The American Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952 | Asia for Educators | Columbia University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The American government believed that establishing democracy in Japan involved change in all areas of Japanese life. Under MacArthur and with the cooperation of the Japanese, Japan undertook tremendous changes in just seven short years - the Occupation lasted from 1945 to 1952.

# data[].attributes.body
Time when reforms were undone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the end of the American-led Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-52), The Allied Occupation of Japan is a sweeping history of the revolutionary reforms that transformed Japan and the remarkable men and women, American and Japanese, who implemented them.

# data[].attributes.body
1. "Under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), Japan's army and navy ministries were abolished, munitions and military equipment were destroyed, and war industries were converted to civilian uses."
2. "industrial monopolies were dismantled and freedom of the press was granted."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
JAPAN AFTER WORLD WAR II

Nagasaki after the war World War II left about 3 million dead and many cities in ashes from U.S. firebombings. Close to 9 million people were homeless. "Everything had been flattened," the journalist Russell Brines wrote. "Only thumbs stood up from the flatlands --- the chimneys of bathhouses, heavy house safes and an occasional stout building with heavy iron shutters." In his book Embracing Defeat, John Dower wrote: "The first photographs and newsreel footage from the conquered land captured these endless vistas of urban rubble for American audiences thousands of miles away who had never really grasped what it meant to incinerate great cities."

With the same energy, commitment and discipline that characterized the process of modernization in the Meiji period, the Japanese pulled themselves up by their bootstraps after World War II and transformed their nation into a strong democracy and an economic dynamo. Many Japanese see the postwar Showa era---from 1946 to 1989---as a time when Japan faced its challenges and accomplished things no one thought was possible, giving the Japanese a collective sense of achievement and great hopes for the future. There is a lot of nostalgia these days for this period. One Ginza resident told the Asahi Shimbun, "I think this was time of when people were able to find enjoyment in things. There is more room to dream when a nation is developing rather than in world that's complete and perfect."

Japan's postwar political scene closely paralleled that of Italy. Both were led by a largely self-serving, criminally-connected conservative elite maintained power by offering itself as a bulwark against Communism. A former war criminal became prime minister in the late 1950s.

As of 2011 there had been 33 prime ministers since the end of World War II. Most were forced to quit to take responsibility for an election defeat, scandal or because of illness. There have been a sizable number of cases in which scandals forced prime ministers to step down. Some prime ministers have resigned soon after achieving major goals. Those cases are divided into two types--leaving with a real sense of achievement and doing so to give the impression of a smooth transfer of power in the midst of political deadlock. There have been a sizable number of cases in which scandals forced prime ministers to step down. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun]

Relatively little money flowed into Asia to rebuild the war-torn nations. Most of the aid money that the U.S. had its disposal was earmarked for Europe and the Marshall Plan. Per capita income in Japan rose 10 times between 1950 and 2008.

Automatic ataxia, a nervous disease whose symptoms includes difficulty breathing, was an after-effect of the war.

RELATED ARTICLES IN THIS WEBSITE: MODERN HISTORY factsanddetails.com; OKINAWA, KAMIKAZES, HIROSHIMA AND THE END OF WORLD WAR II factsanddetails.com; CONSTITUTION OF JAPAN (1947), ARTICLE 9 (THE NO-WAR CLAUSE) AND SHINZO ABE'S AMBITION TO CHANGE IT factsanddetails.com; JAPAN'S POSTWAR DEFENSE POLICY AND TREATIES WITH THE U.S. factsanddetails.com; JAPAN'S POST-WORLD-WAR II ECONOMY AND THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE OF THE 1950s AND 60s factsanddetails.com; JAPAN INTHE 1950s, 60s AND 70s UNDER YOSHIDA, IKEDA, SATO AND TANAKA factsanddetails.com; RIGHT VERSUS LEFT IN JAPAN IN THE 1960s: YUKIO MISHIMA'S SUICIDE AND JAPANESE RED ARMY factsanddetails.com; JAPAN IN THE 1980s AND EARLY 1990s: NAKASONE AND THE PRIME MINISTERS THAT FOLLOWED HIM factsanddetails.com; JAPAN BECOMES AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE IN THE 1970s AND 80s factsanddetails.com; JAPANESE BUBBLE ECONOMY IN THE 1980s AND ITS COLLAPSE IN THE 1990s factsanddetails.com; JAPAN AND ITS PRIME MINISTERS AND GOVERNMENT IN THE 1990s AND EARLY 2000s factsanddetails.com; KOBE EARTHQUAKE OF 1995 factsanddetails.com; AUM SHINROKYO CULT AND THE TOKYO SUBWAY SARIN GAS ATTACK factsanddetails.com; JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI factsanddetails.com; SHINZO ABE'S FIRST STINT AS PRIME MINISTER, YASUO FUKUDA AND TARO ASO factsanddetails.com; DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF JAPAN (DPJ) WINS BIG IN 2009 ELECTION IN JAPAN (AND ICHIRO OZAWA) factsanddetails.com; YUKIO HATOYAMA: HIS LIFE, HIS POLICIES AND FAILURES AS PRIME MINISTER IN 2010 factsanddetails.com; MARCH 2011 EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI factsanddetails.com; JAPAN UNDER NAOTO KAN, THE LEADER DURING THE MARCH 2011 TSUNAMI factsanddetails.com; YOSHIHIKO NODA, JAPAN'S PRIME MINISTER IN 2011 AND 2012 factsanddetails.com; JAPAN'S DECLINE factsanddetails.com

Websites and Resources

Good Websites and Sources: Post World-War-II Japan hartford-hwp.com Essay on Allied Occupation of Japan aboutjapan.japansociety.org ; Essay on Postwar Japan 1952-1989 aboutjapan.japansociety.org ; Essay on 20th Century Japan aboutjapan.japansociety.org ; Birth of the Constitution of Japan ndl.go.jp/constitution ; Constitution of Japan solon.org/Constitutions/Japan ; Takazawa Collection at the University of Hawaii on Social Japanese Social Movements takazawa.hawaii.edu ; Documents Related to Postwar Politics and International Relations ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp ; Japan Echo, a Journal on Japanese Politics and Society japanecho.com; Books: Making of Modern Japan by Marius Jansen (2000); Inventing Japan: (1853-1964) by Ian Buruma (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003). Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John Dowser of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1999.

Good Japanese History Websites: ; Wikipedia article on History of Japan Wikipedia ; Samurai Archives samurai-archives.com ; National Museum of Japanese History rekihaku.ac.jp ; Japanese History Documentation Project openhistory.org/jhdp ; Cambridge University Bibliography of Japanese History to 1912 ames.cam.ac.uk ; Sengoku Daimyo sengokudaimyo.co ; English Translations of Important Historical Documents hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/iriki ; WWW-VL: History: Japan (semi good but dated source ) vlib.iue.it/history/asia/Japan ; Forums Delphi Forums, Good Discussion Group on Japanese History forums.delphiforums.com/samuraihistory ; Tousando tousando.proboards.com

Hardships and Optimism in Japan After World War II

Severe food shortages were common; cities and factories were heaps of rubble, twisted metal and burnt wood; the economy was almost totally paralyzed from wartime destruction, rampant black marketeering and runaway inflation; people drew water from communal faucets and used holes instead of toilets. Few Japanese had any money but there really wasn't anything to buy anyway.

People were so desperate for something to eat they hitched rides on freight trains to the countryside where they traded old clothes for sweet potatoes. Some scavenged for grass and bark to survive. On the streets former soldiers and amputees begged for food. Many people had their growth stunted by malnutrition.

Joichi Ito, a Japanese -American venture capitalist born in the 1960s, wrote in the International Herald Tribune: "My grandparent generation remembers the sufferings, but tries to forget it. My present generation still does not trust the military."

Takehiko Ena was a kamikaze pilot that survived because of mechanical problems on his plane that occurred after take off. Justin McCurry wrote in The Guardian, His "relief that the war was over gave way to optimism about the future, even as Japan set about rebuilding its devastated cities and counted the human cost of its militarist adventure on the Asian mainland. "We felt sadness about the friends we had lost during the war, but we were also trying to envision how we would rebuild Japan," he said. That meant embracing the country's new, US-written constitution, whose "pacifist" article nine restricts Japan's military to a strictly defensive role. [Source: Justin McCurry, The Guardian, August 11, 2015 >>>]

"He bristles when asked about attempts by Japan's conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to reinterpret the clause to allow troops to fight alongside allies overseas for the first time since the conflict that almost took his life. "For 70 years we have been protected by a peace-oriented constitution," he said. "I'm very grateful that we haven't gone to war [in that time.] The Japanese people should be happy about that."
Emperor Hirohito After World War II
Hirohito accepted responsibility for the war and offered to abdicate or do whatever was asked of him. MacArthur wanted him to stay on to make the transition to democracy as smooth and peaceful as possible. Hirohito and MacArthur met 11 times. Hirohito was completely exonerated and used as a unifying symbol in the postwar period similar to way he used during the war.

Hirohito approved the American-made constitution and traveled across the country shaking hands and exchanging bows with ordinary Japanese to boost their morale. Describing one outing, Frank Gibney wrote in Time: "The crumpled gray hat became in time the badge of a successful political campaigner. The monosyllables in which Hirohito had conducted his early interviews with the common folk grew into coherent questions and intelligent replies. The shy man waved his hat in the air to acknowledge greetings. He smiled. Slowly the sense or personality behind the walled moat of the Imperial Palace communicated itself to the people of Japan."

During the same trip one steel worker at a mill visited by Hirohito told Time, "I must admit that we were filled with deep emotion. When you talk about the Emperor, it's just an abstract thing. But when you see him close at hand, it's different, somehow...The Emperor is our father. He should be left a he is."

Americans, Hirohito and War Responsibility

Historian John Dower has argued that the Americans created conditions that prevented the Japanese from facing up to their culpability in World War II the same way the Germans have. Instead of punishing Hirohito as a war criminal MacArthur paid him formal respect as the living symbol of Japan and absolved him of any responsibility for the war.

Dower argued that the absolution of Hirohito made a mockery of the Tokyo war crimes trial in which 23 military and civilian leaders were convicted---with seven executed---for essentially following Hirohito' decrees. "Justice was rendered arbitrarily. Serious engagement with the issue of war responsibility was deflected: if the nation's supreme secular and spiritual authority bear no responsibility...why should his ordinary subjects be expected to engage on self-reflection?"

Dower added, the Americans kept Hirohito as Emperor because "The Americans said if they forced him to step down, there would have been chaos and rifts in Japan."
MacArthur and Japan After World War II
A conservative Republican, MacArthur arrived with a staff of New Dealers who were intent on setting up an American-style democracy and doing to Japan what Franklin Roosevelt did to the United States. At MacArthur request, immediately after the war was over, an infusion of U.S. aid was brought into Japan to stave off famine and political unrest. Among the reforms introduced with help of MacArthur were school lunch programs.

MacArthur guided Japan's transition to a democratic form of government. In a testimony before Congress MacArthur called Japan a "boy of 12" in need of instructions on the basics of Western democracy and capitalism. Among his first actions was confiscating 5 million swords.

Many historians, believe that the role MacArthur played "in starting Japan on the path from feudal militarism toward modern democracy represented a greater triumph than any the old warrior had won on the battlefield."

American Occupation of Japan After World War II

After the surrender treaty was signed MacArthur immediately established a military occupation. American troops went ashore to liberate war prisoners and make sure the terms of the surrender were complied with. All Japanese military forces were disarmed and sent home. It was the first time ever that Japan was occupied by foreigners. Japan did not become a sovereign nation again until 1952.

Under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), Japan's army and navy ministries were abolished, munitions and military equipment were destroyed, and war industries were converted to civilian uses. War crimes trials found 4,200 Japanese officials guilty; 700 were executed, and 186,000 other public figures were purged. State Shinto was disestablished, and on January 1, 1946, Emperor Hirohito repudiated his divinity. MacArthur pushed the government to amend the 1889 Meiji Constitution. Constitutional reforms were accompanied by economic reforms, including agricultural land redistribution, reestablishment of trade unions, and severe proscriptions on zaibatsu. The relatively rapid stabilization of Japan led to a relaxation of SCAP purges and press censorship. Quick economic recovery was encouraged, restrictions on former zaibatsu members eventually were lifted, and foreign trade was allowed.

After the war American soldiers were told to be respectful to ordinary Japanese, and do things like remove their shoes when entering homes, direct traffic in front of train stations and help malnourished children. Many Japanese were shocked by the courtesy. To this day some elderly Japanese bow to American-looking foreigners to say thank you for all that American did for Japanese after the war.

One of the first thing that Japanese officials did in preparation for the American occupation was to set up hundreds of brothels and comfort stations to prevent them making unwanted advances on Japanese women. Some Japanese women were so worried about attacks they cut their hair short and tried to pass themselves off as men. There were reports of some Japanese women carrying cyanide tablets, ready to commit suicide before being raped.

For their part American soldiers arrived in full-combat gear and were ready for attacks from the general public. No-fraternization orders were given and no contact with the "indigenous population" was allowed. But in the end, the Japanese population turned out to so complaint and cooperative the non-fraternization order was rescinded after six months and many American soldiers felt safe enough to walk around without their weapons.

The American occupation of Japan ended in 1952, after Tokyo signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty and accepted the Tokyo trials' verdict.

American Influence on Japan After World War II

The strong, inflexible bureaucracy and top-down decision making criticized by many Americans today was instituted by the American so they could control the Japanese government. Dower wrote, "The Americans came in, said they doing democracy. They don't want to work through the Diet, they want to work thought the bureaucracy...The Americans created this more bureaucratic Japan, and indeed, encouraged it."

After World War II the Americans introduced a system for conducting autopsies after finding that thousands of deaths attributed to starvation were actually caused by tuberculosis.

Reforms and Changes in Japan After World War II

Among the reforms that were introduced after World War II were the renouncement of the war, guaranteed equality for both sexes, the overhaul of the Diet (the Japanese parliament) and support the worker's rights to strike. Japanese women were given the right to vote, political prisoners were freed, unions were organized, feudal lords gave up their land to farmers, political parties were established, education was liberalized, industrial monopolies were dismantled and freedom of the press was granted.

Kabuki theater and martial arts such as kendo were outlawed, teachers were ordered to teach about democracy instead of emperor worship, and references in school textbooks to the samurai spirit were censored. The Japanese population turned in their arms, including millions samurai swords, some of which were centuries old, many of which fell into the hands of American soldier collectors.

State Shintoism was terminated as a state religion. This and the renunciation by the Emperor of his semidivine status left a lot of Japanese confused. "They made some Japanese permanently cynical," wrote Buruma, "they would never believe anything again. But the spiritual vacuum of the post war years provided fertile ground for all kinds of new cults and creeds. Most of them organized around a charismatic figure."

New Peace Constitution in Japan

The constitution was hastily put together---a large part of it was written in only six days--- and pushed through the government by American Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Among its main features are that the Emperor is the symbol of the state and that Japan renounces war as a sovereign right. The fundamental human rights of speech, assembly, press and religion are guaranteed as is the right of women to vote.

The Japanese Constitution is sometimes referred to as the "Peace Constitution." It denies Japan the right to declare war and forbids the establishment of a large army or navy. " The preamble states: "We, the Japanese people, desire peace for all time...We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time."

Article 9 of the Japanese constitution forbids all military activity. It states:"Tthe Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right and the threat of use of force as means of settling disputes" and armed forces "will never be maintained." Japan's pacifist stance has a lot to do with distrust of the military.
Foreign Policy in Japan After World War II
After World War II Japan went from being enemy No. 1 for the United States to "junior ally." In racial terms this was achieving by casting Japanese children and women in a positive light ad helping them become "liberated."

In September 1951 fifty-one nations met in San Francisco to reach a peace accord with Japan. China, India, and the Soviet Union participated in the conference but did not sign the treaty, formally known as the Treaty of Peace. Japan renounced its claims to Korea, Taiwan, Penghu, the Kuril Islands, southern Sakhalin, islands it had gained by League of Nations mandate, South China Sea islands, and Antarctic territory, while agreeing to settle disputes peacefully according to the United Nations Charter. Japan's rights to defend itself and to enter into collective security arrangements were acknowledged. The 1952 ratification of the Japan-United States Mutual Security Assistance Pact also ensured a strong defense for Japan and a large postwar role in Asia for the United States.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 signified Japan's return to the community of nations as a reformed state. It was signed by the United States, Japan, Taiwan and 48 other nations but not by China. The treaty allowed Japan to once again control its domestic and foreign affairs. It also limited reparation claims against Japan by victims such as POWs and comfort women and required Japan to abide by anti-aggression provisions in the United Nations charter.

Japan became a member of the United nation in 1956. After war reparations were paid off in the mid-1960s, Japan re-established formal its with South Korea in 1965. In the mid-1950s Ichiro Hatoyama argued that Japan should not become too subservient to the United States and flew to Moscow to normalize relations with the Soviet Union to make his point.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has provided security for Japan in return for Japan's support of American geopolitical aims in Asia and the fight against Communism (Japan is close to China, Russia, North Korea and Vietnam).

Today Japan spends only percent of its GNP on defense. And even though some right-wing nationalist oppose this policy the majority of Japanese favor it.
Economic Reforms in Japan After World War II
After World War II, large zaibatsu included Mitsubishi and Sumitomo were broken up into hundreds of smaller companies and some of their heads were dismissed. Efforts to break up the zaibatsu---the the large industrial conglomerates that provided the hardware for Japan's military expansion---after World War II were resisted not only by the zaibatsuthemselves by conservative elements in the MacArthur headquarters.

Other economic reforms included the passage of Deconcentration Law and the establishment of the Fair Trade Commission. But in the end a desire by the United States to keep Japan as a good friend an unwillingness to rock the boat too much kept the "cordial oligarchy" between the government and the zaibatsu in place.

The economy was based more on a government-supported and corporation-patronized "social market" than a "free-market" like that of the United States. Government policies shifted vast amounts of wealth to the middle class. Labor was absorbed into corporate governance with an emphasis on employment security.

After the end of World War II Japan strived to increase coal supplies to rebuild its industrial base. After securing energy supplies around the 1950s the national goal shifted to strengthen export capabilities.

Junich Maruyama economic news editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun wrote: "The war put an end to the "bloc economy system" whereby world powers had kept their colonies enclosed within their own trading blocs, while setting up tariff barriers to keep external suppliers from soaking up internal demand. Instead, the world economy shifted to the Bretton Woods system of monetary management, with reduced tariff barriers and free trade as its foundations....Japan achieved remarkable reconstruction and rapid economic growth as a trading nation in the postwar years, chiefly due to the major changes in the framework of the international economy."

Land Reforms in Japan after World War II

The revolutionary land reform bill that MacArthur pushed through the Diet allowed America-backed government to seized land and abolished the titles of the extensive aristocracy. The bill literally ended feudalism in many parts of Japan overnight and allowed many Japanese to own land for the first time.

The Japanese aristocracy was stripped of its land, wealth and status according to the terms of the post-war constitution. Large landowners were forced to sell their land to the tenants who worked it at a very reasonable price. On man from a noble family told the Washington Post, "After the war my mother had to cook for the first time."

MacArthur also helped smashed monopolies, break up the large corporations and prop up the unions.
Reforms That Didn't Occur

organized labor demonstrations Many of the reforms were stopped after the Cold War set in. Conservatives in Washington, historian Buruma, wrote in The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan, "were afraid of Japan's going socialist at a time that communist bloc was shaping as America's main enemy."

Leaders were convinced that "the policy on Japan should be reversed: no more nonsense about redistributing wealth and fostering union radicalism: Japan should become a capitalist powerhouse against communism..."Reds" were purged in unions and war criminals released from prison.

The zaibatsu were stripped of the powerful families that ran them but continued to exist.

Local politicians and bureaucrats were allowed to keep their positions. The national ministries that ran the wartime economy were not significantly changed.

Buried Poison Gas and Bombs

Since the end of World War II more than 2,000 Chinese are believed to have been injured by chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese after the war. In recent years a number of them have been dug up at construction sites. Japanese and Chinese teams have been working together to remove munitions at various sites in China. The process is dangerous and expensive.

In August 2003, scavengers in the northwest Chinese city of Qiqhar in Heilongjiang Province tore open some buried containers of mustard gas that had been left by Japanese troops at the end of World War II. One man died and 43 others were badly burned or became seriously ill. One man who carried the containers vomited violently and developed grape-like blister clusters on his legs. His eyes hurt so much he couldn't open them. He was still feeling the affects five years later. The Chinese were very angry about the incident and demanded compensation.

An estimated 700,000 Japanese poison projectiles from World War II were left behind in China. Thirty sites have been found. The most significant is the 670,000 projectiles found in Haerbaling, Dunshua city, in Jilin Province. Poison gas has also been found buried in several sites in Japan. The gas has been blamed for causing some serious illnesses.

The chemical weapon agents found in China and Japan have included mustard gas, which causes blisters on the skin and in the lungs; lewisate, also called sneeze gas because it incapacitates soldiers by causing them to cough and sneeze violently; and phosgene, which can cause suffocation. In China these were found in bombs, shells, smoke pots and oil drums.

It is common to find unexploded ordnance in the different parts of Japan that were heavily bombed during World War II. Most of the bombs were dropped by the U.S., but some were buried or lost by the Japanese military as well. Bombs are still found from time to time. In November 2012, AP reported: "A military squad safely removed a 250-kilogram (550 pound) World War II bomb found two weeks ago near the runway of a major airport in northern Japan. The team defused the rusty bomb and then transported it away from Sendai Airport. More than 30 flights were canceled while they worked. The bomb was uncovered in construction related to restoration after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The airport was immediately closed, but troops piled hundreds of sandbags around the bomb so that flights could resume the next day. The airport was closed again when the bomb was removed.[Source: AP, November 14, 2012]

In June 2013, AP and The Telegraph reported: "An unexploded World War II (WWII) bombshell was destroyed by a bomb disposal team in Japan that was found during excavation around the railway track earlier on. The discovery of the rusty, 40-cm Japan-made bomb, forced to halt several trains including high-speed bullet trains; disrupting traveling plans of more than 90,000 commuters across Japan. A total of 150 train services, including 53 Shinkansen bullet-train services, were stopped as a precautionary measure, a spokesperson for East Japan Railway (JR East) said ahead of the operation, adding 90,000 people would be affected. [Source: AP, The Telegraph, June 4, 2013]

In May 2008, 16,000 people were evacuated from an Chuo ward in western Tokyo and traffic on national highway was shut down and 140 patients at a hospital were transferred to another hospital after a one-ton bomb, dropped in World War II was discovered at a construction site. The bomb was removed and carried away in a truck. The area that was evacuated was declared safe to return to 12 hours after the bomb was found.

Image Sources: 1) Nagasaki and Yokohama map, Japanese National Archives 2) McArthur pictures, Wikipedia, 3) Ginza picture, Japan Zone website 4) throne, Shugin Japanese House of Representatives website

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Yomiuri, Times of London, Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
JAPAN AFTER WORLD WAR II: HARDSHIPS, MACARTHUR, THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION AND REFORMS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
JAPAN AFTER WORLD WAR II Nagasaki after the war World War II left about 3 million dead and many cities in ashes from U.S. firebombings. Close to 9 million people were homeless. "Everything had been flattened," the journalist Russell Brines wrote.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From cars to soy sauce, Japanese products made in the US are ubiquitous in American life. Beyond providing everyday commodities and cultural influence, however, Japan plays an even more direct role in the US economy, creating an impressive number of jobs and buoying inward foreign direct investment (FDI).

Since 2002, Japan has almost doubled its investments in the US, investing more there than it does in Europe or Asia. In 2015, Japan's cumulative $411 billion of FDI in the US was the country's second largest source of FDI behind the UK. And while its size and policies make the US an attractive market for many countries, Japan stands in a class of its own for its commitment to the US workforce, R&D, and exports.

Second only to the UK, Japanese companies employ more US workers than any other foreign investor.

The economic relationship between the US and Japan is rooted in symbiosis ( the US is also the largest investor in Japan) and there is a complementary connection between Japan's monozukuri culture -or the art of manufacturing-and America's storied spirit of innovation. These combined cultural cornerstones provide a particularly solid foundation when it comes to business ventures.

Today, Japanese companies employ a significant number of US workers: Almost 840,000 Americans are employed by Japanese companies. Roughly 46% of them work in manufacturing and earn an average salary of $79,819. Second only to the UK, Japanese companies employ more US workers than any other foreign investor.

Not surprisingly, Japanese automakers are responsible for the bulk of opportunities. Automakers and related businesses directly and indirectly fueled a whopping 1.5 million American jobs in 2015. This is partly a result of the fact that 75% of Japanese-branded cars sold in the US are manufactured entirely in North America and Japanese automakers purchase upwards of $67.9 billion in American-made auto parts per year. These efforts produce $106 billion in worker compensation ($16 billion of which is circulated back to the federal government in the form of income taxes).

In a February meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Trump, Abe reaffirmed the country's commitment to strengthening the Japan-US economic relationship, including working with the US to set high trade and investment standards, and enhancing opportunities for job growth.

Notable Japanese brands like Toyota and SoftBank additionally announced investment strategies for the US: Toyota pledged $10 billion worth of capital investments over the next five years and SoftBank intends to put $50 billion into US investment strategies, creating an estimated 50,000 American jobs. Japanese investments in the US are integral to the American economy-and the country shows no signs of backing down as a key player.

This article was produced on behalf of Government of Japan by Quartz Creative and not by the Quartz editorial staff.

Read full story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sponsored: Japanese companies have created 840,000 American jobs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From cars to soy sauce, Japanese products made in the US are ubiquitous in American life. Beyond providing everyday commodities and cultural influence, however, Japan plays an even more direct role in the US economy, creating an impressive number of jobs and buoying inward foreign direct investment (FDI).

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.japanpitt.pitt.edu/essays-and-articles/history/allied-occupation-japan-1945-52?page=3

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Employed and unemployed full- and part-time workers by age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Current Population Survey (CPS) data, 2017 annual averages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Korean War had a dramatic impact on Ohioans. In this conflict, 1,777 Ohioans died, and another 4,837 were wounded. Besides losing loved ones, Ohioans also experienced an increasing fear of communism and its potential spread. The Second Red Scare erupted partly due to the Korean War, and Ohioans closely watched their neighbors for communist sympathies.

# data[].attributes.body
"Ground forces most readily available to MacArthur included the 1st Cavalry Division and the 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions, all under the Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) headquartered in Japan; the 29th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) in Okinawa, Japan; and the 5th RCT from Hawaii."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
An Overveiw of the U.S. Army in the Korean War, 1950-1953

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Korean War began with a surprise attack June 25, 1950, when eight divisions and an armored brigade (90,000 soldiers) of the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) attacked in three columns across the 38th parallel and invaded the Republic of Korea (ROK).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Across the Korea Strait events of importance were taking place in Japan that would soon have an impact on the Korean scene. In Tokyo, General MacArthur on 30 June instructed General Walker, commander of Eighth Army, to order the 24th Infantry Division to Korea at once.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
"During 1963, the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing converted from the Super Sabre to the F-105 Thunderchief aircraft. The wing became involved in the Vietnam conflict late in 1964, deploying the 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron. The 44th and 67th Tactical Fighter Squadrons deployed to the combat zones, but fell under the control of the 2nd Air Division and operated from Korat Air Base, Thailand."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The official website for Kadena Air Base

# data[].attributes.body
18th Wing operates from here, important in Vietnam War

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
"the idea of a re-armed and militant Japan no longer alarmed U.S. officials; instead, the real threat appeared to be the creep of communism, particularly in Asia. The final agreement allowed the United States to maintain its bases in Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan, and the U.S. Government promised Japan a bilateral security pact."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Milestones: 1945–1952 - Office of the Historian

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This book provides a novel perspective on the origins of the Cold War in Asia, tracing it all the way back to the occupation of Japan after the Second World War. Schaller argues that the reconstruction of postwar Japan not only shaped the future of that country but the future of U.S. policy throughout postwar Asia, leading up to the controversial interventions in China, Korea, and Vietnam. The author shows how after the war, the United States sought to develop Japan as a stable bulwark against both Soviet expansion and Asian revolution. Schaller depicts the intense contest that raged among Americans, pitting the flamboyant Occupation Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, against virtually all civilian and military planners in Washington, including the president. First hailed as a hero and given nearly free reign to shape Japan's future, MacArthur was ultimately denounced by Truman and his advisors as a "bunko artist" who had wrecked Japan's economy and opened it to Communist influence. In place of MacArthur's ambitious social and economic reforms, the new Occupation program reconcentrated power in the hands of Japans's old elite. The book shows how Communist control of China and North Korea cut Japan off from its historic trading partners and forced officials to focus on developing the rich but unstable Southeast Asian states. Washington feared that economic blackmail alone would pull Japan into the Soviet orbit. Determined to secure Japan--the ultimate "domino"--The United States spurned possible detente with China, extended military aid to the French in Indochina, and finally entered the Korean War.--Publisher description.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This book provides a novel perspective on the origins of the Cold War in Asia, tracing it all the way back to the occupation of Japan after the Second World War. Schaller argues that the reconstruction of postwar Japan not only shaped the future of that country but the future of U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nielsen Estimates 119.6 Million TV Homes in the U.S. for the 2017-18 TV Season

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
According to Nielsen's National Television Household Universe Estimates, there are 119.6 million TV homes in the U.S. for the 2017-18 TV season.

# data[].attributes.body
Checking name for cars sector

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The automobile industry makes up a substantial portion of the U.S. gross domestic product each quarter. As such it captures a great deal of attention from investors, politicians, and economists for its driving forces across the economy. Since the first automobile, auto manufacturing has grown to become a substantial contributor to the U.S. economy with General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler rounding out the big three.

Ford is well known for creating the first automobile and the process of manufacturing through the assembly line. The term auto or auto sector however can at times be difficult to differentiate in the vast ocean of economic data and investing options. Below is a breakdown of some key insights on the auto industry including how it can be analyzed differently by economists versus investing analysts.

Near the end of the 19 th century, several companies dabbled with automobile manufacturing but the automobile industry didn't really take off until the Ford Company created the first Model T from an assembly line in 1913. Assembly line manufacturing was a groundbreaking development that made automobiles affordable for consumers and allowed Ford to improve working conditions for employees while simultaneously increasing the volume of its automotive production per day.

The industry has gone through several ups and downs including effects from the 1930s Great Depression and a post-2008 Financial Crisis fallout that resulted from default carryovers. What has emerged in the 21 st century is a strong auto industry led by three top manufacturers in the United States: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

In the United States, economic data is tracked by monitoring companies and industries using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This classification system helps produce the Bureau of Economic Analysis' quarterly gross domestic product report which identifies the auto industry's contribution primarily through the detailing of durable, motor vehicles and parts.

Consequently, motor vehicle performance also affects other major sectors such as transportation, petroleum, and food and beverage. It can also be broken down further for NAICS classification in the areas such as new car dealers, used car dealers, general automotive repair, industrial design services, and sales financing.

Economic Data

In 2018, motor vehicles and parts accounted for $521.5 billion of the $20.58 trillion in total U.S. GDP. This translates to 2.5%.

The Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA) ranks the United States as the second-largest producer of automobiles, second only to China in the number of motor vehicles produced per year. In 2019, the U.S. had an annual production of 10.88 million passenger and commercial vehicles combined. China topped this list with 25.72 million.

Further data from OICA shows the U.S. ranking sixth in 2019 for total passenger car production alone at 2.5 million. China topped the rankings of this list with 21.36 million passenger cars produced, followed by Japan, Germany, India, and South Korea.

The U.S. automotive sector employs over 2.8 million people and pays around $130 billion in annual compensation. Thus, its human resources also have a big impact on the economy.

Economic Trends

As a large part of all economies, auto manufacturing gets a lot of attention. Two areas where it was receiving the most attention in 2019 include the production of electric cars and international tariffs. International tariff issues across North America were resolved but new and existing import tariffs for European and Chinese automakers could significantly upset production and profits. Meanwhile, electric car production is also taking a larger share of the overall market which has its own effects.

Investing Dynamics

When it comes to investing in the auto industry, most analysis boils down to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). Comprehensively, within the 11 broadest GICS sectors, auto falls within consumer discretionary. Classified as consumer discretionary, auto stocks tend to rise and fall with expansions and declines in the U.S. economic cycle. Thus, consumer discretionary items and auto stocks do the best when the economy is expanding and peaking and these stocks do the worst when the economy is contracting and in a recession. Mainly this is because like all discretionaries, consumers and businesses spend more in this area when they have a surplus and cut spending in this area first when income is tight.

Looking a little deeper, GICS also breaks out consumer discretionaries into automobiles and components which can be further segregated into just-auto components and automobiles. In the subindustry GICS classification, GICS also provides for auto parts and equipment, tires and rubber, auto manufacturers, and motorcycle manufacturers. These delineations can be especially helpful for investors looking to invest in specific areas of the auto market.

Many investment managers may also use these classifications in various ways to form mutual fund and exchange traded fund (ETF) universes that form the basis for managed fund investing.

In the investing world, auto indexes can also be a byproduct of GICS classifications. Across the investing industry, the top, passive auto index ETF investment is the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund (CARZ).

The top companies by weight in this fund include:

Tesla

Daimler AG

Volkswagen AG

Toyota Motor Corporation

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hyundai Motor Company

Geely Automobile Holdings Limited

Kia Motors Corporation

Ford Motor Company

Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG

Other notable companies in the index fund include Subaru, Nissan, General Motors, and Porsche.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Are the Facets of the U.S. Auto Industry : History, Economics, & Investing Dynamics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Insights on the auto sector and how to invest in it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the history of Honda and what operations at Honda looks like. Since 1959, Honda has aimed to improving the way we look at transportation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
IRVINE, Calif. (January 3, 2018) - Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported December U.S. sales of 26,893 vehicles, representing a decrease of 6.5 percent versus December of last year. There were 26 selling days in December 2017, versus 27 the year prior. As such, on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis, the company posted a decrease of 2.9 percent.

The company also reported calendar year (CY) 2017 total sales (combined fleet and retail) today, totaling 289,470, down 2.8 percent, versus CY2016. There were 306 selling days in CY2017, versus 305 in CY2016; the full-year DSR represented a decrease of 3.1 percent.
Key December and CY2017 sales notes:

As part of Mazda's brand value management strategy, MNAO continued to significantly reduce fleet sales with 11,346 vehicles sold in CY2017. This number represents a decrease of 44.3 percent year-over-year (YOY).

Backing fleet numbers out of the total vehicles sold, MNAO posted a 0.2 percent increase in retail-only sales for CY2017, with 278,124 vehicles sold.

Mazda CX-5 posted record sales numbers in December, marking its best-ever month since first going on sale in February of 2012. Posting its tenth best-ever month in CY2017, CX-5 recorded a YOY increase of 17.6 percent, with 14,097 vehicles sold in December.

Following the introduction of the new 2017 Mazda CX-5 in March, a record 127,563 CX-5 vehicles were sold in CY2017; marking an increase of 13.7 percent YOY, and beating its previous best-ever sales year in CY2016.

Sales of the seven-passenger Mazda CX-9 rose 26.3 percent YOY, with 3,276 vehicles sold in the month of December. With 25,828 vehicles sold in CY2017, the CX-9 finished the year up 60.9 percent.

The Mazda MX-5 Miata finished December down 32.0 percent YOY, with 493 vehicles sold, while full-year sales of the two-seat roadster were 11,294, marking a YOY increase of 19.3 percent.

As crossover vehicle sales continue to dominate the U.S. market, Mazda's CX-line posted YOY sales growth, with CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9 posting an increase of 16.8 percent in December. The three crossover vehicles finished the year up 15.6 percent, with 169,746 vehicles sold in CY2017.

With much of the U.S. now in the winter months, Mazda's i-ACTIV All-Wheel Drive system - available as an option on all Mazda crossover SUVs - continues its popularity among crossover SUV buyers, with 59.9 percent of buyers choosing the option.

MNAO reported Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) sales of 3,858 vehicles in the month of December, marking an increase of 20.8 percent YOY. Full-year sales resulted in a record CPO year for MNAO, posting YOY sales growth of 17.0 percent with 43,730 vehicles sold.

Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported December sales of 5,619 vehicles, down 16 percent versus December of last year. Total CY2017 sales for MMdM were 54,163 vehicles, representing a decrease of 1.0 percent when compared to CY2016.

Forward-looking announcements made by Mazda in 2017 focused on human-centric vehicle development and building the Mazda brand. Major announcements included:

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 600 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom.

###

Contact:
Carley Hummel, Mazda North American Operations, 949-727-6913
Eric Booth, Mazda North American Operations, 949-727-6144

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mazda Reports December 2017 and Full-Year 2017 Sales | Inside Mazda

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
IRVINE, Calif. (January 3, 2018) - Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported December U.S. sales of 26,893 vehicles, representing a decrease of 6.5 percent versus December of last year. There were 26 selling days in December 2017, versus 27 the year prior.

# data[].attributes.body
Screenshot on desktop of PC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mazda - global vehicle sales by region 2017 | Statistic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This statistic represents Mazda's global vehicle sales in the fiscal year of 2017, with a breakdown by region. That year, Mazda sold about 257,000 vehicles in Europe.

# data[].attributes.body
"in April 1952, the occupation formally ended and Japan reentered the global arena as America's key ally in Asia" (338)
"American policymakers rebuilt Japan as the pivot of a 'Great Crescent,' a barrier of states stretching from Hokkaido to Pakistan" (339)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
Employment of Americans by Japanese companies

# data[].attributes.body
Denial of Soviet access to Japan

# data[].attributes.body
Ubiquity of Japanese products in USA

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source
End of Page 431 to beginning of Page 432

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source
"""
Article 9

Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
"""

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out Constitute to read, search, and compare the world's constitutions!

# data[].attributes.headline
Look for articles about Cold War, Japan, USA, industry

# data[].attributes.subject
Look for articles about Cold War, Japan, USA, industry

# data[].attributes.body
Article 9 of Japanese Constitution prevents international disputes involving state from being resolved through war

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Japan Self-Defense Forces , or JSDF, occasionally referred to as JSF, JDF, or SDF, are the unified military forces of Japan that were established in 1954, and are controlled by the Ministry of Defense. In recent years they have been engaged in international peacekeeping operations including UN peacekeeping.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan - Wikipedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The (日本国とアメリカ合衆国との間の相互協力及び安全保障条約 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan Nihon-koku to Amerika-gasshūkoku to no Aida no Sōgo Kyōryoku oyobi Anzen Hoshō Jōyaku), also known in Japan as Anpo jōyaku or just Anpo for short, was first signed in 1954 at the San Francisco Presidio following the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco (commonly known as the Peace Treaty of San Francisco) at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House.[- dubious discuss ] Then, the Security Treaty was later amended further on January 1960 between the US and Japan in Washington.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brand performance for TVs tells you how well on average each brand's LCD and plasma TV models perform in Consumer Reports Ratings. A number of brands stand out as solid choices, and Consumer Reports tells you which TV brands to buy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ford

About 17.2 million cars and trucks were sold in the US last year, according to Kelly Blue Book.

The top-selling vehicle was Ford's F-Series.

The best-selling SUV was the Toyota Rav 4.

And the most popular sedan was the Toyota Camry, though its sales dropped from 2016.

Americans continue to favor SUVs and trucks over sedans.

The US auto market kept its momentum in 2017, thanks to strong SUV and pickup truck sales.

There were about 17.2 million cars and trucks sold last year, according to Kelly Blue Book. While that's slightly down from the 17.6 million vehicles sold in 2016, it still qualifies as a solid market. And just like in previous years, Americans continued to opt for larger vehicles over smaller passenger cars.

In fact, two of the most popular segments included compact and mid-size crossover SUVs, which combined accounted for about 40% of all car sales in 2017. Pickup trucks were also in demand, with full-size trucks making up about 15% of all vehicles sold.

Here's a look at the top 20 best-selling cars and trucks of 2017, according to data provided by KBB.

More: Features BITranspo Cars Trucks

Powered By Sailthru

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 20 best-selling cars and trucks in America

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
About 17.2 million cars and trucks were sold in the US last year, according to Kelly Blue Book. The top-selling vehicle was Ford's F-Series. The best-selling SUV was the Toyota Rav 4. And the most popular sedan was the Toyota Camry, though its sales dropped from 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Toyota - vehicle sales by region 2017 | Statistic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This statistic portrays Toyota's vehicle sales between the fiscal year of 2013 and the fiscal year of 2017, by region. In FY 2017, Toyota sold about 2.3 million vehicles to customers in Japan. North America is the company's largest target market. Toyota's global vehicle sales came to around ten million vehicles in the fiscal year of 2017.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People from nearly every country share information with CIA, and new individuals contact us daily. If you have information you think might interest CIA due to our foreign intelligence collection mission, there are many ways to reach us.

If you know of an imminent threat to a location inside the U.S., immediately contact your local law enforcement orFBI Field Office. For threats outside the U.S., contact CIA or go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and ask for the information to be passed to a U.S. official. Please know, CIA does not engage in law enforcement.

In addition to the options below, individuals contact CIA in a variety of creative ways. The best method depends on your personal situation. We will work to protect all information you provide, including your identity, and our interactions with you will be respectful and professional. Depending on what you provide, we may offer you compensation.

WHAT TO PROVIDE

If you feel it is safe, consider providing these details with your submission:

Your full name

Biographic details, such as a photograph of yourself, and a copy of the biographic page of your passport

How you got the information you want to share with CIA

How to contact you, including your home address and phone number

We cannot guarantee a response to every message. We reply first to messages of greater interest to us and to those with more detail. Our response will occur via a secure method.

WAYS TO SUBMIT

Internet: Send a message here. Or, you can send us a message using the Tor browser at ciadotgov4sjwlzihbbgxnqg3xiyrg7so2r2o3lt5wz5ypk4sxyjstad.onion. We go to great lengths to keep these channels secure, but any communication via the internet poses some risk. Using the Tor browser, a virtual private network, and/or a device not registered to you can reduce some risk.

Mail: Inside the U.S., send mail to the following address:

Central Intelligence Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20505

You can also mail a letter to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and request it be forwarded to CIA. Please note we have no control over the security and reliability of postal mail.

In-Person: Outside the U.S., go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and inform a U.S. official you have information for CIA.

Third Party: Have someone you trust travel to a less restrictive environment and deliver the information via one of the above methods.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CIA is the nation's premier agency providing global intelligence in an ever-changing political, social, economic, technological, & military landscapes. Our mission is straightforward but critical: protect America's national security. We collect valuable foreign intelligence, conduct timely analysis, & execute effective covert actions.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Did the Cold War lead to the CIA having as much power as it does today?
2. What is the extent of the effect of American Occupation of Japan on life today for the average american?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cold War propaganda reached its heights in the 1950s and 1960s, with concerted attempts to demonise communism while extolling the virtues of capitalism and democracy. Pro-American values were promoted in film, television, music, literature and art. This was done openly and often with little subtlety; watched today, some examples are little more than nonsensical propaganda. The 1948 animated feature Make Mine Freedom extolled the advantages and freedoms available to those who live in a capitalist society. Released the following year, Meet King Joe told American workers to be content with their lot, as they had it better than workers anywhere else in the world. As time progressed the themes and methods in pro-democracy propaganda became more subtle; governments produced less of it themselves, instead relying on film and television studios to incorporate acceptable ideas and values into their product. Most of the radio series, dramas and sit-coms made in America during the 1950s celebrated the distinct advantages of living in a prosperous, capitalist nation. The benefits of things such as the nuclear family, school, community, obedience and loyalty were openly promoted.

In addition, communism was condemned both as an ideology and a social system. Every medium from motion pictures down to children's comic books was used to portray an America under the heel of a communist dictatorship. A classic example was the early 1950s film Red Nightmare, first made as an instructional film for the armed forces but later released on television. Red Nightmare makes the outlandish claim that entire US cities had been reconstructed in Soviet territory, in order to train communist spies and infiltrators in methods of bringing down American government and society. In the comic book This Godless Communism, an American family finds the US has been taken over by communists, virtually overnight, and renamed the 'United Soviet States of America'. As they attempt to find help, they find all their rights and freedoms have been abolished; father is relocated to a distant lumber mill, mother to an urban factory and the children to state-run schools and nurseries. In the 1950s the CIA commissioned an animated film version of George Orwell's Animal Farm - an allegorical account of the Russian Revolution and Soviet government - to serve as propaganda.
Anti-communism in popular culture
Some other examples of Cold War propaganda include:

Movies. Motion pictures brought the battle between democracy and communism to the big screen. Many of these films were made in the wake of the HUAC-inspired blacklists, as movie studios and producers strived to appear patriotic and loyal. In Big Jim McLain, John Wayne stars as a HUAC investigator who travels to Hawaii to stamp out communist activity there. Soviet and Western espionage was a common theme, represented in movies such as The Third Man. Cold War hysteria leaked into the science-fiction genre, in movies such as Red Planet Mars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob. All contained aliens who were shadowy forces hell-bent on taking control of the world by stealth, an obvious metaphor for perceptions of communism. Cold War themes were also revived in 1980s films such as Red Dawn (where the US is subject to a joint Soviet-Cuban invasion) and Rocky IV (where an American boxer does battle with a robotic Soviet fighter).

Television. Television was still in its infancy in the 1950s. Most television programs contained music, light entertainment and comedy, so anti-communist themes were represented with more subtlety. American television in the 1950s promoted conservative family values and the virtues of American society, particularly in its situation comedies. Situation comedies like Leave it to Beaver and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet emphasised the importance of education, work, obedience, respect for your parents and the stability and prosperity enjoyed by American families. Cold War espionage was explored in drama series like I Spy and The Man from UNCLE; it was also parodied in the Mel Brooks-created series Get Smart. Even the villains in children's cartoons like Rocky and Bullwinkle (Boris and Natasha) and Roger Ramjet (Noodles Romanoff) were nothing more than stereotypical European communist agents. Television journalists occasionally influenced public attitudes, such as Edward R. Murrow's 1954 criticism of Joseph McCarthy, or Walter Cronkite's 1968 editorial suggesting that the US should look to withdraw from Vietnam.

"The United States and its allies tried to convince their citizens that they lived in the best possible society. It may not have been as free, democratic or egalitarian as the propaganda asserted, but it did boast free markets, limited government, the rule of law, individualism and human rights. A system of selling these beliefs domestically was successfully in place, despite the debunking efforts of its enemies at home and abroad. According to Frederick C. Barghoorn, the Soviet Union attempted to "sap the faith of Americans in their leaders and their institutions", but failed."
Daniel Leab, historian

Literature. George Orwell's 1984 expanded on the Cold War by envisioning a world kept divided and obedient with fears of 'perpetual war'. The 'spy novel' genre was by far the most prevalent in Cold War literature. Ian Fleming's novels about a British spy, James Bond, were written in the 1950s and were motivated by tensions with the Soviet bloc. In The Spy who Loved Me, Bond does battle with SMERSH, a Soviet counter-espionage agency. John le Carre (a pen-name for David Cornwell, a former employee of British spy agency MI5) penned a number of novels such as The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, set in East Germany. The 1950s and 1960s also saw the production of hundreds of cheap pulp-fiction novels, often with lewd themes or excessive violence. Purgatory of the Conquered showed an America taken over by communist forces; Red Rape told of a Soviet-run operation to capture Western women for the purposes of sexual slavery.

The Arts. Cold War tensions fuelled competition and shaped the content of art forms as diverse as music and ballet. American and Soviet dance companies performed regularly around the world, attempting to demonstrate cultural superiority. This competition led to a dramatic rise in US government funding for the arts. A critical moment came in 1961 when Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West to perform with Britain's Royal Ballet; Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev later signed a death warrant for Nureyev, should he ever return to Russia. The US provided funds to allow several orchestras, jazz bands and solo musicians to tour the USSR, in an attempt to demonstrate the artistic advantages of capitalism. The superpowers also engaged in chess competitions to prove whose strategies were more effective.

Sport. Cold War rivalry was also reflected in sporting events. The 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne were held just days after Soviet forces had crushed a pro-democratic uprising in Hungary, prompting the withdrawal of Holland, Spain and Switzerland from the games. These tensions spilled over into a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR, where players exchanged punches and one left the pool bleeding. The game was called off after the pro-Hungarian crowd threatened to riot. The 1972 Olympic gold medal basketball match between the US and USSR also ended in controversy, with the defeated Americans refusing to accept the silver medal. The 1980 Olympics were held in Moscow and were boycotted by the US, West Germany, Japan and several other nations. The Soviets reciprocated by refusing to attend the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Education. In both hemispheres, education was harnessed for Cold War purposes and to instil the political values of each system. Education systems in both the US and USSR received dramatic boosts in funding, particularly in the maths and sciences. Humanities subjects like History and English became steeped in patriotism and political values. In 1952 the American Pledge of Allegiance, widely chanted by schoolchildren, was altered to include the words "under God". Many American students were also subject to 'social hygiene' or 'mental health' films in high school. These 10-20 minute single-reel movies focused on what might now be called 'personal development': hygiene, manners, respect for others, appropriate behaviour and sexual conduct. Many examples contained an obvious political message or subtext, such as one titled How to Spot a Communist. There were also the ubiquitous instructions and 'duck and cover' drills to show what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.

1. Cold War propaganda was widely used in all major nations, in an attempt to gain and consolidate public support.
2. Early forms of propaganda contained explicit political messages and themes and lacked any subtlety.
3. In time the messages of Cold War propaganda were integrated into popular culture, such as film, books and television.
4. In America, Cold War propaganda celebrated the prosperity of capitalism, while reinforcing conservative social values.
5. Cold War culture was also keenly focused on the continued activities of spies and secret agents, who were well represented in film, television and literature.

© Alpha History. Content on this page may not be republished or distributed without permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use.
This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation:
J. Llewellyn et al, "Cold War propaganda", Alpha History, accessed [today's date], http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/cold-war-propaganda/.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cold War propaganda reached its heights in the 1950s and 1960s, with concerted attempts to demonise communism while extolling the virtues of capitalism and democracy. Pro-American values were promoted in film, television, music, literature and art. This was done openly and often with little subtlety; watched today, some examples are little more than nonsensical propaganda.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article is about the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. For various space races, see List of space races. For other uses of the term, see Space Race (disambiguation).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History of the socialist movement in the United States - Wikipedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The socialist movement in the United States has historically been relatively weak. Unlike socialist parties in Europe, Canada and Oceania, a major social democratic party never materialized in the United States and the socialist movement remains marginal, "almost unique in its powerlessness among the Western democracies".

# data[].attributes.body
How can the impact of the Occupation of Japan be seen in the life of an average american today?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States federal government, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by the United States, whose then- President Harry S. Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan. This foreign presence marks the only time in Japan's history that it has been occupied by a foreign power. At MacArthur's insistence, Emperor Hirohito remained on the imperial throne. The wartime cabinet was replaced with a cabinet acceptable to the Allies and committed to implementing the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which among other things called for the country to become a parliamentary democracy. Under MacArthur's guidance, the Japanese government introduced sweeping social reforms and implemented economic reforms that recalled American " New Deal" priorities of the 1930s under President Roosevelt. The Japanese constitution was comprehensively overhauled and the Emperor's theoretically-vast powers, which for many centuries had been constrained by conventions that had evolved over time, became strictly limited by law. The occupation, codenamed Operation Blacklist, was ended by the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, and effective from April 28, 1952, after which Japan's sovereignty - with the exception, until 1972, of the Ryukyu Islands - was fully restored.

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender on the radio (the Gyokuon-hōsō). The announcement was the emperor's first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereign's voice. This date is known as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II and the beginning of a long road to recovery for a shattered Japan. Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to discuss surrender terms. On August 28, 1945, 150 US personnel flew to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. They were followed by USS Missouri, whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Regiment on the southern coast of Kanagawa. The 11th Airborne Division was airlifted from Okinawa to Atsugi Airdrome, 50 kilometres (30 mi) from Tokyo. Other Allied personnel followed.

MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws. No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food. Flying the or "Rising Sun" flag was initially severely restricted (although individuals and prefectural offices could apply for permission to fly it). This restriction was partially lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year.

On September 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. On September 6, US President Truman approved a document titled " US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan". The document set two main objectives for the occupation: (1) eliminating Japan's war potential and (2) turning Japan into a democratic-style nation with pro-United Nations orientation. Allied (primarily American) forces were set up to supervise the country, and "for eighty months following its surrender in 1945, Japan was at the mercy of an army of occupation, its people subject to foreign military control." At the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur, who was technically supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers, but in practice did not and did everything himself. As a result, this period was one of significant American influence, described near the end of the occupation in 1951 that "for six years the United States has had a freer hand to experiment with Japan than any other country in Asia, or indeed in the entire world." Looking back to his work among the Japanese, MacArthur said, "Measured by the standards of modern civilization, they would be like a boy of twelve" compared to the maturity of the US and Germany, and had a good chance of putting away their troubled past.

On V-J Day, US President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), to supervise the occupation of Japan. During the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. Under the final plan, however, SCAP was given direct control over the main islands of Japan ( Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu) and the immediately surrounding islands, while outlying possessions were divided between the Allied Powers as follows:

It is unclear why the occupation plan was changed. Common theories include the increased power of the United States following development of the atomic bomb, Truman's greater distrust of the Soviet Union when compared with Roosevelt, and an increased desire to restrict Soviet influence in East Asia after the Yalta Conference.

The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying Hokkaidō. Had this occurred, there might have eventually been a communist state in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations of East Germany and North Korea, these plans were frustrated by Truman's opposition.

MacArthur's first priority was to set up a food distribution network; following the collapse of the ruling government and the wholesale destruction of most major cities, virtually everyone was starving. Even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender. As expressed by Kawai Kazuo, "Democracy cannot be taught to a starving people". The US government encouraged democratic reform in Japan, and while it sent billions of dollars in food aid, this was dwarfed by the occupation costs it imposed on the struggling Japanese administration.

Initially, the US government provided emergency food relief through Government Aid and Relief in Occupied Areas ( GARIOA) funds. In fiscal year 1946, this aid amounted to US$92 million in loans. From April 1946, in the guise of Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia, private relief organizations were also permitted to provide relief. Once the food network was in place MacArthur set out to win the support of Hirohito. The two men met for the first time on September 27; the photograph of the two together is one of the most famous in Japanese history. Some were shocked that MacArthur wore his standard duty uniform with no tie instead of his dress uniform when meeting the emperor. With the sanction of Japan's reigning monarch, MacArthur had the political ammunition he needed to begin the real work of the occupation. While other Allied political and military leaders pushed for Hirohito to be tried as a war criminal, MacArthur resisted such calls, arguing that any such prosecution would be overwhelmingly unpopular with the Japanese people. He also rejected the claims of members of the imperial family such as Prince Mikasa and Prince Higashikuni and demands of intellectuals like Tatsuji Miyoshi, who sought the emperor's abdication.

By the end of 1945, more than 350,000 US personnel were stationed throughout Japan. By the beginning of 1946, replacement troops began to arrive in the country in large numbers and were assigned to MacArthur's Eighth Army, headquartered in Tokyo's Dai-Ichi building. Of the main Japanese islands, Kyūshū was occupied by the 24th Infantry Division, with some responsibility for Shikoku. Honshu was occupied by the First Cavalry Division. Hokkaido was occupied by the 11th Airborne Division.

By June 1950, all these army units had suffered extensive troop reductions and their combat effectiveness was seriously weakened. When North Korea invaded South Korea in the Korean War, elements of the 24th Division were flown into South Korea to try to fight the invasion force there, but the inexperienced occupation troops, while acquitting themselves well when suddenly thrown into combat almost overnight, suffered heavy casualties and were forced into retreat until other Japan occupation troops could be sent to assist.

The official British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), composed of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand personnel, was deployed on February 21, 1946. While US forces were responsible for the overall occupation, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarization and the disposal of Japan's war industries. BCOF was also responsible for occupation of several western prefectures and had its headquarters at Kure. At its peak, the force numbered about 40,000 personnel. During 1947, BCOF began to decrease its activities in Japan, and officially wound up in 1951.

The Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan were also established to supervise the occupation of Japan. The establishment of a multilateral Allied council for Japan was proposed by the Soviet government as early as September 1945, and was supported partially by the British, French and Chinese governments.

Japan's postwar constitution, adopted under Allied supervision, included a "Peace Clause", Article 9, which renounced war and banned Japan from maintaining any armed forces. This clause was not imposed by the Allies: rather, it was the work of the Japanese government itself, and according to most sources, was the work of Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara. The clause was intended to prevent the country from ever becoming an aggressive military power again. However, the United States was soon pressuring Japan to rebuild its army as a bulwark against communism in Asia after the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. During the Korean War, US forces largely withdrew from Japan to redeploy to South Korea, leaving the country almost totally defenseless. As a result, a new National Police Reserve armed with military-grade weaponry was created. In 1954, the Japan Self-Defense Forces were founded as a full-scale military in all but name. To avoid breaking the constitutional prohibition on military force, they were officially founded as an extension to the police force. Traditionally, Japan's military spending has been restricted to about 1% of its gross national product, though this is by popular practice, not law, and has fluctuated up and down from this figure. Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, among others, have tried to repeal or amend the clause. The JSDF slowly grew to considerable strength, and Japan now has the eighth largest military budget in the world.

All the major sectors of the Japanese society, government, and economy were liberalized in the first few years and won strong support from liberals in Japan. Historians emphasize the similarity to the American New Deal programs of the 1930s. Moore and Robinson note that, "New Deal liberalism seemed natural, even to conservative Republicans such as MacArthur and Whitney." The issuing of the Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties directive by SCAP on October 4, 1945, led to the abolition of the Peace Preservation Law and the release of all political prisoners.

The electric utilities were privatized into nine regional privately owned government-granted monopolies in 1951, creating companies such as the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The privatization was inspired by the then mostly regulated electricity sector in the United States.

From late 1947, US priorities shifted to internal political stability and economic growth. Economic deconcentration, for example, was left uncompleted as GHQ responded to new imperatives. American authorities encouraged business practices and industrial policies that have since become sources of contention between Japan and its major trade partners, notably the United States. During the occupation, GHQ/SCAP mostly abolished many of the financial coalitions known as the Zaibatsu, which had previously monopolized industry. Along with the later American change of heart, and due in part to the need for an economically stronger Japan in the face of a perceived Soviet threat, these economic reforms were also hampered by the wealthy and influential Japanese who stood to lose a great deal. As such, there were those who consequently resisted any attempts at reform, claiming that the zaibatsu were required for Japan to compete internationally, and looser industrial groupings known as keiretsu evolved. A major land reform was also conducted, led by Wolf Ladejinsky of General Douglas MacArthur's SCAP staff. However, Ladejinsky has stated that the real architect of reform was Hiro'o Wada, former Japanese Minister of Agriculture. Between 1947 and 1949, approximately 5,800,000 acres (23,000 km ²) of land (approximately 38% of Japan's cultivated land) were purchased from the landlords under the government's reform program and resold at extremely low prices (after inflation) to the farmers who worked them. By 1950, three million peasants had acquired land, dismantling a power structure that the landlords had long dominated.

In 1946, the Diet ratified a new Constitution of Japan that followed closely a "model copy" prepared by the GHQ/SCAP, and was promulgated as an amendment to the old Prussian-style Meiji Constitution. The new constitution drafted by Americans allowed access and control over the Japanese military through MacArthur and the Allied occupation on Japan. "The political project drew much of its inspiration from the U.S. Bill of Rights, New Deal social legislation, the liberal constitutions of several European states and even the Soviet Union.... (It) transferred sovereignty from the Emperor to the people in an attempt to depoliticize the Throne and reduce it to the status of a state symbol. The hereditary peerage kazoku were abolished in 1947. Included in the revised charter was the famous "no war", "no arms" Article Nine, which outlawed belligerency as an instrument of state policy and the maintenance of a standing army. The 1947 Constitution also enfranchised women, guaranteed fundamental human rights, strengthened the powers of Parliament and the Cabinet, and decentralized the police and local government." One example of MacArthur's push towards democratization implemented the land reform and redistribution of ownership within the agricultural system. The land reform was established in order to improve not only the economy but the welfare of farmers as well. MacArthur's land reform policy redistribution resulted in only 10% of the land being worked by non-owners. On December 15, 1945, the Shinto Directive was issued, abolishing Shinto as a state religion and prohibiting some of its teachings and rites that were deemed to be militaristic or ultra-nationalistic. On April 10, 1946, an election with 78.52% voter turnout among men and 66.97% among women gave Japan its first modern prime minister, Shigeru Yoshida.

In 1945 the Diet passed Japan's first ever trade union law protecting the rights of workers to form or join a union, to organize, and take industrial action. There had been pre-war attempts to do so, but none that were successfully passed until the Allied occupation. A new Trade Union Law was passed on June 1, 1949, which remains in place to the present day. According to Article 1 of the Act, the purpose of the act is to "elevate the status of workers by promoting their being on equal standing with the employer".

The Labor Standards Act was enacted on April 7, 1947, to govern working conditions in Japan. According to Article 1 of the Act, its goal is to ensure that "Working conditions shall be those which should meet the needs of workers who live lives worthy of human beings." Support stemming from the Allied occupation has introduced better working conditions and pay for numerous employees in Japanese business. This allowed for more sanitary and hygienic working environments along with welfare and government assistance for health insurance, pensions plans and work involving other trained specialists. While it was created while Japan was under occupation, the origins of the Act have nothing to do with the occupation forces. It appears to have been the brainchild of Kosaku Teramoto, a former member of the Thought Police, who had become the head of the Labor Standards section of the Welfare Ministry.

Before and during the war, Japanese education was based on the German system, with " Gymnasien" (selective grammar schools) and universities to train students after primary school. During the occupation, Japan's secondary education system was changed to incorporate three-year junior high schools and senior high schools similar to those in the US: junior high school became compulsory but senior high school remained optional. The Imperial Rescript on Education was repealed, and the Imperial University system reorganized. The longstanding issue of Japanese script reform, which had been planned for decades but continuously opposed by more conservative elements, was also resolved during this time. The Japanese written system was drastically reorganized with the Tōyō kanji-list in 1946, predecessor of today's Jōyō kanji, and orthography was greatly altered to reflect spoken usage.

On October 4, 1945, the GHQ issued the Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties directive. The directive ordered the release of political prisoners.

While these other reforms were taking place, various military tribunals, most notably the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Ichigaya, were trying Japan's war criminals and sentencing many to death and imprisonment. However, many suspects such as Masanobu Tsuji, Nobusuke Kishi, Yoshio Kodama and Ryōichi Sasakawa were never judged, while the Emperor Hirohito, all members of the imperial family implicated in the war such as Prince Chichibu, Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni and Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda, and all members of Unit 731-including its director Dr. Shirō Ishii -were granted immunity from criminal prosecution by General MacArthur.

Before the war crimes trials actually convened, the SCAP, its International Prosecution Section (IPS) and Shōwa officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated in Sugamo prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility. Thus, months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tojo by allowing "the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment." and "with the full support of MacArthur's headquarters, the prosecution functioned, in effect, as a defense team for the emperor."

For historian John W. Dower,

Even Japanese peace activists who endorse the ideals of the Nuremberg and Tokyo charters, and who have labored to document and publicize Japanese atrocities, cannot defend the American decision to exonerate the emperor of war responsibility and then, in the chill of Cold war, release and soon afterwards openly embrace accused right-wing war criminals like the later prime minister Kishi Nobusuke. In retrospect, apart from the military officer corps, the purge of alleged militarists and ultranationalists that was conducted under the Occupation had relatively small impact on the long-term composition of men of influence in the public and private sectors. The purge initially brought new blood into the political parties, but this was offset by the return of huge numbers of formally purged conservative politicians to national as well as local politics in the early 1950s. In the bureaucracy, the purge was negligible from the outset.... In the economic sector, the purge similarly was only mildly disruptive, affecting less than sixteen hundred individuals spread among some four hundred companies. Everywhere one looks, the corridors of power in postwar Japan are crowded with men whose talents had already been recognized during the war years, and who found the same talents highly prized in the "new" Japan.

According to various accounts, U.S. troops committed thousands of rapes among the population of the Ryukyu Islands during the Okinawa Campaign and the beginning of the American occupation in 1945.

Many Japanese civilians in the Japanese mainland feared that the Allied occupation troops were likely to rape Japanese women. The Japanese authorities set up a large system of prostitution facilities ( Recreation and Amusement Association, or the RAA) in order to protect the population. According to John W. Dower, precisely as the Japanese government had hoped when it created the prostitution facilities, while the RAA was in place "the incidence of rape remained relatively low given the huge size of the occupation force". However, there was a resulting large rise in venereal disease among the soldiers, which led MacArthur to close down the prostitution in early 1946. The incidence of rape increased after the closure of the brothels, possibly eight-fold; Dower states that "According to one calculation the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women amounted to around 40 daily while the RAA was in operation, and then rose to an average of 330 a day after it was terminated in early 1946." Michael S. Molasky states that while rape and other violent crime were widespread in naval ports like Yokosuka and Yokohama during the first few weeks of occupation, according to Japanese police reports and journalistic studies, the number of incidents declined shortly after and they were not common on mainland Japan throughout the rest of occupation. Two weeks into the occupation, the Occupation administration began censoring all media. This included any mention of rape or other sensitive social issues.

According to Dower, "more than a few incidents" of assault and rape were never reported to the police. According to Toshiyuki Tanaka, 76 cases of rape or rape-murder were reported on Okinawa during the first five years of occupation, but according to Tanaka this is "but the tip of the iceberg" as most of the rapes went unreported.

After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers abolished all forms of censorship and controls on Freedom of Speech, which was also integrated into Article 21 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan. However, press censorship remained a reality in the post-war era, especially in matters of pornography, and in political matters deemed subversive by the American government during the occupation of Japan.

The Allied occupation forces suppressed news of criminal activities such as rape; on September 10, 1945, SCAP "issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of all reports and statistics 'inimical to the objectives of the Occupation'."

According to David M. Rosenfeld:

Not only did Occupation censorship forbid criticism of the United States or other Allied nations, but the mention of censorship itself was forbidden. This means, as Donald Keene observes, that for some producers of texts "the Occupation censorship was even more exasperating than Japanese military censorship had been because it insisted that all traces of censorship be concealed. This meant that articles had to be rewritten in full, rather than merely submitting XXs for the offending phrases."

To further remove Japan as a potential future threat to the United States, the Far Eastern Commission decided that Japan was to be partly de-industrialized. The necessary dismantling of Japanese industry was foreseen to have been achieved if Japanese standards of living had been reduced to those existing in Japan the period 1930-1934. In the end, the adopted program of de-industrialization in Japan was implemented to a lesser degree than the similar U.S. "industrial disarmament" program in Germany. In view of the cost to American taxpayers for emergency food aid to Japan, in April 1948 the Johnston Committee Report recommended that the economy of Japan should instead be reconstructed. The report included suggestions for reductions in war reparations, and a relaxation of the "economic deconcentration" policy. For the fiscal year of 1949 funds were moved from the GARIOA budget into an Economic Rehabilitation in Occupied Areas (EROA) programme, to be used for the import of materials needed for economic reconstruction.

With the acceptance of the Allied occupation authorities, the Japanese organized a brothel system for the benefit of the more than 300,000 occupation troops. "The strategy was, through the special work of experienced women, to create a breakwater to protect regular women and girls."

In December 1945, a senior officer with the Public Health and Welfare Division of the occupation's General Headquarters wrote regarding the typical prostitute: "The girl is impressed into contracting by the desperate financial straits of her parents and their urging, occasionally supplemented by her willingness to make such a sacrifice to help her family", he wrote. "It is the belief of our informants, however, that in urban districts the practice of enslaving girls, while much less prevalent than in the past, still exists. The worst victims ... were the women who, with no previous experience, answered the ads calling for 'Women of the New Japan'."

MacArthur issued an order, SCAPIN 642 (SCAP Instruction), on January 21 ending licensed brothels for being "in contravention of the ideals of democracy". Although SCAPIN 642 ended the RAA's operations, it did not affect "voluntary prostitution" by individuals. Ultimately, SCAP responded by making all brothels and other facilities offering prostitution off-limits to Allied personnel on March 25, 1946. By November, the Japanese government had introduced the new akasen system in which prostitution was permissible only in certain designated areas.

The surrender of Imperial Japan meant reversal of its previous annexations- Manchuria ( Manchukuo as a puppet regime under Japan) was to be returned to China (northern Manchuria partially occupied by the Soviets until 1955 when they turned over all their occupied territories there to the communist People's Republic of China), while Korea was officially given independence but came under a temporary division and joint occupation (as initially agreed) by the United States and Soviet Union. While the joint occupation ended before 1950, the division of the Korean peninsula was to remain permanent until today after the formations of Soviet-backed North Korea and US-supported South Korea and the subsequent war between the two countries from 1950 to 1953.

The Soviet Union claimed South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, with 400,000 Japanese fleeing or being expelled post-WWII. Similar actions happened in Taiwan and Manchuria after their return to China, with at least another million Japanese leaving mainland China itself, while Korea saw the flight of over 800,000 Japanese settlers from both the Soviet occupation sector in the north and the US occupation zone in the south. In all, Japanese repatriation centers handled over 7 million expatriates returning to the Japanese main islands. Other areas where the Japanese were massively repatriated were from territories in the Pacific they previously occupied, including Guam and Saipan, and former colonial areas in Southeast Asia, such as Malaya and Indonesia.

In a bid to occupy as much Japanese territory as possible, Soviet troops continued offensive military operations after the Japanese surrender, causing large-scale civilian casualties. Such operations included the final battles on the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin well past the end of August in 1945. In the end, despite its initial plan, the Soviet Union did not manage to occupy any part of the Japanese Home Islands, partly due to significant US opposition and Stalin's greater interest in establishing Soviet communist influence in Europe rather than in Asia.

Unlike the case in Germany, Japan retained a native government throughout the occupation. Although MacArthur's official staff history of the occupation referred to "the Eighth Army Military Government System", it explained that while "In Germany, with the collapse of the Nazi regime, all government agencies disintegrated, or had to be purged", the Japanese retained an "integrated, responsible government and it continued to function almost intact":

In effect, there was no "military government" in Japan in the literal sense of the word. It was simply a SCAP superstructure over already existing government machinery, designed to observe and assist the Japanese along the new democratic channels of administration.

General Horace Robertson of Australia, head of BCOF, wrote:

MacArthur at no time established in Japan what could be correctly described as Military government. He continued to use the Japanese government to control the country, but teams of military personnel, afterward replaced to quite a considerable extent by civilians, were placed throughout the Japanese prefectures as a check on the extent to which the prefectures were carrying out the directives issued by MacArthur's headquarters or the orders from the central government.
The really important duty of the so called Military government teams was, however, the supervision of the issue throughout Japan of the large quantities of food stuffs and medical stores being poured into the country from American sources. The teams also contained so-called experts on health, education, sanitation, agriculture and the like, to help the Japanese in adopting more up to date methods sponsored by SCAP's headquarters. The normal duties of a military government organisation, the most important of which are law and order and a legal system, were never needed in Japan since the Japanese government's normal legal system still functioned with regard to all Japanese nationals ... The so-called military government in Japan was therefore neither military nor government.

The Japanese government's de facto authority was strictly limited at first, however, and senior figures in the government such as the Prime Minister effectively served at the pleasure of the occupation authorities before the first post-war elections were held. Political parties had begun to revive almost immediately after the occupation began. Left-wing organizations, such as the Japan Socialist Party and the Japan Communist Party, quickly reestablished themselves, as did various conservative parties. The old Seiyukai and Rikken Minseito came back as, respectively, the Liberal Party (Nihon Jiyuto) and the Japan Progressive Party (Nihon Shimpoto). The first postwar elections were held in 1946 (women were given the franchise for the first time), and the Liberal Party's vice president, Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967), became prime minister. For the 1947 elections, anti-Yoshida forces left the Liberal Party and joined forces with the Progressive Party to establish the new Japan Democratic Party (Minshuto). This divisiveness in conservative ranks gave a plurality to the Japan Socialist Party, which was allowed to form a cabinet, which lasted less than a year. Thereafter, the socialist party steadily declined in its electoral successes. After a short period of Democratic Party administration, Yoshida returned in late 1948 and continued to serve as prime minister until 1954.

Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and surrendered on August 15, 1945. Over 5,000 Japanese Americans served in the occupation of Japan. Dozens of Japanese Americans served as translators, interpreters, and investigators in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Thomas Sakamoto served as press escort during the occupation of Japan. He escorted American correspondents to Hiroshima, and the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Sakamoto was one of three Japanese Americans to be on board the USS Missouri when the Japanese formally surrendered. Arthur S. Komori served as personal interpreter for Brig. Gen. Elliot R. Thorpe. Kay Kitagawa served as personal interpreter of Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr.. Kan Tagami served as personal interpreter-aide for General Douglas MacArthur. Journalist Don Caswell was accompanied by a Japanese American interpreter to Fuchū Prison, where the Japanese government imprisoned communists Tokuda Kyuichi, Yoshio Shiga, and Shiro Mitamura.

Japanese Americans in the OSS parachuted down into Japanese POW prison camps at Hankow, Mukden, Peiping and Hainan as interpreters on mercy missions to liberate American and other Allied prisoners. Arthur T. Morimitsu was the only Military Intelligence Service member in the detachment commanded by Major Richard Irby and 1st Lt. Jeffrey Smith to observe the surrender ceremony of 60,000 Japanese troops under Gen. Shimada. Kan Tagami witnessed Japanese forces surrender to the British in Malaya.

In 1949, MacArthur made a sweeping change in the SCAP power structure that greatly increased the power of Japan's native rulers, and the occupation began to draw to a close. The Treaty of San Francisco, which was to end the occupation, was signed on September 8, 1951. It came into effect on April 28, 1952, formally ending all occupation powers of the Allied forces and restoring full sovereignty to Japan, except for the island chains of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, which the United States continued to hold. Iwo Jima was returned to Japan in 1968, and most of Okinawa was returned in 1972.

Following the American departure, Japan gained military protection from the United States. However, the United States was soon pressuring Japan to rebuild its military capabilities, and as a result, the Japan Self-Defense Forces were formed as a de facto military force with US assistance. However, following the Yoshida Doctrine, Japan continued to prioritize economic growth over defense spending, relying on American protection to ensure it could focus mainly on economic recovery. Through Guided Capitalism, Japan was able to optimally utilize its resources to economically recover from the war, and revive industry. Some 31,000 US military personnel remain in Japan today at the invitation of the Japanese government as the United States Forces Japan under the terms of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (1960) and not as an occupying force. US bases in and around Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Aomori, Sapporo, and Ishikari are currently active.

On the day the occupation of Japan was over, the Asahi Shimbun published a very critical essay on the occupation, calling it "almost akin to colonialism" and claiming it turned the Japanese population "irresponsible, obsequious and listless... unable to perceive issues in a forthright manner, which led to distorted perspectives". The purpose for delaying the return of the Japanese southern islands, the Bonin Islands including Chichi Jima, Okinawa, and the Volcano Islands including Iwo Jima to civil administration was the U.S. military's requirement to covertly base U.S. atomic weapons or their components on the islands where the presence or expansion of U.S. bases remain a heated controversy to this day.[citation needed ]

In later years, General MacArthur himself thought little of the Occupation. In June 1960, he was decorated by the Japanese government with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, the highest Japanese order which may be conferred on an individual who is not a head of state. In his statement upon receiving the honor, MacArthur expressed his "own firm disbelief in the usefulness of military occupations with their corresponding displacement of civil control."

Hirohito's surrender broadcast was a profound shock to Japanese citizens. After years of being told about Japan's military might and the inevitability of victory, these beliefs were proven false in the space of a few minutes.[citation needed ] But for many people, these were only secondary concerns since they were also facing starvation and homelessness.[citation needed ]

Post-war Japan was chaotic. The (虚脱状態, air raids on Japan's urban centers left millions displaced and food shortages, created by bad harvests and the demands of the war, worsened when the seizure of food from Korea, Taiwan, and China ceased. Repatriation of Japanese living in other parts of Asia and hundreds of thousands of demobilized prisoners of war only aggravated the problems in Japan as these people put more strain on already scarce resources. Over 5.1 million Japanese returned to Japan in the fifteen months following October 1, 1945, and another million returned in 1947. Alcohol and drug abuse became major problems. Deep exhaustion, declining morale and despair were so widespread that it was termed the "kyodatsu condition" kyodatsujoutai, lit. "state of lethargy"). Inflation was rampant and many people turned to the black market for even the most basic goods. These black markets in turn were often places of turf wars between rival gangs, like the Shibuya incident in 1946. Prostitution also increased considerably.

In the 1950s, kasutori culture emerged. In response to the scarcity of the previous years, this sub-culture, named after the preferred drink of the artists and writers who imbibed it, emphasized escapism, entertainment and decadence.

The phrase " shikata ga nai", or "nothing can be done about it," was commonly used in both Japanese and American press to encapsulate the Japanese public's resignation to the harsh conditions endured while under occupation. However, not everyone reacted the same way to the hardships of the postwar period. While some succumbed to the difficulties, many more were resilient. As the country regained its footing, they were able to bounce back as well.

Leftists looked upon the occupation forces as a "liberation army".

It has been argued that the granting of rights to women played an important role in the radical shift Japan underwent from a war nation to a democratized and demilitarized country. In the first postwar general elections of 1946, over a third of the votes were cast by women. This unexpectedly high female voter turnout led to the election of 39 female candidates, and the increasing presence of women in politics was perceived by Americans as evidence of an improvement of Japanese women's condition.

American feminists saw Japanese women as victims of feudalistic and chauvinistic traditions that had to be broken by the Occupation. American women assumed a central role in the reforms that affected the lives of Japanese women: they educated Japanese about Western ideals of democracy, and it was an American woman, Beate Sirota, who wrote the articles guaranteeing equality between men and women for the new constitution. General Douglas MacArthur did not mean for Japanese women to give up their central role in the home as wives and mothers, but rather that they could now assume other roles simultaneously, such as that of worker.

In 1953, journalist Ichirō Narumigi commented that Japan had received "liberation of sex" along with the "four presents" that it had been granted by the occupation (respect for human rights, gender equality, freedom of speech, and women's enfranchisement). Indeed, the occupation also had a great impact on relationships between men and women in Japan. The " modern girl" phenomenon of the 1920s and early 1930s had been characterized by greater sexual freedom, but despite this, sex was usually not perceived as a source of pleasure (for women) in Japan. Westerners, as a result, were thought to be promiscuous and sexually deviant. The sexual liberation of European and North American women during World War II was unthinkable in Japan, especially during wartime where rejection of Western ways of life was encouraged.

The Japanese public was thus astounded by the sight of some 45,000 so-called "pan pan girls" ( prostitutes) fraternizing with American soldiers during the occupation. In 1946, the 200 wives of US officers landing in Japan to visit their husbands also had a similar impact when many of these reunited couples were seen walking hand in hand and kissing in public. Both prostitution and marks of affection had been hidden from the public until then, and this "democratization of eroticism" was a source of surprise, curiosity, and even envy. The occupation set new models for relationships between Japanese men and women: the western practice of " dating" spread, and activities such as dancing, movies and coffee were not limited to "pan pan girls" and American troops anymore, and became popular among young Japanese couples.

Asahi Shimbun Staff, The Pacific rivals; a Japanese view of Japanese-American relations, New York: Weatherhill, 1972. ISBN 978-0-8348-0070-0.

Bix, Herbert. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2001. ISBN 0-06-093130-2.

Cripps, D. "Flags and Fanfares: The Hinomaru Flag and the Kimigayo Anthem". In Goodman, Roger & Ian Neary, Case Studies on Human Rights in Japan. London: Routledge, 1996. pp. 76-108. ISBN 1-873410-35-2.

Dower, John W. (1993), Japan in War and Peace, New York, NY: The New Press, ISBN 1-56584-067-4; ISBN 1-56584-279-0

Dower, John W. (1999), Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, Norton, ISBN 0-393-04686-9

Feifer, George (2001). The Battle of Okinawa : the blood and the bomb. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press. ISBN 9781585742158.

Flores, Edmundo. Issues of Land Reform. The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 78, No. 4, Part 2: Key Problems of Economic Policy in Latin America. (Jul - Aug., 1970), pp. 890-905.

Goodman, Roger & Kirsten Refsing. Ideology and Practice in Modern Japan London: Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0-415-06102-4.

Gordon, Andrew (2003). A Modern History of Japan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511060-9.

Guillain, Robert. I Saw Tokyo burning: An Eyewitness Narrative from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima (J. Murray, 1981). ISBN 0-385-15701-0.

Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-674-01693-9.

Hood, Christopher Philip (2001). Japanese Education Reform: Nakasone's Legacy. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. ISBN 041523283X. OCLC 44885267.

Kawai, Kazuo. "American influence on Japanese thinking" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 278, 1951: pp. 23-3.

Ness, Gayl D. Review of the book Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. American Sociological Review (1967), Volume 32, Number 5, pp. 818-820.

Schaller, Michael. The American Occupation of Japan: the Origins of the Cold War in Asia. New York, Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0195036263. OCLC 11971554.

Schrijvers, Peter (2002). The GI war against Japan : American soldiers in Asia and the Pacific during World War II. New York, NY: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814798164.

Sugita, Yoneyuki. Pitfall or Panacea: The Irony of US Power in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952 (Rutledge, 2003). ISBN 0-415-94752-9.

Takemae, Eiji trans. and adpt. by Robert Ricketts and Sebastian Swann. Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy. New York, Continuum, 2002. ISBN 0826462472. OCLC 45583413.

Weisman, Steven R. (1990, April 29). "For Japanese, Flag and Anthem Sometimes Divide". The New York Times.

Aldous, Christopher, and Akihito Suzuki. Reforming Public Health in Occupied Japan, 1945-52: Alien Prescriptions? (Routledge, 2012) ISBN 978-0-203-14282-0

Caprio, Mark E. & Yoneyuki Sugita (2007). Democracy in Occupied Japan: The U.S. Occupation and Japanese Politics and Society. Routledge.

Hirano, Kyōko (1992). Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: The Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation, 1945-1952. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 1-56098-157-1. OCLC 25367560.

La Cerda, John. The Conqueror Comes to Tea: Japan under MacArthur. Rutgers University, 1946.

Mark Gayn (Dec 15, 1989). Japan Diary. Tuttle Publishing.

Richard B. Finn (1992). Winners in Peace: MacArthur, Yoshida, and Postwar Japan. University of California Press. pp. 112-114.

Rinjirō Sodei; John Junkerman; Shizue Matsuda (Jan 1, 2006). Dear General MacArthur: Letters from the Japanese During the American Occupation. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 31-42.

American Occupation of Japan, Voices of the Key Participants in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library

J.C.S 1380/15 BASIC DIRECTIVE FOR POST-SURRENDER MILITARY GOVERNMENT IN JAPAN PROPER

RELATIONS BETWEEN ALLIED FORCES AND THE POPULATION OF JAPAN

The Road Ahead: Lessons in Nation Building from Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan for Postwar Iraq, by Ray Salvatore Jennings May 2003, Peaceworks No. 49, United States Institute of Peace (The PDF report contains a chapter on the occupation policies.)

Memories of War: The Second World War and Japanese Historical Memory in Comparative Perspective

A sweet memory: My first encounter of an American soldier

Hirata Tetsuo and John W. Dower, "Japan's Red Purge: Lessons from a Saga of Suppression of Free Speech and Thought"

Zaibatsu Dissolution, Reparations and Administrative Guidance.

"Four Jap Prisons Open Their Doors". Lawrence Journal-World. Oct 10, 1945.

"Japanese Wave Red Banners In Tokyo Parade". Ottawa Citizen. Oct 10, 1945.

"AMAZED TOKIO PEOPLE SEE COMMUNIST MARCH". The Telegraph. 11 October 1945.

"Communist Crowds Voice Imperial Rule Opposition; Nippons Band To Assail Reds". The Tuscaloosa News. Oct 10, 1945.

"Anti-Russian Organization Rises In Japan; Red Liaison Officer Says That American Occupation Too Soft". Times Daily. Oct 9, 1945.

Japanese Press Translations produced by the General Headquarters of SCAP

Mary Koehler slides, photographs documenting her experiences as secretary to the Chief of the Forestry Division, Natural Resources Section, General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, 1945 - 1949. at the University of Maryland libraries

Robert P. Schuster photographs and negatives, photographs from the experiences of medical equipment repair specialist for the Allied Forces in 1946. At the University of Maryland libraries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by the United States, whose then- President Harry S. Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth.

# data[].attributes.body
Take a position, solve a problem, answer a question

Contains essays topic and points

1 complete sentence

End of 1st paragraph

Everything in essay must support thesis

Follow format:

Attention getter

Introduce topic

State thesis

Persuasive Thesis:

Makes a claim based on opinion, evaluation, interpretation about a topic

Prove claim with specific evidence

Expository Thesis (not using)

Expository (explanatory) paper explains something to audience

Don't announce thesis

Thesis cannot be a fact, doesn't allow you to prove anything

Don't use emotional or vague words

Don't use a question

# data[].attributes.body
Of the events of the Cold War, no event has had a greater impact on the general population of the United States than the American Occupation of Japan

# data[].attributes.body
1. Did the Cold War prevent socialism in the United States?
2. Was the Cold War the only motivation for the USA to get to space?
3. What effects of Cold War propaganda can be seen in today’s art?
4. Did the Cold War lead to the CIA having as much power as it does today?
5. What is the extent of the effect of American Occupation of Japan on life today for the average american?