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American troops landed in Japan immediately after the Imperial Government surrendered on September 3. The American occupation was completely unlike the Japanese occupation of the countries that it had conquered. Most Japanese were stunded by the final year of the War and the massive destruction. There was also widespread hunger because the American destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet as well as the domestic transportation system made it impossible to import and distribute food. Many Japanese had been led to expect a brutal American occupation. There were no Batan death marches, slave labor, or mass slaughters like the Rape of Nanking. The United States oversaw an occupation with fundamentally changed the nature of Japanese society, rooting out Japanese militarism and fomenting the development of democratic political regimes and social structures. Militarists were removed from power. The Japanese had to turn in all weapons, including Samari swords, that were often revered family treasures. The swords were not serious military weapons, but they had emense symbolic value to Japanese militarists. The sword was so valued that in the Japanese warrior tradition it had become known as the "soul of the samari. Women were enfranchized and labor unions allowed to organize. Among the major accomplishments of the American occupation was a new democratic Constitution.
The Japanese Imperial Government formally surrendered on the morning of September 2, 1945, more that 2 weeks after acceping the Allies terms. The ceremonies overseen by General MacArthur were conducted aboard the battleship USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Japanese officials signed the instruments of surrender under the Missouri's big guns. American troops landed in Japan immediately after the Imperial Government surrendered. Many having experienced fanatical Japanese resistance on Pacific island battlefields, were unsure what to expect.
Most Japanese were stunded by the final year of the War and the massive destruction. There was also widespread hunger because the American destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet as well as the domestic transportation system made it impossible to import and distribute food. Many Japanese had been led to expect a brutal, if not genocidal American occupation. There were no Batan death marches, slave labor, or mass slaughters like the Rape of Nanking. The Japanese people were unaware as to just how brutal their military had been in other countries and how real attrocities involvung millions of people were. I'm not sure just how seriously the Japanese people had taken the warnings of brutal Americans. They seem to have been widely accepted on Saipan and Okinawa. I'm not sure why this would have been different in Japan itself. I'm not sure to what extent, however, the Japanese were surprised at the conduct of the Americans. Perhaps readers know of some studies which have addressed this subject. Emperor Hirohito certainly was surprised at how the Americans treated him. The Americans for their part, after fighting bloody battles which got increasingly savage as the approsached the home island were not at all sure how they would be greeted when they landed in the Home Islands to begin the occupation.
There were major differences in the American occupation policies pursued in Japan and Germany. The Imperial Government was not dismantled as was the NAZI Government and Japan was allowed to retain the monarchy--the longest line of any monarchy in the world. Emperor Hirahito was allowed to remain on the Crysanthumum Throne. Details on his involvement in the War suggest a participation that was far more extensive than admitted at the time, although he certainly acted with considerable courage to end the War. American occpation officials concluded thar retaining the Emperor would facilitate the peaceful occupation of Japan and the acceptance of the American imposed reforms. [Beatty] As in Germany there were trials of war criminals, mostly Imperial Army officers.
The Allied occupation began September 1945 and lasted through 1952. The Allies set up a Far Eastern Commission made up of 11 members of the victorious coalition. An Allied Council set up in Tokyo was to supervise overall policy. Difficulties with the Soviet Union which wanted to land an occupation force in Japan made the Council unworkable. It was the United States which occupied the country which essentially took control of occupation policy. President Truman appointed General MacArthur to be the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). MacArthur launched a comprehensive reform program. It proved to be a demanding task. Few Americans knew anything about Japan and fewer still could speak Japanese. For Japan it was also a starling experience. Few Japanese had ever been exposed to Western culture.
The American occupation was completely unlike the Japanese occupation of the countries that it had conquered. The United States oversaw an occupation with fundamentally changed the nature of Japanese society, rooting out Japanese militarism and fomenting the development of a democratic political system and social structure. The goal of the occupation was to estanlish "a peacefully inclined and responsible government." Militarists were removed from power and the country was demilitarized. The Japanese had to turn in all weapons, including Samari swords, that were often revered family treasures. The swords were not serious military weapons, but they had emense symbolic value to Japanese militarists. The sword was so valued that in the Japanese warrior tradition it had become known as the "soul of the samari". Among the major accomplishments of the American occupation was a new democratic Constitution. Women were enfranchized and labor unions allowed to organize. Major changes were made in the ecionomy. Industries with a war-making capability were prohibited.
A key figure in the Japanese government during the occupation and in the posy-War era was Yoshida Shigeru, a remarablly undiplomatic diplomat. He had the rather un-Japanese chsaracteristic of clearly stating his opinions even when he disagreed with an individual. He retired in 1939 because of his antt-militarist views. He was even imprisoned by the military late in the War.
Yoshida was appointed foreign minister in the government formed after the Japanese surrender to the Americans (1945). He became prime-minister (1946) and held that post for most of the occupation period.
He was the single most important Japanese official during the occupation and has left us a penetrating view of the American occupation policies and Japanese politics. [Yoshida] He was essentally pro-American and British and believed in the objective of the American occupation to democratize Japan, but represented conservative forces. He got on well with MacArthur, but the two had differences. MacArthur came to increasinly rely on him to oppose the Socialists. Yoshida advised the Japanese as the ocupation began to be "good losers". [Schaller] This comment reflects his view of the War. It sounds like something one might say after a cricket match, not what the leader of a country that launched a war resulting in the deaths of millions of people (only a small fraction Japanese) might say. While he he had opposed the War and the militarists, he did not see the War in the sence of a criminal endevor conducted by the Japanese people and government. His attitude was very different than that of Chancellor Adenauer in Germany. Yoshida never fully accepted responsibility from the war and his attitudes and policies continue to reverberate in Japan today. Many Japanese see their country as a victim of the War and not a country largely responsible for the War.
Japan invaded China (1937) and fighting continued for 4 years even before Pearl Harbor (1941). While huge numbers of Chinese were killed, Japanese casualties were realtively light. In the Pacific War while entire garisons fought to the death, the total numbers relatively small. Larger numbers of soldiers were involved in the Philippines and Okinawa campaign and in the fighting in Burma. The largest numbers of Japanese soldiers were lost in Manchuria after the Soviet invasion (1945). This was not as a result of the fighting, but because most of the POWs disappeared into the Soviet Gulag. Other children lost tgheir mothers and grandparents as a result of the strategic bombing campaign. I am not sure of the numbers of children involved. Other children were involved when the Japanese civilian populations were repatriated from parts of their former empire (Formosa, Korea, Manchukuo, Saipan, and other locations). Again I am unsure about the numbers involved.
Japanese reader Fujioka Keisuke writes, "I am very pleased to hear that you are preparing a section on the post World War II American occupation of Japan. I was born in 1934 in Tokyo. I and my family were in Tokyo during the American bombing. The terror and destruction were overwealming, just like Dresden. I think most Japanese were surprised with American occupation policy. I was second son of a publisher. My father was a socialist in pre-World War II Japan but there were strict Government controls. After Japan surrendered and the American occupation began, father enjoyed freedom to publish Marx, Engels, and Lenin under Macarthur's regulations." [Keisuke] We wonder how many countries enjoyed more freedom under a foreign military occupation than they had enjoyed under their own government.
Japan was essentially an non-player in the epic battle between the Democratic West and the Toyalitarian Soviet Union in the Cold War. The Japananese avoided the term alliance when describuing the American relationship. Essentially Japabn during the Cold War was a merchant nation persuing its commercial interests. To an extent America was responsible by drafting a Constitution designed to demilitarize Japan. But for the Japanese it was an extremely beneficial approch. America guaranteed Japan's security. Defennse budgets were small and the country could focus on building its evonomy. [Pyle] Today the Japanese are reasing their place in the world and even beginning for the first timre to think about changes in the American drafted Constitution, especially provisions of the Constitutin related to the military and defense,
Beatty, William. Beatty was on MacArthur's staff. After the war he taught anthropology at Fresno State.
Keisuke, Fujioka. E-mail message, February 15, 2003.
Pyle, kenneth. Japan Rising (2007).
Schaller, Michael. Altered States: The United States and Japan since the Occupation, 336 p.
Shigeru Yoshida, Kenichi Yoshida. The Yoshida Memoirs: The Story of Japan in Crisis ( Heinemann: Lond0n), 304p.
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