POSTWAR JAPAN STATE AND POLITICS

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POST-WAR JAPANSTATE AND POLITICS
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• 1945 July Potsdam conference
• Aug 6 Hiroshima
• Aug 9 Nagasaki
• August 8 Soviet entry into war
• Aug 15 Japanese surrender
• Sept. 2 Instrument of surrender signed
• 1945-1952 Occupation SCAP

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• 2 Phases of the Occupation
• 1945-1948 Demilitarize, democratize
• 1948-1952 Reconstruction
• Korean war, Cold War in Asia
• Japan cornerstone of US foreign policy in Asia
• Explain transition?

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Occupation Reforms

• Unlike Germany, Japanese governing structure left
  intact (language, resources)
• Supreme Commander of Allied Powers
• Douglas MacArthur
• State remained a constitutional monarchy led by
  emperor but no divine anymore
• State Shinto
• Jan. 1 1946 Rescript issued, renounced imperial
  divinity
• Institution through which to implement change

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REFORMS

• Military personnel run reforms
• Trial of military/civilian personnel
• Tribunal 27 trued, 7 were hanged (General Tojo)
  imprison for 7 yrs and life - later commuted,
• 200,000 bureaucrats were purged
• Contrast with Germany
• Time/ detail

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• Meiji constitution 1889 Emperor was divine head
  replaced by 1947 constitution
• Emperor symbolic dhead of state unity of
  people
• Diet elections,
• Vote to all men and women over age of 20.
• Article 25 right to a livelihood
• Article 9 renounce war as instrument of national
  policy, no armed forces
• Written in English, re-draft in Japanese

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• Education Reform
• Zaibatsu cartels
• Military-economic
• Froze accounts, 83 companies were broken up
• Heavy industry (ship building, trucks)
• Anti Monopoly law passed
• 1957, 1200 companies reviewed, only 9 affected

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• Labor reorgnaization
• Unionization democratization
• Dec. 1945 Trade Union Law right to organize
  bargain and strike.
• 1946 I million to 4.5 million members.
• Land Reform 2/3 of arable land tenants rents,
• 1946 Land reform act 5 million acres
  redistributed in 2-5 years

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• 1947 SCAP declared Japan was ready for a peace
  treaty. Communists in China 1948/ Korean war
  looming
• 1948 Diet passed a no strike law for civil and
  industrial workers
• Purge reversed, many reinstated
• War Ministry became MITI
• Industry allowed to manufacture ships/trucks

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• Korean war injection
• Supply trucks, blankets, consumer durables
• Pegged dollar to yen 360Yen/1
• Cheap exports
• Elites and bureaucrats reinstated
• Pacification/democratization/demilitarize
• ENEMY - ALLY

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• ENEMY ALLY - EXPLANATION?
• San Francisco Peace Treaty 1951 (anti-communist
  pact, ensure base in Asia)
• Military protection of USA
• Bases in Japan Okinawa
• Real-Politik?
• Utopian idealism? Peace, Justice, Democracy

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• View of the Other
• Monkey men, savages, apes,
• Know your Enemy Japan not individuals
• Genocide/annihilation
• Racial paternalism
• Civilizing mission
• Duality in self and other

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• Japan enemy ally?
• Devastation of war. 40 assets seized
• Millions unemployed, hungry
• Reconstruction/rebuilding
• Atomic bomb
• American soldiers seen as helping in
• reconstruction

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• Role of Emperor
• Collective efforts to rebuild
• Internalisation of pacifism
• Japanese people embraced idea of peace much like
  Germans who had experienced directly consequences
  of fascism
• Old/younger generation divide in recolelction

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• Post war politics
• State strong administrative guidance
• Yoshida Shigeru first Prime Minister
• Liberal Democratic Party 1955
• Democratic Socialist Party (DSP)
• Japanese Communist Party (JCP)
• Independent Judiciary
• Diet (Parliament)

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