Editing Occupation of Japan (section)

=== Initial planning ===
American planning for a post-war occupation of Japan began as early as February 1942, when President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] established an [[Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy]] to advise him on the postwar reconstruction of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Italy]], and Japan ([[Axis powers]]). On matters related to Japan, this committee was later succeeded by the smaller Inter-Departmental Area Committee on the Far East (IDAFE), which met 234 times between the autumn of 1942 and the summer of 1945 and had frequent discussions with two US presidents, Roosevelt and [[Harry S. Truman]].{{sfn|Barnes|2017|p=32-33}}

During the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the [[Allied-occupied Germany]]. Under the final plan, however, [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers]] (SCAP) was to be 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:
* [[Soviet Union]]: [[Soviet Civil Administration|Northern Korea]], [[South Sakhalin]], and the [[Kuril Islands]]
* [[United States]]: [[United States Army Military Government in Korea|Southern Korea]], [[Okinawa Islands]], the [[Amami Islands]], the [[Ogasawara Islands]] and Japanese possessions in [[Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands|Micronesia]]
* [[Republic of China (1912–49)|China]]: [[Taiwan after World War II|Taiwan]] and [[Penghu]]

In early August 1945, with [[Surrender of Japan|Japan's surrender]] seeming probable, the US [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] recommended to President [[Harry S. Truman]] that Pacific Theatre Commander General [[Douglas MacArthur]] be named [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers]] (SCAP) to oversee the surrender and occupation of Japan.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=48}} Truman agreed, and MacArthur asked his staff in [[Manila]] to begin making concrete preparations for the occupation of Japan.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=48}}

As the Soviets moved in to occupy their allotted territories, some Japanese forces continued to resist even after the Japanese surrender. Such operations included final battles on the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin well past the end of August in 1945. In the end, despite its initial hopes, the Soviet Union did not manage to occupy any part of the Japanese home islands, largely due to significant U.S. opposition that was backed by the leverage gained by its then newly realized status as the world's only nuclear-armed state.

In any case, Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]] was not inclined to press the Americans very far following Japan's surrender. He was not willing to place Soviet troops under MacArthur's direct command. Furthermore, in terms of both strategic interests and prestige the Soviets had achieved most of their war aims in the Far East. Moreover, whereas China, Korea and Japan were all a considerable distance from the USSR's European heartland, Stalin regarded establishing a powerful buffer against further military threats from the west to be vital to the Soviet Union's future existence. He therefore placed a far greater priority on establishing [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet communist influence in Europe]] rather than in Asia.