The Japanese surrendered officially on September 2, 1945, and in September 1945, General Douglas McArthur became Supreme Commander of Allied Powers(SCAP). Although Japan was originally going to be divided up among the Allied powers like Germany was, that did not happen and instead, the SCAP was going to have control over Japan. McArthur worked towards rebuilding Japan: Economically and Politically.
Following the war, many Japanese leaders were put under trial. Many officials were sentenced to death for war crimes, but McArthur made it so that Emperor Hirohito would not be indicted. The reason why the emperor was not tried was that the emperor was needed in order to keep the country stable, which they needed if they were going to occupy and reform it. Hirohito had to renounce his divinity and eventually lose power as Japan was turned into a democratic constitutional monarchy and Hirohito became a figurehead. The new parliamentary system promoted more rights and privileges to women, renounced the right to wage war for Japan, and guarded against remilitarization.
McArthur allowed outside relief organizations to provide relief to Japan. The first trade union law was passed protecting workers rights and allowung workers to unionize. Laws to govern working conditions were passed and the education system was reformed to look more like the American school system.
Another change to Japan was the economic change. McArthur wanted to make sure that Japan was doing well economically to prevent communism spreading in Japan. There were tax reforms, policies to control inflation and land reforms. Before WWII two-thirds of the land was owned by wealthy landlords. SCAP divided the land among the farmers so they could become more economically independent and participate in democracy. SCAP also broke up big conglomerates so that there could be Free market capitalism in Japan.
Overtime McArthut gave more and more power to the new Japanese government. In 1951, 52 nations met in San Francisco and Full sovereignty was restored to Japan.
Very well done! I liked how you compared Japan outcomes to the German outcomes. It interesting to see how thee army is really trying to contain communism and stop the spread of it. Why do you think that Japan wasn't divided like Germany was? What was the reasoning behind all this? Did McAuthor give sympathy to the Japanese due to the atomic bombing to two of their cities?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting analysis of the occupation of Japan. The contrast with Germany is striking, as, because the West and the USSR weren't trying to posture against each other politically, more effort could be put into actually rebuilding Japan. I was wondering why the other Allies, especially the USSR, agreed for the rebuilding of Japan to be handled exclusively by the SCAP.
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