Japan and American Policy After World War II

The rebuilding of Japan after the second World War was overseen by General Douglas MacArthur. He set up the Supreme Commander Allied Powers regime or SCAP. He took nearly complete control for the United States and had only slight representation from other nations that had been in the alliance. Emperor Hirohito had announced surrender and the Japanese people accepted this.

General MacArthur had Japanese leadership for the most part except for the higher levels. They experienced a peaceful and a not overly oppressive rule from 1945 to 1952. Efforts to root out militarism and plant democracy got put into progress. Democracy had popular support from the Japanese and this direction got met by them enthusiastically. The local governments got given more power in order to minimize the authoritarianism that had existed before. General MacArthur started construction on rebuilding the railroads, roads, industry and the damages from the war. The emperor announced too that he had never been divine. This admittance had been important to Americans. He even had his picture taken against divine policy. People in Japan felt that this had been a bitter experience. Yet, it became viewed as not as bad as other occupations. The Japanese had respect for the Americans since they had been victorious in the fighting. Consequently the occupation and rebuilding got accomplished smoothly and quickly (pp.414-417).

There had been a few bad points during the occupation in spite of the general successes. War criminals from Japan got sent to trial and sentenced in greater number and having bigger punishments than criminals from Germany. Many Japanese got executed including the Prime minister during the war Tojo. This created problems in people's perceptions of the fairness of the US in Japan and brought up the racism issue.. Japanese people experienced harassment and persecution for their political activity if the American occupying forces found it unacceptable. Freedom of speech had not been permitted and the publications going into and out of Japan got censored. Japan got restricted from forming another military and had US military bases in the country instead. They got denied the right to go to war, The strong corporations or zaibatsu got disbanded during MacArthur's rule of the country as a precaution even though they are not part of a military or political party. Labor unions got suppressed at this time and striking got heavily restricted. However, the biggest cover up and denial of Japanese suffering had been ignoring the consequences of dropping atomic bombs and the radiation poisoning that followed. This got completely blacked out of the press coverage and became a matter not to be talked about. During this time MacArthur became more of a dictator than a leader of democracy. The US policy during this time showed uncertainty about business matters and oppression of people and political parties such as the communist party instead of a stable and fair free market and democratic approach (pp.416-418).

International politics and US interests created changes in US policy in Japan. After World War II the Cold War Started. Russia became a threat to US interests and ideology due to the success of the communist party there. China made this threat even bigger by becoming communist under Mao Tse Tsung after the Russian model. The spreading of Communism started a number of actions by the US based in self interest in Korea and in policy in Japan. The Cold War instigated the uncertainty of policy in Japan that lead to changing stances about a Japanese military, labor unions, and zaibatsus. Policy in Japan had initially been to ban creating a Japanese military. This changed to having a military as a defense force. The zaibatsu that got disbanded during MacArthur's rule over Japan reformed just after he left. They became acceptable as a potential industry force against communism. The US considered Japan as a potential ally against communism and changed policies based on these ideas. Russia became even more of a threat by supplying the North Korean military, by keeping forces in Manchuria, by keeping the Kurile Island Chain and half of Sakhalin island. The Cold War got more involved and US sel- interest came out more so than democratic idealism. Japan experienced huge economic growth after being rebuilt during the Cold War. Yet, the Western powers including the US do not have un-tarnished images there (pp.417-20, p. 428, & 432-34).

Reference

1. Murphey, Rhoads. East Asia: A New History. 3rd edition. New York.
OxfordUniversity Press, 2003.