Editing Occupation of Japan (section)

==Initial phase==
[[File:Tokyo street stal 1945 SLNSW FL9537650.jpg|thumb|Street Stall, Tokyo, 21 November 1945]]
The initial phase of the Occupation focused on punishing Japan for having made war on the Allies, and undertook a thorough reformation of Japanese society to ensure that Japan would never again be a threat to world peace.{{sfn|Kapur|2018|p=8}} Reforms targeted all major sectors of Japanese society, government, and economy. Historians have emphasized similarities to the American [[New Deal]] programs of the 1930s.<ref>Theodore Cohen and Herbert Passin, ''Remaking Japan: The American Occupation as New Deal'' (1987)</ref> Moore and Robinson note that, "New Deal liberalism seemed natural, even to conservative Republicans such as MacArthur and [[Courtney Whitney|Whitney]]."<ref>Ray A. Moore and Donald L. Robinson, ''Partners for democracy: Crafting the new Japanese state under Macarthur'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) p. 98</ref>

===Feeding the starving populace===
[[File:sto1001.jpg|thumb|[[Nihonbashi]], [[Tokyo]], in 1946]]
[[File:Gaetano Faillace - Occupied Tokyo - film.webm|thumb|Half-destroyed Tokyo as filmed by [[Gaetano Faillace]]]]
Before reforms could be undertaken, MacArthur's first priority was to set up a food distribution network. Following the collapse of the ruling government and the wholesale destruction of most major cities, virtually the entire Japanese populace was starving. The [[air raids on Japan|air raids on Japan's urban centers]] left millions displaced, and food shortages (created by bad harvests and the demands of the war) worsened when the seizure of foodstuffs from Korea, Taiwan, and China ceased.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=90}} Repatriation of Japanese people living in other parts of Asia and hundreds of thousands of demobilized prisoners of war only aggravated the hunger problem in Japan, as these people put more strain on already scarce resources. Around 5.1 million Japanese returned to Japan in the fifteen months following October 1, 1945, and another million returned in 1947.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=54}} As expressed by Kazuo Kawai, "Democracy cannot be taught to a starving people".<ref>{{harvnb|Kawai|1951|p=27}}</ref> Initially, the U.S. government provided emergency food relief through Government Aid and Relief in Occupied Areas ([[GARIOA]]) funds. In fiscal year 1946, this aid amounted to US$92&nbsp;million in loans. From April 1946, under the guise of Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia, private relief organizations were also permitted to provide relief. Even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender.<ref>{{harvnb|Gordon|2003|p=228}}</ref>

===Preserving the Emperor===

[[File:Macarthur hirohito.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=two men standing in a black and white portrait|[[Gaetano Faillace]]'s famous photo of Douglas MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito]]
Once the food network was in place, MacArthur set out to win the support of [[Hirohito]]. The two men met for the first time on September 27, 1945; the photograph of the two together is one of the most famous in Japanese history.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=292}} Some were shocked that MacArthur wore his standard duty uniform with no tie, instead of his dress uniform, when meeting the Emperor Hirohito. The difference in height between the towering MacArthur and the diminutive Hirohito also impressed upon Japanese citizens who was in charge now.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=293}} With the cooperation of Japan's reigning monarch, MacArthur had the political ammunition he needed to begin the real work of the occupation. While other Allied political and military leaders pushed for Hirohito to be tried as a [[war crimes|war criminal]], MacArthur resisted such calls, arguing that any such prosecution would be overwhelmingly unpopular with the Japanese people. He also rejected calls for [[abdication]], promoted by some members of the [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial family]] such as [[Takahito, Prince Mikasa]] (younger brother of Hirohito) and former prime minister [[Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni]] (father-in-law of Hirohito's eldest daughter, [[Shigeko Higashikuni|Princess Shigeko]]) and demands of intellectuals like [[Tatsuji Miyoshi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bix|2001|pp=571–573}}</ref>

=== Disarmament and demobilization ===
[[File:1946-06-20 Japan Today.ogv|thumb|1946 newsreel]]

Japanese soldiers were rapidly disarmed and demobilized en masse. On September 15, 1945, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters was dissolved.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=107}} By December, all Japanese military forces in the Japanese home islands were fully disbanded.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=107}} Occupation forces also exploded or dumped into the sea over 2 million tons of unused munitions and other war [[materiel]].{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=108}}

=== Release of political prisoners ===
[[File:Release of Communist.JPG|thumb|The Japanese government releases members of the [[Japanese Communist Party]] on October 10, 1945.]]
The issuing of the [[Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties]] directive by SCAP on October 4, 1945, led to the abolition of the [[Peace Preservation Law]] and the release of all political prisoners.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha5/description03.html|title=5-3 The Occupation and the Beginning of Reform - Modern Japan in archives|work=Modern Japan in Archives|publisher=National Diet Library|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122210241/http://ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha5/description03.html|archive-date=22 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ndl_glossary">{{cite web|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/glossary.html|title=Glossary and Abbreviations|work=Birth of the Constitution of Japan|publisher=National Diet Library|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120064115/http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/glossary.html|archive-date=20 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Japanese communists were released from jail, and the [[Japan Communist Party]] was granted legal status.{{sfn|Kapur|2018|p=9}}

===Disestablishment of State Shinto===
On December 15, 1945, the [[Shinto Directive]] was issued, abolishing [[Shinto]] as a [[state religion]] and prohibiting some of its teachings and rites that were deemed to be [[Militarism|militaristic]] or [[Ultranationalism|ultra-nationalistic]].

=== Trade Union Act ===
On December 22, 1945, at SCAP's direction, the [[National Diet|Diet]] passed Japan's first ever trade union law protecting the rights of workers to form or join a union, to organize, and take industrial action. There had been pre-war attempts to do so, but none that were successfully passed until the Allied occupation.<ref>Kimura, Shinichi, [http://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/LIBOULRK01/oulr006-001.pdf Unfair Labor Practices under the Trade Union Law of Japan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171935/http://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/LIBOULRK01/oulr006-001.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}</ref> A new [[Trade Union Act of 1949|Trade Union Law]] was passed on June 1, 1949, which remains in place to the present day. According to Article 1 of the Act, the purpose of the act is to "elevate the status of workers by promoting their being on equal standing with the employer".<ref>Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training [http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law2.pdf Trade Union Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612020204/http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law2.pdf |date=2011-06-12 }}</ref>

===Purge of wartime public officials===
{{Main|Purge (occupied Japan)}}

In January 1946, SCAP issued directives calling for the purge of wartime officials from public offices. Individuals targeted in the purge included accused [[War crime|war criminals]], military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the [[Imperial Rule Assistance Association]], business leaders involved in Japanese overseas economic expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders involved in the decisions leading Japan into war.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=267}} Ultimately, SCAP screened a total of 717,415 possible purgees, and wound up excluding 201,815 of them from holding public office.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=269}} However, as part of the "[[Reverse Course]]" in Occupation policy, most of the purgees would be de-purged and allowed to return to public life by 1951.

===Enfranchisement of women===

After Japan's surrender, women's leaders in Japan began calling for women's enfranchisement. In August 1945, [[Ichikawa Fusae]] (a leader of the pre-war women's suffrage movement) organized the Women's Committee to Cope with Postwar Conditions, a group of 70 Japanese women whose top priorities included women's enfranchisement.<ref name="Mire, Koikare 2008, p. 48">Mire, Koikare, ''Pedagogy of Democracy: Feminism and the Cold War in the U.S. Occupation of Japan'', Temple University Press 2008, p. 48.</ref> Swayed by the urges of female leaders, Home Minister Horiuchi Zenjiro advocated for granting women enfranchisement in a meeting of the Japanese male leaders of the Shidehara Cabinet on October 9, 1945. Convinced, the cabinet voted unanimously to grant women the right to vote.<ref name="Mire, Koikare 2008, p. 48"/> Two days later, before any action was taken to enact the cabinet's decision, General MacArthur issued his five-point reform directive, one of the points being an order to liberate Japanese women through enfranchisement.<ref>Mire, Koikare, ''Pedagogy of Democracy: Feminism and the Cold War in the U.S. Occupation of Japan'', Temple University Press 2008, p. 49.</ref> After MacArthur issued his directive, the Japanese government officially lowered the voting age and [[Women's suffrage in Japan|extended the voting franchise to women]] in future elections.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=241}} On April 10, 1946, [[1946 Japanese general election|first post-war Japanese general election]] with 78.52% voter turnout among men and 66.97% among women was held,<ref>''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'' Staff 1972, p. 126.</ref> giving Japan its first prime minister partially elected by men and women, [[Shigeru Yoshida]] succeeded [[Kijūrō Shidehara]] as prime minister, took office on May 22, 1946.

=== Hirohito renounces his divinity===
{{Main|Humanity Declaration}}

At SCAP's insistence, as part of a New Year's Day message, Emperor Hirohito publicly renounced his own divinity, declaring:
{{blockquote|The ties between Us and Our people have always stood upon mutual trust and affection. They do not depend upon mere legends and myths. They are not predicated on the false conception that the Emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world.}}

=== Constitutional amendment ===
{{main|Constitution of Japan}}
In 1947, the Diet ratified a new [[Constitution of Japan]] through amendment of [[Meiji Constitution]] that followed closely a "model copy" drafted by American civilian officials within SCAP,{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=xxxvii}} and was promulgated to replace the old [[Prussia]]n-style [[Meiji Constitution]] that had granted the Emperor theoretically unlimited powers.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=270}} The new constitution drew inspiration from the [[US Bill of Rights|U.S. Bill of Rights]], [[New Deal]] social legislation, the [[liberal constitution]]s of several European states and even the Soviet Union, and transferred sovereignty from the Emperor to the people in an attempt to depoliticize the Throne and reduce it to the status of a state symbol.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=xxxix}} Included in the revised charter was the famous [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution|Article Nine]], whereby Japan forever renounced war as an instrument of state policy and became forbidden to maintain a standing army.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=xxxix}} The 1947 Constitution also officially enfranchised women, guaranteed fundamental human rights, strengthened the powers of Parliament and the Cabinet, and decentralized the police and local government.{{sfn|Takemae|2002|p=xxxix}}

=== Zaibatsu dissolution ===
{{Main|Zaibatsu}}
To further remove Japan as a potential future threat to the United States, the [[Far Eastern Commission]] decided that Japan was to be partly de-industrialized. In the end, SCAP adopted a program of de-industrialization and de-concentration in Japan that was implemented to a lesser degree than the similar U.S. [[Industrial plans for Germany|"industrial disarmament" program in Germany]].<ref name="autogenerated2">Frederick H. Gareau "Morgenthau's Plan for Industrial Disarmament in Germany" The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Jun., 1961), pp. 531.</ref> To this end, the prewar ''[[zaibatsu]]'' industrial conglomerates were pressured into undergoing "voluntary" dissolution into smaller independent companies. Although SCAP originally planned to break up 325 Japanese companies, as a result of changes in priorities in connection with the "[[Reverse Course]]," in the end only the 11 largest companies were dissolved.{{sfn|Sugita|2003|p=32}}

=== Labor Standards Act ===
The [[Labor Standards Act of 1947|Labor Standards Act]] was enacted on April 7, 1947, to govern working conditions in Japan. According to Article 1 of the Act, its goal was to ensure that "Working conditions shall be those which should meet the needs of workers who live lives worthy of human beings."<ref>Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training [http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law1-rev.pdf Labor Standards Act] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927061006/http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law1-rev.pdf |date=2011-09-27 }}</ref> Support stemming from the Allied occupation has introduced better working conditions and pay for numerous employees in Japanese business.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The World Transformed:1945 to the Present|last=Hunt|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|pages=86–87}}</ref> This allowed for more sanitary and hygienic working environments along with welfare and government assistance for health insurance, pensions plans and work involving other trained specialists.<ref name=":1" /> While it was created while Japan was under occupation, the origins of the Act have nothing to do with the occupation forces. It appears to have been the brainchild of Kosaku Teramoto, a former member of the [[Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu|Thought Police]], who had become the head of the Labor Standards section of the Welfare Ministry.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=246}}

=== Education reform ===
{{Further|Educational reform in occupied Japan}}

Before and during the war, [[History of education in Japan|Japanese education]] was based on the German system, with "[[Gymnasium (Germany)|Gymnasien]]" (selective grammar schools) and universities to train students after primary school. During the occupation, Japan's secondary education system was changed to incorporate three-year junior high schools and senior high schools similar to those in the United States: Junior high school became compulsory, but senior high school remained optional. The [[Imperial Rescript on Education]] was repealed, and the Imperial University system reorganized. The longstanding issue of [[Japanese script reform]], which had been planned for decades but continuously opposed by more conservative elements, was also resolved during this time. The [[Japanese writing system]] was drastically reorganized with the [[Japanese script reform#Tōyō kanji|Tōyō kanji]]-list in 1946, predecessor of today's [[Jōyō kanji]], and orthography was greatly altered to reflect spoken usage.

===Land reform===

A sweeping [[land reform]] was also conducted, led by [[Wolf Ladejinsky]] from SCAP. <!-- [[#Reference-Book Notes-1978|(''Book Notes'' 1978:836)]] --> However, Ladejinsky would claim that the real architect of the reform was {{ill|Hiroo Wada|ja|和田博雄}}, former Japanese [[Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)|Minister of Agriculture and Forestry]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ness|1967|p=819}}</ref> Between 1947 and 1949, approximately {{convert|5800000|acre|km2}} of land (approximately 38% of Japan's cultivated land) were purchased from the [[landlord]]s under the government's reform program and resold at extremely low prices (after inflation) to the farmers who worked them. MacArthur's land reform redistribution resulted in only 10% of the land being worked by non-owners.<ref name=":1" /> By 1950, three million peasants had acquired land, dismantling a power structure that the landlords had long dominated.<ref>{{harvnb|Flores|1970|p=901}}</ref>

=== Punishing war criminals ===
{{Main|Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal}}

[[File:Japanese War Crimes Trials. Manila - NARA - 292612.jpg|thumb|[[Hideki Tōjō]] (Prime Minister of Japan, took office from 1941 to 1944) takes the stand at the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East|Tokyo war crimes tribunal]].]]

While these other reforms were taking place, various military tribunals, most notably the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] in [[Ichigaya]], were trying Japan's [[Japanese war crimes|war criminals]] and sentencing many to death and imprisonment. However, many suspects such as [[Masanobu Tsuji]], [[Nobusuke Kishi]], [[Yoshio Kodama]] and [[Ryōichi Sasakawa]] were never judged, while the Emperor [[Hirohito]], all members of the [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial family]] implicated in the war such as [[Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu]] (younger brother of Hirohito), [[Prince Yasuhiko Asaka]], [[Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu]], former prime minister [[Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni]] (father-in-law of [[Shigeko Higashikuni|Princess Shigeko]], Hirohito's eldest daughter) and [[Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda]], and all members of [[Unit 731]]—including its director Dr. [[Shirō Ishii]]—were granted immunity from criminal prosecution by General MacArthur.

Before the war crimes trials actually convened, the SCAP, its International Prosecution Section (IPS) and [[Shōwa era|Shōwa]] officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as ''Class A'' suspects and incarcerated in [[Sugamo]] prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=325}} Thus, months before the [[Tokyo tribunal]] commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] to former prime minister [[Hideki Tojo]]<ref>{{harvnb|Bix|2001|p=585}}</ref> by allowing "the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment."<ref>{{harvnb|Bix|2001|p=583}}</ref> According to historian [[John W. Dower]], "With the full support of MacArthur's headquarters, the prosecution functioned, in effect, as a defense team for the emperor."{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=326}}

In Dower's view, {{blockquote|Even Japanese peace activists who endorse the ideals of the Nuremberg and Tokyo charters, and who have labored to document and publicize Japanese atrocities, cannot defend the American decision to exonerate the emperor of war responsibility and then, in the chill of [[Cold War]], release and soon afterwards openly embrace accused right-wing war criminals like the later prime minister [[Kishi Nobusuke]].{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=562}}}}