The U.S Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) - Essay Example

THE U.S.A OCCUPATION OF JAPAN (1945-1952) Number December 3, Faculty The U.S.A Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) Introduction Occupation of Japan by the United States was a clear indication of the transformation between the two nations. Japan and America had been in a bitter rivalry before the incidence and therefore, the occupation was meant to form a close alliance of the two. During the incidence of the Pacific war that occurred from 1941 to 1945, both nations were in a bitter war. Each side committed damages but only focused on the damages caused by the other while the citizens from both sides were forced to expect anything that happened from both sides. During the war, Japan saw its sixty-six cities brought down to ashes by the opponent through firebombing (Dees, 2013). Despite the twin tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan did not surrender. The decision to surrender was opposed by the leaders until the Emperor intervened and broke a deadlock amongst his senior advisors. Japan had been in War with Asia for about 15 years since 1931. This situation led to the loss of lives of 15 million Asians and 3 million Japanese. Japanese brutal treatment to its opponent included maltreatment of prisons of war and generated sentiments that favoured punishment and retribution (Dees, 2013). The American troops, therefore, landed in this unfavourable climate and began the occupation. The occupation of Japan by America was aimed at democratizing and demilitarizing Japan (Ward Crawford, Kaori Hayashi and Suenaga, 2010). Demilitarization of Japan meant the removal of all firearms and ammunitions from the country. America arranged for the repatriation of some 7 million Japanese, a situation that taxed the logistic capacity of the American Military and led to increased problem of unemployment, lack of housing facilities and food. Democratization was a guarantee to Japanese pacifism through eliminating the concentration of power exercised by small elite during the war. During the occupation process, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was attempting to save Japan from the scourge of militarism (Matsuda, 2007). The Supreme Commander spread powers within the government and to all citizens including equality in voting rights to the women and by supporting unions and robust press. The policies of the United States were best understood by Japanese and many people claimed that it was the source Japan’s descent into militarism. The essay will entail the occupation of Japan by the United States. It will focus on the process, objectives and the significance of the occupation process. The essay will be structured into two components: the domestic and foreign policies in Japan during the occupation process, and the conclusion. The domestic and foreign policies will be further divided into demilitarization and democratization, the reverse course and its significance during the occupation and finally the formal peace treaty and alliance. An analytical conclusion will later be drawn to reflect on the thesis that occupation of Japan was of substantial importance and can be attributed to the current development in Japan. The occupation provided reforms that helped in the economic, social and political transformation of Japan. The constitution provided policies that relieved the Japanese from the brutal Meiji era (Smith, 2012). Domestic and Foreign Policy The first phase of occupation which roughly started after the end of the war from 1945 to 1947 involved the most fundamental changes that took place in Japan. America punished Japan due to its past expansion and militarism by convening war crimes in Tokyo. During this time, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) dismantled Japanese army and banned the military officers from taking roles in political roles in the government (Drohan, 2007). During this time, SCAP land reforms that were meant in providing equality in land ownership to the tenants were acquired from the landlords who supported the Japanese expansionism in the 1930s. Demilitarization and Democratization Demilitarization of Japan was a guarantee to the America that Japan would never engage in military activities. In the first two years of occupation, the industrialists and officers blamed for the war were a further hedge against a revanchist threat. MacArthur and his team exercised a decisive influence on the type and nature of democracy in Japan. Democratization was a process undertaken by Americans in Japan that no other occupation force had done before. The America performed the democratization process through remarking the social, political, cultural and economic fabric Japan and changed them based on their way of thinking (Aldous, n.d.). The tough initiative was in writing the constitution that was to be used in Japan and compelling its acceptance by the Japanese diet. One of the factors that proved the success of the occupation in Japan was the constitution that was developed by the Americans. Since the promulgation of the constitution in 1947, it has never been amended. During this process, the Emperor was stripped off all his power and forced to renounce his divinity. The support of the Emperor for the new constitution was critical in winning its acceptance to the Japanese (Hanneman, 2013). Sovereignty was vested in the citizen and pre-war aristocracy lost its supreme status. As opposed to the prior constitution in Japan, people were allowed to vote and their rights specified in the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees and specifies a total of thirty-one civil and human rights. The constitution was so beneficial to the Japanese since it provided some rights that were not provided by the Meiji Constitution (Iyoda, 2010). The constitution was based on the British Parliamentary supremacy rather than the United States system and checked for balances between the various branches of the government. Article nine of the constitution aided in reinforcing demilitarization in Japan since if imposed pacifism to Japan by inhibiting the country from using arms and ammunitions (Beauchamp and Vardaman, n.d.). The article also obliged Japan to renounce the right of belligerency. Although the language is clear and the intentions of the legislation spelled out in Diet interpellation since 1946, the Self-Defense Force has existed since early 1950. Currently, Japan has one of the largest defense budgets in the world. The constitutionality of Self-Defense Force (SDF) has been challenged and having different intuitions and considerations by courts. Some lower court decisions have considered SDF as unconstitutional while the higher courts have persistently stuck to the constitutionality of SDF. As a sign of the significance of the occupation through the formation of the constitution, the article nine of the constitution has remained prominent in the political arena despite the struggle of some conservative elites in seeking to revive it to give Japan greater leeway to security. The struggles of the elites have not been able to succeed in their attempts since the constitution is highly valued by the people. SCAP promoted democracy by promoting land reforms in the countryside and a strong union movement. The movement was inspired by the New Deal reforms under the administration of Roosevelt during 1930s. Following the formation of the constitution, many of the union organizers who included communists were released from jail and allowed to form unions. Since the communists were given a favourable working environment following the aftermath of the war, the unions grew rapidly as many people became radical for their tactics and demands. The first two years in the occupation process was a time reinforcing socio-economic developments based on the belief that Japan needed transformations to do away with militarization? Due to this concern, alleged sympathizers and Right-wing militarists were fired from the government service and banned from the all elected office. In a bid of weakening the military of Japan, the powers of the police were restricted, and the centralized police authorities abolished. The education curriculum of Japan was modified in a bid of eliminating the vestiges of Imperials ideology and control of the central government over the educational system including textbooks, was curtailed (Okada, 2012). The occupation provided rehabilitation of the landless and equality ownership of lands. In the reforms, the constitution targeted the landlords that owned massive lands the land was distributed equally to farmers. The rural gentry were considered as a bastion of conservatism and therefore, it acted as a barrier to democratization. Democratization led to the downfall of Zaibatsu. In this case, MacArthur promoted trust bearing tactics at the expense of the large family. Zaibatsu owned industrial conglomerates that dominated the economy of Japan since the era of Meiji (Krauss and Nyblade, 2004). Zaibatsu was a beneficiary of military expansionism and war-related procurements. By breaking up of Zaibatsu, the Americans intended to promote the general policy of concentrating power as it was seen as a major concern during the Japanese system. The excessive concentration of power both economic and political made it easier for conspirators to hijack national policy for their gains. The Reverse Course Stearns (n.d.) noted that the United States used the reverse course to undertake the conservative shift in the United States occupational policies. The reverse course was one of the earliest consequences of the cold war that was heating between the United States and USSR. In the first salvo, MacArthur banned a general strike that that had been called for February 1947. The action indicated the beginning of the end of the radical union movement as SCAP withdrew its support and encouraged the union-busting tactics of the Japanese government and corporations. The United States found out that there was no need for engaging in a global ideological war, but instead it became imperative that Japan should be a success story (Vickers, 2013). Japan was the showcase of the American way and showed the superiority of capitalism. In this case, retribution and other reforms that could slow down the Japanese rapid recovery were shoved to the side for the policies that could help in seeing Japan as a free nation. During this time, the political attitudes in the United States were rapidly shifting to the right that implied that the new deal-inspired reforms that had initially animated the occupation were out of favour (Berkofsky, n.d.). According to Barnhisel and Turner (2010), it was difficult to appreciate the sudden swing in the mood of the country but the rise of communist witch hunts and McCarthyism were soon central features of the political landscape of the United States and were applied in the United States policy in Japan. The anti-Zaibatsu efforts of SCAP had little impact because there were very many opponents skilled at defending big businesses compared to the few trustbusters. The conservative elite of Japan consistently warned SCAP that the over-zealous reforms of Zaibatsu would be counteracted by the communists by prolonging the suffering of the workers and by slowing the economic recovery. Shinoda (n.d.) noted that the occupation of Japan was indirect which implied that it was dependent on the Japanese government. Therefore, SCAP had ample opportunity of slowing the pace and extent of, modifying and vitiating the reform initiative. They quickly teamed up with allies from America including some of the United States influential corporations that had close ties with Zaibatsu and were concerned that the interest of their businesses might be adversely affected. They lobbied the Congress for support lamenting inclinations of the left Wing of SCAP and illustrated that busting of Zaibatsu would extend the dependence of Japan on the United States aid. Therefore, the domestic political fallout of the cold war in America resonated strongly in Japan. Zaibatsu finally emerged from the occupation in modified form as Keiretsu (Bary et al., 2005). The result was clearly indicative that the reverse course resulting from the occupation provided effective reforms in Japan that favoured all the sectors of the economy. The outbreak of Korean War in 1950 provided SCAP with the best opportunity for addressing this issue that prompted some occupational officials to suggest that "Korea came along and saved us." When the United Nations entered the war, Japan became the major supply depot for the United Nations forces. The conflict between Japan and Korea placed Japan firmly within the confines of the United States defence coverage, assuring the Japanese leadership that regardless of the state of the military, no threat would be made on the soil of Japan (Minahan, n.d.). Formal Peace Treaty and Alliance In the final phase of the occupation, SCAP deemed the economic and political future of Japan firmly established and set about putting in place a formal peace treaty to bring to an end both the war and the occupation. The United States intuition of the international threats had changed so profoundly in the years between 1945 and 1950 that the idea of militant and re-armed Japan no longer alarmed United States officials, but instead the real threat appeared to be the creep of communism, particularly Asia (Sodei and Junkerman, 2006). The final agreements between Japan and the United States allowed the United States to maintain its bases in Japan. Additionally, the United States government promised a bilateral security pact with Japan.in 1951, fifty-two nations met in San Francisco to discuss the treaty and out of them; forty-nine nations signed it. The signing of this treaty that was propelled by the occupation provided that the leaders on global scale viewed the issue of insecurity and war critically (Sorensen, 2009). . Conclusion The themes that were put in place by the occupation worked. The Japanese remain ambivalent about the occupation undertaken by the United States. The policies of demilitarization and democratization were welcomed during that time, and there is still a large residue of goodwill coming from the positive legacies of the period. The American occupiers succeeded in demilitarizing and democratizing Japan largely as a result as a result of the Japanese receptivity. During the occupation, great concentrations of industrial power in Japan such as Zaibatsu were broken down, organized power empowered and land redistributed. Japanese who lived during the time of occupation recall some unfortunate incidents and hardships, but express positive take about the process of transformation that was unleashed by SCAP. Certainly, the occupation went better than anyone could have anticipated during the time of surrender that America is credited with putting in place policies that laid the foundations that led to economic growth in Japan. Additionally, many of the Japanese were relieved that the occupation of the United States bore no resemblance of the Japans brutal occupation of Southeast Asia and China during the war. America occupation of Japan was one of the most non-punitive occupations in history. The occupation was an extraordinary achievement that was given the level of hostility between Japan and the United States at the end of the war. The occupation of Japan by America helps in explaining why American influence is so strong in Japan and also why Washington looms so large in the mind-set of Tokyo. The patterns of relationships that existed during the times have lived for long. In this regard, Many Japanese slide easily between respect and resentment for the United States because they chafe at the unequal relationship. After a long period following the occurrence of the occupation, patterns that were established persist. The existence of these patterns reflects Japan’s sense of dependence and vulnerability on the United States Umbrella. Alternatively, despite the fact that the main themes of occupation that included democratization and demilitarization worked, some conservatives are agitated about the take that led to the political social and economic development in Japan. The conservatives trace many of the current social problems in Japan back to the occupation. They see the end of women’s legal equality, education reforms, end of the patriarchal system, the Emperor System and demilitarization as a vague process of Americanization as harmful to the Japanese social fabric. Despite all these claims by the Conservatives, many people in Japan support the idea of occupation and respect America for the incidence. Besides, many Japanese enjoyed many rights and freedom during the occupation they had during the militarists. Therefore, the occupation of Japan by the United States was of substantial importance and due to the increased positive implication, the occupation has been a key factor in shaping the economic, social and political systems of Japan References Aldous, C. (n.d.). The police in occupation Japan. Barnhisel, G. and Turner, C. (2010). Pressing the fight. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Bary, W., Gluck, C., Tiedemann, A., Barshay, A., and Bodiford, W. (2005). Sources of Japanese tradition. New York: Columbia University Press. Beauchamp, E., and Vardaman, J. (n.d.). Japanese Education since 1945. Berkofsky, A. (n.d.). A pacifist constitution for an armed empire. Dees, B. (2013). The Allied Occupation and Japans Economic Miracle. 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