Reforming Japan: Measuring the Success of the Allied Occupation’s Economic,
Educational, and Constitutional Reforms  
 
 
 
By  
 
Gordon S. Duncan  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted in partial fulfillment  
of the requirements for  
Honors in the Department of History  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Union College  
June 2016  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
  

Contents  
 
 
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………...…iii  
 
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..1  
 
2. Chapter I: Reform of Industry……………………………………………………...13  
 
3. Chapter II: Education Reform……………………………………………………..37  
 
4. Chapter III: Article IX……………………………………………………………….58  
 
5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..75  
 
Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….79  

 
  ii

 
  

ABSTRACT  
 
 
DUNCAN, GORDON Reforming Japan: Measuring the Success of
the Allied Occupation’s Economic,
Educational, and Constitutional Reforms  
 
Following the surrender of Japan on September 2 of 1945, American

forces occupied Japan in an attempt to remove Japan’s ability to wage

aggressive war. From 1945 to 1952, Occupation authorities in Tokyo under

General Douglas MacArthur undertook a number of reforms intended to

‘demilitarize’ and ‘democratize’ Japan, some of which left major structural

changes to the pre-war Japanese system. This thesis will focus on three reforms:

the dissolution of Japan’s zaibatsu (large industrial conglomerates such as

Nissan), democratization of the education system, and Article IX of Japan’s

Constitution which bans Japan from possessing military forces. I analyze the

success of each reform through the end of the Cold War by examining if their

purpose and structure has remained in place.  

By 1947 events on the world stage, including the routing of U.S. ally

Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces in China, by Mao Zedong’s communist forces, and the

rapid emergence of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, became issues of

immediate concern among American policymakers. In Japan, continuing

economic troubles including inflation and high unemployment lead to the rise of

powerful labor movements that were increasingly linked to communists. In light of

these events, conservatives in the United States Government and conservatives

 
  iii

 
  

in the Japanese government joined forces to reverse some of the early reforms

hoping to create a stable country free from communist influence.  

Beginning in 1948, both the structure and purpose of the zaibatsu reforms

were undermined as the U.S. withdrew support for the Occupation’s economic

reforms, after which the conglomerates again dominated the Japanese economy.

While the Ministry of Education began to regain centralized control of the

education system in the 1950s, many structural changes remained in place such

as teachers Unions; in addition, pacifist curriculums continue to be an important

legacy of the Occupation. Finally, Article IX of Japan’s constitution has faced

large challenges after independence, however, it has remained unamended 70

years later, and further, during this time Japan has not fought a war. I will argue

that the education reforms and Article IX were successful because of widespread

popular support while the zaibatsu reforms failed due to lack of popular support

and Cold War Pressures to stabilize the economy.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
  iv

 
 Introduction

First destroy the military power. Punish war criminals. Build

the structure of representative government. Modernize the
constitution. Hold free elections. Enfranchise the women.
Release the political prisoners. Liberate the farmers.
Establish a free labor movement. Encourage free economy.
Abolish police Oppression. Develop a free and responsible
press. Liberalize education. Decentralize political power.
Separate church from state. These tasks were to occupy me
for the next five years and more. All were eventually
accomplished, some easily, some with difficulty.
­ General Douglas MacArthur, ​ Reminiscences​ , 1964.

Following the surrender of Japan on September 2 of 1945, the United States

faced a monumental task: rebuilding a nation utterly destroyed by war, physically,

spiritually, and economically. Today, Japan boasts the world’s third largest economy by
1 2
GDP, ​a robust democracy, ​an education system that ranks among the highest in the
3 4
world each year, ​and it has not fought a war since 1945. ​Japan did not become the

nation it is today solely on its own. The country owes a large deal of credit to the United

States Occupation for shaping the new laws and institutions of the post­war era. The

Japanese people too deserve credit for their resilient spirit and dedication to rebuilding a

country devastated by firebombs, atomic weapons, and hunger. While many Japanese

and many in the international community are aware that there was an American

Occupation of Japan from 1945­1952, there is little awareness of the specific reforms

implemented during the Occupation or the effects that they had after the Occupation

1
"Gross Domestic Product 2014," The World Bank, February 17, 2016, Accessed February 22, 2016,
http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP.pdf​ .
2
Financial Times​
David Pilling, "Democracy Is Robust in Asia," ​ , April 28, 2010, Accessed February 22,
2016, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2abe228c­52f8­11df­813e­00144feab49a.html#axzz40q4c7HND.
3
Pearson, "Education and Skills for Life," The Learning Curve, Accessed January 19, 2016,
http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/2014­report­summary/​ .
4
Japan's Contested War Memories: The 'Memory Rifts' in Historical Consciousness of
Philip A. Seaton, ​
​
World War II​ (Routledge, 2007), 6.
1
 zaibatsu​
ended. This thesis will focus on three reforms: the dissolution of Japan’s ​ (large

industrial conglomerates such as Nissan), the democratization of the education system,

and the implementation of Article IX of Japan’s Constitution which bans Japan from

possessing offensive military forces. I analyze the success of each reform through the

end of the Cold War by examining if their original purpose and structure has remained in

place. I will argue that the education reforms and Article IX were successful because of

zaibatsu​
widespread popular support, while the ​ reforms failed due to lack of popular

support, and Cold War pressures to stabilize the economy.

The key objectives of the Occupation under General Douglas MacArthur,

Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP), were the ‘democratization’ and

5
‘demilitarization’ of Japan. ​The basic principles of these objectives began with the

Potsdam Declaration, a joint declaration issued on July 26, 1945 by President Harry S.

Truman, President Chiang Kai­Shek (Nationalist Party of China), and Prime Minister

Winston Churchill, that outlined the terms of Japan’s imminent surrender. After Japan

surrendered on November 3, 1945, an official order called “Basic Initial Post Surrender

Directive” was sent to General Douglas MacArthur by the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the
6
authority of President Truman. ​Both the Potsdam Declaration, and the Post Surrender

Directive, to a more detailed degree, outlined the economic, military, and political goals

for the occupation. Japan was to be a democratic nation with a free economy, a nation

disarmed with its ability to wage war removed.

5
Tōgō Kazuhiko, Japan’s Foreign Policy 1945­2003: The Quest for a Proactive Policy​ (Boston: Leiden,
2005), 36.
6
"1­13 Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Basic Initial Post­Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers for the Occupation and Control of Japan," November 1, 1945." National Diet Library. Accessed
January 19, 2016. http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/01/036shoshi.html.
2
 MacArthur’s Headquarters, known as GHQ, “ruled” Japan “beyond challenge or
7
criticism.” ​They did so through a powerful hierarchy, among themselves and above the
8
Japanese government. ​However, while MacArthur and his staff controlled the direction

of the reforms, they relied on the Japanese to implement the changes. This was

necessary because the Occupation forces had no linguistic or cultural knowledge of

Japan for the most part, and had to make use of Japanese government structures
9
already in place. ​The American agenda was in general heavily inspired by “liberal New

Deal attitudes, labor reformism, and Bill of Rights idealism” that was losing support in
10
the United States according to historian John Dower. ​Many of the reforms envisioned

to ‘democratize’ Japan would have seemed “extreme” if introduced in the United States
11
at the time, says Dower, but they were possible because of SCAP’s authoritarian rule.

By 1947, events on the world stage, including the routing of U.S. ally Chiang

Kai­Shek’s forces in China by Mao Zedong’s communist forces, and the rapid

emergence of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, became issues of immediate

concern among American policymakers. In Japan, continuing economic troubles

including inflation and high unemployment led to the rise of powerful labor movements

that were increasingly linked to communists. In light of these events, conservatives in

the United States government and conservatives in the Japanese government joined

7
John W. Dower,​Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II,​
1st ed. (New York: W.W. Norton
& Co./New Press, 1999), 27.
8
Embracing Defeat​
Dower, ​ , 27.
9
Embracing Defeat​
Dower, ​ , 27.
10
Embracing Defeat,​26.
Dower, ​
11
Embracing Defeat,​26­27.
Dower, ​
3
forces to reverse some of the early reforms, hoping to create a stable country free from

communist influence.

In the years immediately after the War, the Occupation favored progressive, left

of center parties; in addition, its political purge undertaken in January 1946 removed

more than 70 percent of politicians who had been members of the Diet before 1945,
12
most of whom had been conservatives. ​While this development was a blow to the

conservatives, they have consistently remained at the head of the Japanese

Government since 1945. The Japan Socialist Party (JSP), established in October 1945,

peaked in 1947 when they won 143 seats in the Lower House versus the Liberals 132
13
seats and the Democrats 126 seats; ​however, they were unwilling to form a coalition
14
or compromise on their ideological stances and were unable to enact much change. ​In

addition, it was unable to deal with the increasingly militant labor movement and the
15
ongoing food shortage. ​Conservative Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru held the position

of Prime Minister from May 22, 1946 – May 24, 1947 as the leader of the Liberal Party,

and then again from October 15, 1948 – December 10, 1954 as the leader of
16
Democratic­Liberal Party [which in 1950 merged with the Liberal party]. ​While the

Socialists saw some success in 1947, during the 1950s they faced a full on assault from

conservatives in the Japanese government.

12
Introduction to Japanese Politics.​4th ed. (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2005), 89­90.
Louis D. Hayes, ​
13
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​90.
Hayes, ​
14
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​91.
Hayes, ​
15
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​91.
Hayes, ​
16
Prime Minister and His Cabinet,​Accessed January 26, 2016,
"Prime Ministers in History,"​
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/cabinet/0031­60_e.html​ .
4
 The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was officially organized in 1955 through a

combination of two conservative parties, the Liberal and Democratic parties, but can
17
trace its lineage as far back as the 1870s. ​The party formed out of concern on the part

of the business community and for good relations with Washington and in reaction to

the intensifying demands from organized labor; in light of the pressures from the left and

organized labor, unity among the two conservative parties was seen as a way of
18
promoting government stability.

Ideologically, the party stresses a centralized efficient government with an

important role in the economy; it does not favor strong local initiatives but receives
19 ​
broad public support due to its commitment to strong economic development. Its

ideology substitutes and economic definition of security for a military one; its foreign

policy has been pro­Western and anti communist, however it was willing to trade with
20
the Soviet Union and China from the start. ​The party maintains close ties to business,

especially large corporations and in return receives massive amount of funds that keep
21
it strong. ​The LDP has been in a commanding position since their formation in 1955;

after a brief loss of power in 1993 in which unstable coalition governments superseded
22
its power, the LDP regained power once again. ​Today, the LDP is still in power under,

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

17
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​73.
Hayes, ​
18
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​73­74.
Hayes, ​
19
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​74.
Hayes, ​
20
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​74.
Hayes, ​
21
Introduction to Japanese Politics,​74.
Hayes, ​
22
​ Introduction to Japanese Politics,​69­70.
Hayes, ​

5
 In 1947­1948, the Truman Administration initiated a recovery program in Japan
23
modeled after the Marshall Plan, which put it at odds with General MacArthur. ​And the

State Department and Defense Department, in addition, halted many Occupation

24
reforms in order to pursue economic recovery and stability in Japan. ​This change in

policy was known as the “Reverse Course.” On top of these changes at home,

MacArthur became increasingly concerned with communism inside Japan. What

followed was the “Red Purge.” The Red Purge was a series of layoffs, often considered

arbitrary, according to historians John Dower and Hirata Tetsuo, that were carried out

from 1949 to 1951 by Japanese government agencies and corporations; the layoffs

were aimed at eliminating workers who were branded as communist, whether actually

members of the party or not; the Purge included, for instance, left­wing democrats and
25
labor­union activists. ​Working together with conservatives in the Japanese

government, MacArthur silenced leftist elements in all walks of life. While the

Occupation had originally supported democracy, liberty, and freedom of speech, such
26
concepts were quickly diluted in favor of strategic expediency. ​Critics in Japan who
27
accused GHQ of imperialism or rationed democracy were silenced. ​And the
28
conservatives’ firm grip on power was secured with GHQ’s blessing. ​In addition,

ultra­nationalists and militarists formally banned from positions of authority were

23
The American Occupation of Japan,​ix.
Schaller, ​
24
The American Occupation of Japan,​ix.
Schaller, ​
25
​
John W. Dower, and Hirata Tetsuo, "Japan's Red Purge: Lessons from a Saga of Suppression of Free
Speech and Thought," ​ The Asia Pacific Journal​ , (5) (7) (July 3, 2007): 3.
26
Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945­1952
Toshio Nishi, ​
(Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1982), 3.
27
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 3.
28
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 3.
6
 29
welcomed back. ​Because of this, some question whether any of the reforms were truly

successful.

Aftermath of War: Americans the Remaking of Japan, 1945­1952​

In his book ​ ,

historian Howard B. Schonberger argues that in 1952, when the Occupation ended, the
30​
United States had “superficially accomplished its goals in Japan.” Even then,

however, Schonberger highlights the success of Article IX. The “no­war” clause of

Japan’s constitution continued to be embraced by the Japanese people even as the

31​
United States set about attempting to rearm the nation, he says. Schonberger

suggests that it was American policymakers, backed by large American corporations,

who pushed aside those who called for deep reforms needed to bring about a peaceful
32​
democracy in Japan. By the end of the Occupation, Schonberger says, the economic

and political elites in Japan maintained power under a constitutional monarchy and
33
accepted their new position in the “American dominated system of global capitalism.”

Historian Toshio Nishi argues, in his book ​

Unconditional Democracy: Education

and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945­1952​

, that while the Japanese people had to

“swallow many alien ideas and practices,” far from being “unpalatable,” the Japanese
34
people found some of them “downright appetizing.” ​When the American Occupation

ended in 1952, many of the reforms had already formed a basis for a new political

29
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 3.
30
Howard B.​​
Schonberger, ​ Aftermath of War: Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945­ 1952​
(Kent,
Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1989), 279.
31
Schonberger, ​Aftermath of War​, 279.
32
Schonberger, ​Aftermath of War​, 284.
33
Schonberger, ​Aftermath of War​, 284­285.
34
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 297.
7
 35 ​
culture. The Japanese people as a whole, Nishi claims, did not break down because

of “American mass democracy,” but instead found democracy to be “a pleasant,

36
efficient, and even commercially profitable way of life.” ​As opposed to Schonberger,

Nishi views the Occupation as beneficial not just for the economic and political elites,

but for all Japanese. I will show that the Japanese people as a whole did benefit, as

Schonberger claims, and that they embraced democratic reforms wholeheartedly. This

wholehearted embracement of democratic reforms proved itself through widespread

resistance to attempts by the U.S. government and Japanese conservatives to

undermine aspects of the education reforms and Article IX beginning in the late 1940s.

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II​

In his book ​ , historian John

Dower argues that despite the “ultimate emergence of a conservative postwar state, the

ideals of peace and democracy took root in Japan—not as a borrowed ideology or

37 ​
imposed vision, but as a lived experience and a seized opportunity.” Dower’s

argument follows that although the Americans reversed course on their original

“root­and­branch agenda” of demilitarization and democratization, an agenda he terms

both “self­righteous” and visionary, Japan’s position as a Cold War partner, rearmed

and with many reforms reversed, did not prevent it from becoming the democratic and
38
peaceful nation it is today. ​When they arrived, the American forces found a people

“sick of war, contemptuous of the militarists” who had caused them hardship, and who
39
wished to both “forget the past and to transcend it.”

35
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 297.
36
Unconditional Democracy​
Toshio Nishi, ​ , 297.
37
Embracing Defeat,​23.
Dower, ​
38
Embracing Defeat,​23.
Dower, ​
39
Embracing Defeat,​24.
Dower, ​
8
 I disagree with Schonberger that the American reforms were “superficial,” and, I

think he makes an important point that Article IX has proven to be a successful and

widely embraced reform. And I agree with both Dower and Nishi that Japan has

embraced democracy and peace, democratization and demilitarization. I think it is

important to examine each reform individually as some have been more successful than

others, and while some have stood the test of time, others have not.

zaibatsu​
I would like to look at three reforms: the dissolution of Japan’s ​ ,

democratization of the education system, and Article IX of Japan’s Constitution which

bans Japan from possessing offensive military forces. Each of these specific reforms

were part of the larger series of reforms encompassing the Japanese economy,

educational world, and political structure, that were intended to dismantle militarism and

put in its place a democratic and peaceful Japan that would never again pose a threat to

world peace. I will argue that the education reforms and Article IX were successful

zaibatsu​
because of widespread popular support while the ​ reforms failed due to lack of

popular domestic support and Cold War pressures to stabilize Japan’s economy.

I will first give a brief history of the three reforms. I will then measure the level of

success of each reform through the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, and will

briefly touch on where each reform stands today. In terms of methods, I will look at key

policy directives and other government documents that helped to shape the course of

the American Occupation in order to established purpose and structure. Primary

sources will also include first­hand accounts of the reforms given by key figures such as

Former Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru and General MacArthur, how they viewed the

9
Occupation reforms, and how they determined success. I will then look at key periods

during which specific reform measures were challenged or reversed. I also believe that

it is extremely important to give insight into public sentiment and how the success or

lack of success reflected in the United States and Japanese media. Finally, because

each reform that I look at has powerful implications for today’s Japan, I will briefly

examine how the reforms stand in the 2000s.

zaibatsu​
The first reform that I will focus on is the dissolution of the ​ , Japan’s large

industrial conglomerates. In 1945, just ten of the large conglomerates controlled nearly
40
fifty­percent of the Japanese economy. ​The conglomerates were credited with helping

to support militarists in the wartime Japanese government in order to profit from

imperialist ventures such as the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. The Occupation

administration also believed that powerful business interests would interfere with their

goals of building a healthy democratic system free from the overarching influence of

wealthy Japanese elites. Beginning in 1945, MacArthur and the Occupation forces set

zaibatsu​
about to dismantle the ​ and liberalize the Japanese economy under a directive

from President Truman. However, by the end of 1948, the reforms were reversed. I will

zaibatsu​
argue in this chapter that the ​ reforms were unsuccessful because the

Japanese economy continued to struggle and because popular support in Japan, and

more importantly the United States, turned against the reforms. I will show that both the

zaibatsu​
structure and purpose of the ​ reforms were undermined as a result of new U.S.

40
Embracing Defeat,​530.
Dower, ​
10
administered economic policy that supported big business and economic stabilization

over democratization.

The second reform I will focus on is the reform of the Japanese education

system. There is little debate amongst scholars that education played a crucial role in

supporting the indoctrination of young Japanese into the principles of Japanese

nationalism and that such education helped fuel militarism up to and during World War

II. The shape and structure of Japan’s education system today owes much to the

reforms the Occupation undertook beginning in 1945. In determining the success of

these reforms, I will examine key documents including the “The Report of The United

States Education Mission,” a group sent by the State Department in March of 1946 to

help SCAP develop a comprehensive plan for reforms. I argue that the education

reforms were successful as a result of widespread popular support and that they have

outlasted pressures of re­centralization in part due to the introduction of teachers’

unions.

Third, I will examine Article IX of Japan’s Constitution, which renounces war and

prevents Japan from waging another war of aggression, promulgated on November 3,

1946. It essentially banned Japan from possessing land, air, or sea forces. In a

dangerous world and with an uncertain future, such a provision was from its inception

somewhat problematic for Japan. Quite simply, all nations possess some form of

military for defense from outside forces or from large internal conflicts. Cold War threats

and current efforts by conservatives in the Japanese government have challenged

Japanese pacifism. However, I will argue that Article IX was successful because of

11
widespread popular support that continues through to this day. Article IX of Japan’s

constitution has faced large challenges after independence, however, it has remained

unamended 70 years later, and further, during this time Japan has not fought a war. In

analyzing the success of the Occupational reforms, I will examine Article IX of the

Japanese Constitution, The U.S.­Japan Mutual Security Agreement (effective in 1952),

and The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and

Japan (1960). I will then examine the various challenges to Article IX that have taken

place in the past 70 years.

This paper will focus on three Occupation reforms including: the dissolution of

zaibatsu​
Japan’s ​ , the reform of the education system, and the implementation of Article

zaibatsu​
IX. I will show that the reforms of the ​ failed due to Cold War pressures and

because of the close relationship between the economic elites and political elites,

zaibatsu​
leadership and political leadership. I will then analyze why reforms to education

were successful, I will show that while the Ministry of Education began to regain

centralized control of the education system in the 1950s, many structural changes

remained in place such as teachers’ unions; in addition, pacifist curriculums continue to

be an important legacy of the Occupation. Finally I will show that like the education

reforms, Article IX was successful due to widespread popular support that has ensured

it has remained un­amended since its creation 70 years ago. I will measure the success

of each reform through the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s by examining if their

purposes and structures have remained in place, and will briefly touch on where each

reform stands today.

12
 Chapter I: Reform of Industry

In the wake of World War II, Japan was left smoldering, starving, and

demoralized. It was under these conditions that GHQ (General Headquarters) under

General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP), was tasked

with rebuilding a destroyed nation and dismantling the structures in Japanese society

and government that had led Japan to militarism in the first place. Ten large business

zaibatsu​
conglomerates known as ​ controlled roughly 49% percent of the Japanese

economy in the areas of “mining, machinery, ship­building, and chemicals,” as well as

50 percent of banking, 60 percent of insurance, and 61 percent of shipbuilding by the

41
end of the war. ​They were diverse enterprises and had their hands in everything from

mining to aircraft to consumer goods. The debate over whether or not to dismantle the

zaibatsu​
arose from the debate over whether they unfairly restricted economic activity

and the free market in Japan. MacArthur and his staff believed that a democratic Japan

would be a Japan free from the influence of powerful business leaders in accordance

with President Truman’s wishes.

Under President Truman’s directive, MacArthur would carry out a plan to dissolve

zaibatsu​
the ​ and to liberalize Japan’s economy. But while MacArthur’s original steps to

democratize Japanese industry were seen as a success in U.S. media, just two years

later, SCAP’s economic reforms in Japan were denounced, as too socialist, and

economic restructuring became a main target of the policy reversal. I will argue in this

zaibatsu​
chapter that the ​ reforms were unsuccessful because the Japanese economy

41
John W. Dower,​Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II,​1st ed (New York: W.W. Norton
& Co./New Press, 1999), 530.
13
continued to struggle and because popular support in Japan, and more importantly in

the United States, turned against the reforms due in large part to Cold War fears. I will

zaibatsu​
show that both the structure and purpose of the ​ reforms were undermined as a

result of new U.S. administered economic policy that supported big business and

economic stabilization over democratization.

T.A. Bisson, a key SCAP reformer argues in his memoir, ​

Zaibatsu Dissolution in

Japan​
(1954), that while headquarters officials in Tokyo had not originated the
42
dissolution plan they were responsible for implementing it. ​The plan, he says, came
43
from Truman’s directive under which SCAP operated until the middle of 1947. ​He also
44
claims that they did not move “beyond the authority vested in them.” ​However, he says

that by the end of 1947, after proceeding cautiously for two years, GHQ was moving at
45
full steam. ​And while he believes that GHQ had every right to commit to the measures

it implemented, early favor for MacArthur’s dissolution program steadily diminished as

the Cold War intensified; by 1948, under pressure by the Army, Congress, and U.S.
46
business circles, GHQ drew back from its reform program.

Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall of Family Enterprise Groups in Japan​

In his book ​ ,

Hidemasa Morikawa, a Tokyo University Professor of business, argues that during the

Allied Occupation following Japan’s defeat, the Holding Company Liquidation

Commission (HCLC) under SCAP dissolved the last remnants of already weakened

42
Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​
T. A. Bisson, ​ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954), 2.
43
Bisson, ​Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​, 2.
44
Bisson, ​Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​, 2.
45
Bisson, ​Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​, 2.
46
Bisson, ​Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​, 2.
14
 47
groups. ​Morikawa points to wartime pressures under military rule as corrosive and

zaibatsu​
ruinous for the ​ zaibatsu​
. He traces ​ demise starting during the 1930s

Depression, then he focuses on the outbreak of war with China in 1937, which led to
48
zaibatsu​
unprecedented levels of military demand and influence over ​ affairs. ​Key to

zaibatsu​
Morikawa’s argument is his assertion that the new ​ such as Nissan, which were

zaibatsu​
not really ​ in the traditional sense, and benefited from the war because of their
49
zaibatsu​
disproportionate focus on heavy industry. ​But the old ​ , including Mitsui, that

relied primarily on industries such as banking and commerce did not profit as much from
50
zaibatsu​
wartime industry. ​Although all the ​ ultimately cooperated with the military,

zaibatsu​
Morikawa believes that the real preference of the old ​ was to avoid war

because doing so protected their interests and assets and because war meant higher
51
taxes and decreased freedom. ​In short, he claims they had not participated in the war
52
out of choice, but rather out of necessity.

He further argues that despite claims by many critics to the contrary, the reversal

zaibatsu​
of Occupation policy did not lead to a resurgence of the ​ , but instead to their
53
destruction. ​Family fortunes, he says, were destroyed by confiscation and taxes,

founding families could no longer be major shareholders, and control of the corporations

47
Hidemasa Morikawa, ​
​ Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall of Family Enterprise Groups in Japan​
(Tokyo, Japan:
University of Tokyo Press, 1992), 223.
48
Morikawa, ​
​ Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​223.
49
Morikawa, ​Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​226­227.
50
Morikawa, ​Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​226­227.
51
Morikawa, ​
​ Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall​
, 227­228.
52
Morikawa, ​
​ Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​228.
53
Morikawa, ​Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​239.
15
 54
was handed to salaried managers. ​With exclusive family membership gone and their
55
zaibatsu​
control eliminated, “the ​ were indeed dissolved.”

zaibatsu​
Were the ​ necessarily dangerous to a fledgling democracy? And were

Zaibatsu​
they really destroyed? ​ new, and old, may have suffered greatly during the first

three years of the Occupation, but they ultimately escaped total dissolution as the

reforms targeting them were reversed beginning in 1948. Further, the conglomerates

helped supply American forces during the Korean War and played a crucial role in

zaibatsu​
Japan’s economic revival beginning in the 1950s. Today, the same ​ names that

were the subject of dissolution, such as Mitsui and Nissan, dominate the Japanese and

the global markets. To understand how these companies went from dissolution back to

dominance, we need to examine the period directly after the war, from 1945 until Japan

regained independence in 1952.

This chapter begins by examining several primary sources, including President

Truman’s Directive to SCAP that was issued at the outset of the Occupation. I will then

explore how this directive was shaped into new policies by SCAP by studying original

text from the Yasuda Plan/SCAPIN 244, the first proposed plan for dissolving the

zaibatsu​
. Next, I will inspect FEC­230, a more comprehensive plan for dissolution, and

determine how its wording differed from that in the Yasuda Plan. I will also analyze

segments from a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing that took place on

December 19, 1947. The series of hearings, led by Senator William F. Knowland, a

Republican from California, helped increase support in the U.S. government for

54
Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​
​orikawa, ​
M 239.
55
Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall,​
Morikawa, ​
​ 239.
16
dramatic changes in U.S. economic policy in Japan. I will then examine the document

zaibatsu​
that signaled the reversal of anti­​ policy titled “Change in Deconcentration

Policy, April 19, 1948.” In addition to these key government documents I will look at

newspaper articles published in the United States responding to MacArthur’s efforts to

zaibatsu​
dissolve the ​ .

As suggested by T.A. Bisson, it was not MacArthur who had originally called for

zaibatsu​
the death of the ​ , rather it was President Harry S. Truman. It was the belief of

President Truman that initiative had to be taken immediately to ensure a successful

occupation of Japan. From the start of the Occupation, MacArthur was tasked with

specific directives from the President. Issued on September 6, 1945, President

Truman’s directive (also known as the ‘US Initial Post­Surrender Policy for Japan’)

ordered the liberalization of the Japanese economy. The directive gave SCAP the task

of undertaking “forms of economic activity, organization and leadership” that would

56
“strengthen the peaceful disposition” of the Japanese. ​A major goal in promoting free

trade was to make it difficult to “command or direct economic activity in support of

57​
military ends.” The directive called for encouragement of the development of labor

unions, industry, and agriculture, all of which should be “organized on a democratic

58
basis.” ​Policies would be favored which permitted “a wide distribution of income and of
59
the ownership of the means of production and trade.” ​According to President Truman,

SCAP’s economic policy focus in Japan would be:

56
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
57
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
58
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
59
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
17
 a) To prohibit the retention in or selection for places of importance in the
economic field of individuals who do not direct future Japanese economic
effort solely towards peaceful ends; and
b) To favor a program for the dissolution of the large industrial and
banking combinations which have exercised control of a great part of
60
Japan’s trade and industry.

Attempting to meet the President’s expectations and his own objectives, MacArthur and

zaibatsu​
his staff immediately set about to devise a program to dissolve the ​ .

A key figure in MacArthur’s economic plans, Colonel Raymond C. Kramer, the

first Chief of the Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) of General Headquarters,
61
zaibatsu​
arranged to meet with ​ leaders in October of 1945. ​Kramer ordered the

zaibatsu​
to dismantle themselves voluntarily. Fearing the alternative, Yasuda (one of

the ‘Big Four’) immediately started working with SCAP in order to help create a proposal
62
for dissolution. ​This makes sense because in theory, no one would know the inner

zaibatsu​
workings and bureaucracy of the ​ zaibatsu​
better than the ​ leaders themselves.

At the same time, it would be beneficial for companies to have a say in how harsh the

dissolution plan would be and to structure the plan as they pleased. The ‘Big Four’

combines, including Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda, were the original targets
63
of the dissolution plan.

By November 6, 1945, Occupation authorities had created a preliminary

64
zaibatsu​
dissolution plan for Japan’s ​ . ​In the span of about a month, working with

60
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ Zaibatsu Dissolution​
, 239.
61
Eiji Takemae, Inside​ GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy,​trans. Robert Ricketts, and
Sebastian Swann (New York; London: Continuum, 2002), 335.
62
Takemae, Inside GHQ, 335.
63
Eleanor M. Hadley, and Patricia Hagan Kuwayama, ​ Memoir of a Trustbuster: A Lifelong Adventure with
Japan​ (Honolulu, HI, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 2003), 77.
64
Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​
T. A. Bisson, ​ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954), 61.
18
zaibatsu​
executives and Japanese government officials, Occupation authorities gained

approval from Washington, and “formally endorsed” through an official SCAP directive
65
to the Japanese government, what became known as the Yasuda Plan. ​In contrast to

the top down approach later used by SCAP, the Yasuda plan presented the ​
zaibatsu

with a great deal of autonomy to carry out reforms on their own.

In August of 1946, the Japanese government passed the Yasuda Plan (SCAPIN
66
244), and the Holding Company Liquidation Commission (HCLC) was set up. ​It

immediately set out to dispose of the shares of 83 holding companies. Sixteen were
67
zaibatsu​
dissolved, including 10 of the major ​ . ​Ultimately, 26 conglomerates were
68
dismantled and then restructured, eleven reorganized, and 30 left intact.

While the President’s directive had called for the dissolution of large industrial

and banking combinations, what is notable about Truman’s directive is the lack of

specifics; in other words, MacArthur and his staff were allowed to interpret the plan as

they saw fit. The vagueness of the language in the original directive is important

because it would first carry over into the Yasuda Plan. The following are key excerpts

from the Yasuda Plan as proposed to SCAP on November 4, 1945:

A. OFFICIAL JAPANESE PROPOSAL FOR HOLDING COMPANY

DISSOLUTION INCORPORATING THE YASUDA PLAN,
November 4, 1945.
The firms of Mitsui Honsha, Yasuda Hozensha, Sumitomo Honsha,
and Kabushiki Kaisha Mitsubishi Honsha, hereinafter referred to as
the “Holding Companies,” have been holding conversations with the
Minister of Finance with a view to voluntary dissolution in

65
Zaibatsu Dissolution in Japan​
T. A. Bisson, ​ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954), 61.
66
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​, 336.
67
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​, 336.
68
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​, 336.
19
 accordance with the desires of the Supreme Commander for the
Allied Powers.
The following plan is proposed for your approval to govern the
dissolution of these firms and such other firms of similar character
as may volunteer for dissolution:
1. a. The Holding Companies will transfer to a Holding Company
Liquidation Commission all securities owned by them and all other
evidences of ownership or control of any interest in any firm,
corporation or other enterprise.

b. The Holding Companies will cease to exercise direction or control,

either directly or indirectly, of all financial, industrial, commercial or
non­commercial enterprises whose securities they own or of which
they hold any other evidences of ownership or control.

c. The directors and auditors of the Holding Companies will resign all
offices held by them in such Holding Companies immediately after
the transfer of the securities and other evidences of ownership
referred to in paragraph 1a of this Memorandum and cease
forthwith to exercise any influence, either directly or indirectly, in the
management or policies of the Holding Companies affected by this
dissolution.

d. All members of the Mitsui, Yasuda, Sumitomo, and Iwasaki families

will immediately resign all offices held by them in any financial,
commercial, non­commercial, or industrial enterprises and cease
forthwith to exercise any influence, either directly or indirectly, in the
management or policies of the enterprises affected by this
69
dissolution.

When comparing this excerpt from the Yasuda Plan against the directive, we can

see that it meets several of the initial requirements called for by President Truman.

Truman’s directive had called for “the dissolution of the large industrial and banking

69
Excerpt from “OFFICIAL JAPANESE PROPOSAL FOR HOLDING COMPANY DISSOLUTION
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
INCORPORATING THE YASUDA PLAN,” (November 4, 1945.) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , pp.
241­243.
20
 70
combinations.” ​The directive stated that SCAP must: “prohibit the retention in or

selection for places of importance in the economic field of individuals who do not direct
71
future Japanese economic effort solely towards peaceful ends.” ​In other words,

Truman’s directive called for an end to founding family ownership of large

conglomerates. Point “c” of the Yasuda plan called on the directors and auditors of the

holding companies to vacate office, and point “d” of the Yasuda Plan called for all

zaibatsu​
family members to resign from all offices in all industry involved directly or
72
zaibatsu​
indirectly with the ​ .

Although the Yasuda plan seemed to address many of the underlying power

dynamics of the Japanese combines, and despite the fact that its reach was

unprecedented, it was in many ways not severe enough in the eyes of MacArthur’s

GHQ reformers and some bureaucrats back in Washington. Historian Takemae Eiji
73
suggests that the Yasuda Plan was “patently self­serving and full of loopholes.”

Takemae points out that although the Yasuda Plan proposed to disband the holding

companies and force families to resign from their positions, it left lower­level affiliates in

the subsidiaries in their positions and therefore maintained the essential ties and
74
infrastructure of the organization. ​Writing in 2001, Eleanor Hadley, a key player on

MacArthur’s economic staff, reflected that after the adoption of the Yasuda Plan, SCAP

appeared to be dealing with holding companies but not the entire combines, as she

70
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
71
Zaibatsu Dissolution​
Excerpt from “The President’s Directive” (September 6, 1945) in T.A. Bisson, ​ , 239.
72
Excerpt from “OFFICIAL JAPANESE PROPOSAL FOR HOLDING COMPANY DISSOLUTION
INCORPORATING THE YASUDA PLAN,” (November 4, 1945.) in T.A. Bisson, ​ Zaibatsu Dissolution​
, pp.
241­243.
73
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 335.
74
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 335.
21
 75
believed the directive had called for. ​Similar to Takemae, Hadley noted that the

holding companies formed only the “corporate peak” of a combine’s organization and

that there were many ties still binding the combines together; eliminating just holding

companies would leave many of those ties intact, including “intracombine ownership,
76
Newsweek​
interlocking directors, joint credit, joint buying and selling.” ​In a ​ article

published in February of 1947, MacArthur declared that he had aggressively pursued

77
the economic purge in compliance with the basic directive by which he was bound. ​He

may, as is discussed later, have been responding to criticisms from pro­Japanese

business elements in the United States who were damaging his image right before his

1948 presidential bid. But, despite MacArthur’s initial confidence in the Yasuda Plan, he

soon came to adopt a much harsher dissolution plan.

In January of 1946, a joint departmental mission was sent to Japan, by the State

and Justice Departments, led by Northeastern University economist Corwin D. Edwards.

78
The mission came in response to what the State and Justice Departments saw as
79
zaibatsu​
MacArthur’s seemingly “lackadaisical” attitude towards the ​ . ​Edward’s report

titled “The Report of the Mission on Japanese Combines,” was critical of the Yasuda

Plan because it left “major operating subsidiaries” untouched and ignored practices
80
such as “interlocking directorates” and “cross­holding of corporate stocks.” ​Edwards

zaibatsu​
proposed tough anti­trust legislation that would dissolve the ​ and prevent new

75
Memoir of a Trustbuster,​69.
Hadley, and Hagan, ​
76
Memoir of a Trustbuster,​69.
Hadley, and Hagan, ​
77
Theodore Cohen, and Herbert Passin,​Remaking Japan: The American Occupation as New Deal​
(New
York: Free Press, 1987), 168.
78
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 335.
79
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 335.
80
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 335.
22
 81
conglomerates from rising. ​Significantly, the Edward’s report went far beyond the

recommendations of the Yasuda Plan. He urged the breakup of all “economic

enterprises” constituting “an excessive concentration of economic power” and a

82
zaibatsu​
“potential threat to competitive enterprise.” ​All ​ assets including real estate

would be broken up and sold to executives, employees, labor unions, cooperatives, and
83
the general public. ​In response to the Mission’s belief that the Yasuda plan had been

ineffective in reforming Japan’s corporate structures, Edwards recommended targeting

zaibatsu​
the interweaving of personnel and capital assets between ​ banks and individual
84
subsidiaries.

Edward’s report was incorporated into a policy proposal called FEC­230. The

proposal took its name from The Far Eastern Commission. The Commission was an

advisory committee set up by the Allied powers after winning the war. The FEC was

supposed to oversee occupation policy in Japan and advise SCAP, although it had no

power to enforce its decisions. FEC­230 was incorporated into law by the Japanese

government in July of 1947 with the name “The ‘Bill for the Elimination of

Concentrations of Economic Power’”; it targeted any firm seen as restricting market

85
access.

Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy​

In ​ , Takemae Eiji

zaibatsu​
suggests that the officials in GHQ most closely involved in ​ dissolution were

either New Dealers themselves or had helped plan the Japanese deconcentration

81
GHQ​
Takemae, Inside​ , 335.
82
GHQ​
Takemae, Inside​ , 336.
83
GHQ​
Takemae, Inside​ ,​​
336.
84
GHQ​
Takemae, Inside​ , 336.
85
GHQ​
Takemae, Inside​ , 337.
23
 86
program in Washington during the war. ​Among them was Charles Kades, an idealistic,
87
influential lawyer in GHQ’s Government Section. ​Kades was an exemplary New
88
Dealer who played a pivotal role in drafting Japan’s new constitution. ​As Deputy Chief

of the Government Section, Kades chaired GHQ's Steering Committee on revising

89
Japan's constitution. ​The authors suggest that it might have been Kades, who

MacArthur trusted immensely, and the other trust­busters in his organization, who
90
convinced MacArthur of what Takemae deems the merit of “radical dissolution.”

Other scholars such as Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer agree with

Takemae’s assessment of GHQ as a hotbed for New Deal liberals. In ​

The Fable of the

Keiretsu​
, Yoshiro Miwa and J. Mark Ramseyer argue that academics, including

Edwards, working for SCAP and the State Department who had liberal ideological

zaibatsu​
agendas were responsible for most of the policies against the ​ . Yoshiro and

Ramseyer argue that in creating his report, “Edwards understood his job: it was not to
91
zaibatsu​
decide what to do about the ​ but to justify destroying them.” ​More than that,

they allege that “the report was remarkably devoid of economic logic” and despite its

purpose to gather information, the mission led to a report “equally devoid of new
92
information.”

86
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ ,​​
335.
87
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​77.
88
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​223.
89
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
90
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ , 337.
91
Yoshiro Miwa, and J. Mark Ramseyer, ​ Fable of the Keiretsu: Urban Legends of the Japanese Economy
(Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 50
92
Miwa and Ramseyer, ​ Fable of the Keiretsu,​
50.
24
 Regardless of the intentions of the Edward’s report and FEC­230, it was clear

that by 1947, economic conditions in Japan were not improving. A ​

Washington Post

article from November 18, 1946 reveals just how desperate the Japanese were for even

basic necessities while economic reforms were taking place, and how the U.S. public

was aware of their situation. The “Japanese ran so critically short of food in September
93
that in some localities 75 per cent of their rations were furnished by imports.” ​Despite

such figures, MacArthur’s monthly report, contained in the news article, stressed that

“greater yields of rice, wheat, potatoes and barley” could be expected in the next year
94
along with an increased fish catch. ​In addition, MacArthur stressed, “Arrangements

were under way to expand [overall] exports to Russia, England and Eustralia [Australia],
95
while exports to the United States increased.” ​However, despite MacArthur’s optimistic

reports, unrest continued in Japan and both inflation and starvation ran rampant.

Labor unions were established quickly after the Occupation began and within the
96
first year of the Occupation, more than 4.5 million Japanese joined a union. ​Inflation

and unemployment continued to increase after the war and the unions soon took radical

action. In late 1945, for example, railway workers seized control of the Tokyo train and

trolley system and allowed everyone to ride for free; then on May Day of 1946, in the

biggest demonstration in Japan’s history, over 2 million men, women, and children, took

to the streets to demand wage increases, political power, and worker control of the

93
"75% of Food Imported." ​ The Washington Post,​ November 18, 1946.
94
"75% of Food Imported." ​ The Washington Post,​ November 18, 1946.
95
"75% of Food Imported." ​ The Washington Post,​ November 18, 1946.
96
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
25
 97
factories. ​By the fall of 1946, over one hundred strikes had hit Japanese industries,
98
from car factories to movie studios.

Beginning in 1947, events on the international stage began to bring about

changes in occupation policies. In 1947, communist forces led by Mao Zedong were

routing the armies of American ally Chiang Kai­Shek in China while in Eastern Europe

many communist regimes were emerging, and many in the American government
99
feared an international communist plot led by Joseph Stalin. ​In Japan, this seemed to

parallel the rise of communists and seemingly contiguous labor unions.

The labor movement peaked in the winter of 1947 as labor leaders called for a

general strike to shut down the entire country. However, as the labor movement grew in

strength, rifts began to form at Occupation Headquarters between those, such as

General Charles Andrew Willoughby, MacArthur’s Chief of Intelligence, who believed

communists were gaining control of the labor unions and those who wished to continue
100 ​
supporting labor reforms. General MacArthur called a ban on the general strike,
101 ​
permanently crippling the Communist Party. The ban signaled a reversal in the

Occupation’s previous policies towards unions.

Aftermath of War​
In his book ​ ​
, Howard B.​
Schonberger points to what he sees as

an often ignored group that had great responsibility for changing American economic

97
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
98
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
99
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
100
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
101
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
26
policy in Japan in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Japan Lobby. Within the Japan

Newsweek​
Lobby were the American Council on Japan, ​ magazine, politicians, some
102
State Department officials, and major U.S. corporations with investments in Japan.

One of the more important leaders, according to Schonberger, was Harry F. Kern, an

Newsweek​
editor at ​ with powerful connections to the wealthy and powerful in the USA
103 ​
and in Japan. After reports on MacArthur’s new policy developments in Japan

garnered from friends, starting in 1946, Kern became angered and then went on a trip to
104 ​
Japan in June of 1947 to observe MacArthur’s policies in action. Starting in early

1947 and growing increasingly scathing after his trip in 1947, Kern and ​
Newsweek

released a number of articles attacking MacArthur’s policies as damaging Japan’s ability

105 ​
to resist communism internally and externally. To Kern, “immature, untrained, and

impractical officers” in GHQ were responsible for a program that “undermined American
106 ​
capitalist principles in Japan.” Kern immediately set about organizing the Lobby,

which included former U.S. President Herbert Hoover, Retired Vice Admiral William

Veazie Pratt, prominent lawyer James Lee Kauffman, Undersecretary of the Army

William Draper, and Secretary of Defense James F. Forrestal, to name some of those
107 ​
involved. MacArthur’s actions from this point on began to catch the attention of

leaders in Washington.

102
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 134.
103
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 135.
104
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 135­136.
105
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 136­137.
106
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 138.
107
Aftermath of War​
Schonberger, ​ , 139­141.
27
 SCAP had through its reforms busted up big business in an attempt to make a

nation of small capitalists and by doing so upset conservatives in the United States. In

the fall elections of 1946, Republicans won control of Congress in the United States;

there was concern among many of them that land reform, the breaking up of the

zaibatsu​
, and the purge of business leaders, could potentially have a negative effect in
108 ​
Japan and could move it towards socialism. According to, then Diet member,

Yasuhiro Nakasone, who later served as Prime Minister, many members of the

Japanese government feared that the Occupation reformers were trying to turn Japan

into a socialist country, and so conservatives in the Japanese government and

conservatives in U.S. government joined forces to undermine some of the earlier

109 ​
reforms. The growing distrust of MacArthur and his Occupation staff soon began to
110
surface in the U.S. press.

Later newspaper articles are more explicit in their criticism of SCAP’s economic

Washington Post ​
policy in Japan. For example, a ​ article published on March 10, 1947,

titled “Jap Economic Crisis Is Occupation Peril,” warns of the deteriorating economic

conditions in Japan and the implications for GHQ policies. The economic situation in

Japan was said to have gotten steadily worse consistently since the beginning of the

Occupation. If changes were not made, the article asserted, Japan would face “a long
111 ​
period of economic unrest, perhaps starvation and political unrest.” Greater amounts

108
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
109
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
110
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
111
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ The Washington Post​ , March 10, 1947.
28
of food imports would be required for 1947 than for 1946 to enable even “a minimum
112 ​
standard of living.” In 1946, “700,000 tons of food were imported,” while in 1947,
113 ​
1,600,000 tons would be needed. Such a situation would not be conducive to the
114 ​
development of democracy or stability. Significantly, the article suggests that the

zaibatsu​
decisions SCAP had made, including the dissolution of the ​ had contributed to

this worsening economic state. The removal of “all industrialists” and businessmen who

contributed to the wartime economy had “robbed Japan’s business life” of much of its
115 ​
“competence.” Allegedly, the purge had been so extensive that it seemed to prevent

anyone eligible to run a business from doing so, and this had resulted in new,
116 ​
incompetent leadership. The article states that in re­evaluating the prospects for the

restoration of economic stability, MacArthur would have to reconsider his purge of the

industrial leadership. The article might also reveal how popular sentiment was shifting

against MacArthur’s policies as they increasingly appeared ineffective in dealing with

Japan’s worsening economic woes.

By December of 1947, FEC­230 reached the halls of Congress, where it was

investigated in Congressional hearings. Senator William F. Knowland, a Republican

from California, who would later become House Majority Leader, challenged President

Truman on the ethicality of FEC­230, as well as its effect on a still desperate Japan.

Senator Knowland criticized the bill for being issued under “confidential classification on

the 12th of May [1947]” and took issue with the fact that “very few members of the

112
The Washington Post​
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ , March 10, 1947.
113
The Washington Post​
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ , March 10, 1947.
114
The Washington Post​
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ , March 10, 1947.
115
The Washington Post​
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ , March 10, 1947.
116
The Washington Post​
Wayne Coy, "Jap Economic Crisis is Occupation Peril," ​ , March 10, 1947.
29
 117 ​
Senate or the House of Representatives” had seen the document. Knowland then

quoted a correspondent from a major American newspaper [unspecified] who had

recently remarked that the bills passed with FEC­230 as a guide were “the most
118 ​
socialistic ever attempted outside of Russia.” Among the issues being debated by the

Senate Appropriations Committee were:

1) Whether FEC­230 is a fair interpretation of President Truman’s directive

to make Japan safe and self­sufficient or whether it is a wasteful scheme
which will perpetuate the cost of the United States occupation;
2) Whether FEC­230 will “democratize” and pacify Japan or whether it will
socialize that country and keep it in chaos and poverty;
3) Whether the State and Defense Departments were justified in keeping
the document secret so that they could negotiate effectively in the Far
Eastern Commission, or whether this was merely a device for keeping a
119
controversial policy quiet while it was being implemented in Japan.

Further evidence of changing attitudes on Japanese economic reform are

Los Angeles Times​

revealed in an article in the ​ from December 25, 1947, titled

"Knowland Plan Makes Headway," which reveals that during that time period, Senator

Knowland’s efforts to roll back Japanese economic reform were working. The article

also reports that Undersecretary of State Robert A. Lovett, in defense of MacArthur,

zaibatsu​
stated that efforts to break up the ​ and to achieve positive reform had been
120 ​
accomplished. Knowland’s investigation argued otherwise. Knowland’s criticism,

voiced in a speech to the Senate a week before this article was published suggested

that MacArthur’ had carried out an “arbitrary purge” under which all former managers,

117
Congressional Record, Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing (December 19, 1947).
118
Congressional Record, Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing (December 19, 1947).
119
New York Times (​
James Reston, "Senate Group Asks to See Japan Plan." ​ 1923­Current File), Dec 18,
1947.
120
"Knowland Plan Makes Headway," ​Los Angeles Times,​December 25, 1947.
30
stockholders and creditors of large businesses were being divested of their holdings
121 ​
and positions and barred from holding them for 10 years, without any trial.” The

measures in FEC­230 were said to be “contrary to American standards of decency and

fair play” and went far beyond what would be an acceptable amount of government
122
control by most American’s standards.

New York Times​

A​ articles from March 16, 1948 titled: “Easing of Policies

zaibatsu​
Expected in Japan” reveals that MacArthur’s plans to remove the ​ were no
123 ​
longer being followed. The article reports that the State and Army Departments “have
124 ​
decided to restudy the policy indicated as FEC 230.” The article suggests that GHQ

officials had proceeded to implement FEC­230 “despite objections from American

125
business and political circles” who saw it as “socialization of the Japanese economy.”

The GHQ plan [FEC­230] had called for large companies to be split up not because
126 ​
they dominated their fields, but “simply because they were big.” Under General

MacArthur’s authority, the government section of GHQ had obliged the Japanese Diet to

zaibatsu​
pass another bill forbidding “​ appointees,” business executives who had been

appointed to their jobs by the ten leading family holding companies, from working for

zaibatsu​
any company previously associated with the same ​ group for a period of ten
127 ​
years. The reporter argues further that because of growing opposition to MacArthur's

policies at home, “The feeling here is that these laws, or at least the economic

121
"Knowland Plan Makes Headway," ​ Los Angeles Times,​December 25, 1947.
122
"Knowland Plan Makes Headway," ​ Los Angeles Times,​December 25, 1947.
123
New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​
124
New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​
125
New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​
126
New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​
127
New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​
31
deconcentration law, will probably stay on the books, but that standards will be eased
128
so that the impact upon business will be less disastrous.

On March 12, 1948, the U.S. withdrew its support of FEC 230 and within the
129 ​
same month published the Draper­Johnston Mission Report. The Draper­Johnston

Mission was implemented in order to reorient GHQ, and public thinking, towards new
130 ​
U.S. economic policy in Japan. The visit to Japan by Undersecretary of the

Department of the Army, William Draper [a part of the Japan Lobby], and a group of big

business representatives, aimed at addressing the problem of economic recovery in

131 ​
Japan in 1948. A Headquarters memorandum released in mid­April of 1948 outlined

the new U.S. economic policy in Japan:

(1) No banks were to be considered as excessive concentrations or

reorganized under the Deconcentration Law;
(2) No more than twenty companies were to be subject to reorganization
under the Law and these were to be chosen on the basis that they
were interfering with Japanese economic recovery;
(3) All the rest were to be removed from designation with no less than 100
companies taken off in the first such action and where necessary to be
132
remanded to the Fair Trade Commission for surveillance.

zaibatsu ​
Basically, most of the major ​ dissolution measures would be reversed. This was

achieved by way of Senator Knowland’s Senate Hearings, news articles critical of the

Newsweek​
occupation, such as those in ​ , and by the lobbying of U.S. business interests

who were frightened of the worsening business climate in Japan. In addition to

zaibatsu​
reversing the dissolution of the ​ , in December of 1948, Washington announced

128
"Easing of Policies Expected in Japan," ​ New York Times,​March 16, 1948.
129
Eleanor M. Hadley, ​ Antitrust in Japan​
, Princeton (N.J: Princeton University Press, 1970), 166.
130
Antitrust in Japan​
Hadley, ​ , 144.
131
Antitrust in Japan​
Hadley, ​ , 145.
132
ESS/AC, Memorandum to ESS/C, “Change in Deconcentration Policy, April 19, 1948” in Eleanor M.
Hadley, ​Antitrust in Japan​ (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1970), 166.
32
 133 ​
“nine principles of economic stabilization” to be imposed in Japan. Headed by Joseph

Dodge, a Detroit banker, a mission was sent to Japan to carry out a change in
134 ​
economic policy. By 1950, Dodge had reined in Japan’s rampant inflation; on June

25, the Korean War broke out, stimulating the Japanese economy immensely through
135 ​
military procurement. Dodge’s actions as well as this new boom had brought about an
136
economic revival.

zaibatsu​
The successors of the ​ keiretsu​
, known as the ​ , have some differences

zaibatsu​
which are important to note. The Occupation succeeded in breaking up the ​ into

separate groups based on their original subsidiaries, or smaller groups, between 1945

keiretsu​
and 1948. Today’s ​ are generally publically traded and are not run solely by

family members but by powerful boards. However, when the Occupation’s ​

zaibatsu

reforms ended in 1948, many of the subsidiaries once again merged and grew into

conglomerates. The story of Mitsubishi exemplifies the story of reconsolidation.

In 1950, Kowa Jitsugyo, one of the former subsidiaries, was allowed to take over
137
zaibatsu​
the old assets and businesses of Mitsubishi Shoji (the old Mitsubishi ​ ). ​GHQ

also loosened restrictions on employing the old officers and employees; and as a result,
138 ​
the new Mitsubishi conglomerate began to emerge. In 1952, Kowa Jitsugyo adopted

the name Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha (MSK); soon after, it began negotiations with three of

133
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​540.
134
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​540.
135
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​541­542.
136
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​544.
137
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji: President Takagaki Urges Fairness in
Business." Mitsubishi Corporation. Accessed March 16, 2016.
http://www.mitsubishicorp.com/jp/en/mclibrary/roots/1954/vol01/​
.
138
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji.”
33
Mitsubishi’s old subsidiaries that had emerged as the core companies, including Fuji
139 ​
Shoji, Tokyo Boeki and Tozai Koeki. Under “encouragement” from the elders of the

old Mitsubishi organization, the four companies eventually reached an agreement and
140 ​
merged into the new Mitsubishi Shoji conglomerate. Katsujiro Takagaki, the former

president of Fuji Shoji, became the new company’s first president and sought to bring

the company under a common philosophy, originally articulated by Koyata Iwasaki, the

fourth president of the original Mitsubishi organization. Takagaki remarked that: “A

company is a profit­making organization, but the unbridled pursuit of profit by any

means possible is not a philosophy that we subscribe to. We must strive to establish a

sound and ethical corporate culture by acting fairly at all times and taking pride in our
141 ​
role as of one of Japan's leading trading companies." From the end of 1954, the U.S.

economy began to recover and sparked an upturn in the global economy; the new

Mitsubishi Shoji went on to expand its business as Japan entered a period of

142
unprecedented economic growth.

In 1960, the party in power of the Japanese government was the conservative

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP); it was run by Nobusuke Kishi, a man who had been
143 ​
jailed as a war criminal during the American Occupation. Kishi owed his comeback to
144 ​
his prewar contacts with big business and his skill at backroom deals. Those close

139
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji.”
140
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji.”
141
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji.”
142
"Since 1954 Vol.1 The Launch of the New Mitsubishi Shoji.”
143
Pacific Century: ­­ 6 ­­ The Era of "Japan Inc." Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA:
The Pacific Basin Institute, 1992. July 26, 2013. Accessed March 16, 2016).
144
Pacific Century: ­­ 6 ­­ The Era of "Japan Inc." Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA:
The Pacific Basin Institute, 1992. July 26, 2013. Accessed March 16, 2016).
34
ties between big business and politicians in Japan were the primary reasons for the

zaibatsu​
Occupation’s ​ reforms. However, these close and potentially corrupting ties still

Toshiba Scandal Exposes Japan’s Weak Oversight​

exist today. In his article ​ , reporter

William Pesek argues that a recent scandal in 2015 involving Toshiba Corporation, in

which it overstated profits by roughly $1.2 billion, outlines the lack of corporate
145 ​
accountability in Japan. The scandal, he says, undermines Shinzo Abe’s [Prime

Minister, and current head of the LDP] claims that his government is pursuing a

revolution in corporate governance including increased transparency and accountability.

146
amakudari​
A large part of the problem, Pesek argues, is the practice of “​ ” in which

bureaucrats, after they leave government, receive lucrative jobs in the industries they

oversee; because of this they tend to go easy on offending CEOs when scandals arise.
147

zaibatsu​
Beginning in 1948, both the structure and purpose of the ​ reforms were

undermined as the U.S. withdrew support for the Occupation’s economic reforms.

Japan’s economy had remained in tatters after the war. Inflation and unemployment

were widespread and imports continued to provide nearly all of Japan’s food supply.

While communists had been released from prison, and labor unions encouraged to

zaibatsu​
form, in order to counter ​ influence, both soon came under scrutiny by

conservatives in the Japanese and U.S. governments. International events, including

145
The Japan Times​
William Pesek, "Toshiba Scandal Exposes Japan's Weak Oversight," ​ , July 22, 2015.
Accessed March 16, 2016.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/07/22/commentary/japan­commentary/toshiba­scandal­exposes­ja
pans­weak­oversight/#.Vuj8ROIrLRY​ .
146
The Japan Times​
William Pesek, "Toshiba Scandal Exposes Japan's Weak Oversight," ​ , July 22, 2015.
147
The Japan Times​
William Pesek, "Toshiba Scandal Exposes Japan's Weak Oversight," ​ , July 22, 2015.
35
the routing of Chiang­Kai Shek, and transition of numerous countries in Eastern Europe

to communist regimes, led to a new international climate and growing fear of

communism in the United States. As labor union demonstrations grew to massive

proportions in 1947, U.S. politicians decided to take action. And in 1948, the United

zaibatsu​
States Government withdrew its support for anti­​ policies, and instead began to

zaibatsu​
encourage Japan’s Government to once again support big business, the ​ .

Beginning in June of 1950, with the onset of the Korean War, Japan’s industrial

zaibatsu​
powerhouses, the ​ , started down a path to growth and prosperity at a speed

unrivaled in history. As the story of Mitsubishi shows, the successors of Japan’s

zaibatsu​ keiretsu​
, the ​ ​
,​
have successfully returned to prominence and surpassed their

pre­war size and strength under the guidance of their old leadership and old employees,

as well as new equally adept leadership, thanks to the reversal of the Occupation’s

reforms. And as the recent scandal at Toshiba has once again brought to light, the close

and compromising relationships between government and big business in Japan that

Occupation reforms had attempted to severe, exist to this day. While Japan’s economy

zaibatsu​
stabilized and has prospered, the Occupation’s reform of the ​ failed.

36
 Chapter II: Education Reform

“The prewar education system suppressed freedom of thought and conscience,

ignored basic human rights, and intently pressured the entire country toward war” said

Mogi Yohio, a former middle school principal in Japan during the war writing in 1986 to
148
Asahi Shimbun​
the ​ . ​As defense spending surpassed one percent of the GNP and a

national secrets bill was proposed, “we are in danger of repeating the errors of the past”
149 ​
he wrote. There is little debate amongst scholars that education played a crucial role

in supporting the indoctrination of young Japanese into the principles of Japanese

nationalism and that such education helped fuel militarism up to and during World War

II, however, a fierce debate rages today in Japan, and abroad, about the current

direction of education in Japan and whether it may contribute to a return to militaristic

nationalism. In this chapter I will examine post­World War II reforms to the education

system that were imposed by the Occupation. The reforms were intended to demilitarize

and democratize Japan’s education system and to spread democratic ideals. I argue

that the education reforms were successful as a result of widespread popular support

and that they have outlasted pressures to recentralize in part due to the introduction of

teachers’ unions.

Because education served as a means of shaping Japanese political and cultural

values from a young age, it was an essential target for reform in the creation of a new

democracy. Not only was subject matter democratized, but the administration of schools

was also democratized and decentralized to prevent control by national political parties,

148
Sensō: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War: Letters to the Editor of Asahi
Frank Gibney, ​
Shimbun​ (Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 299­300.
149
Sensō, 300.
Gibney, ​
37
the Ministry of Education, or special interest groups. In this chapter I will examine

whether those efforts were successful by seeing if the structure and purpose of the

education reforms remained in place through the end of the Cold War. I will show that

the democratization of the Japanese education system was successful despite threats

induced by anti­communist fears. And I will show how the reforms weathered efforts by

powerful conservative segments of the Japanese government to re­centralize the

system after independence in 1952.

The first policy directive issued by the U.S. government that addressed expected

changes to Japan’s education system was called the “Basic Initial Post Surrender

Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers for the Occupation and Control

of Japan (JCS1380/15);” it was sent to General Douglas MacArthur by the Joint Chiefs
150 ​
of Staff on November 3, 1945. Besides outlining economic, military, and political goals

for the Occupation, the directive outlined goals for reform of the education system in

Japan. The new education system would be required to aid in the “strengthening of

democratic tendencies and processes in governmental, economic and social

institutions; and the encouragement and support of liberal political tendencies in Japan.”
151
In addition, all teachers who had been “active exponents of militant nationalism” and
152 ​
those who opposed the military occupation would be fired and replaced. Just as the

Japanese education system had been used to indoctrinate Japanese youth into the

150
"1­13 Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Basic Initial Post­Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers for the Occupation and Control of Japan," November 1, 1945." National Diet Library. Accessed
January 19, 2016. http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/01/036shoshi.html.
151
“Basic Initial Post Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers for the Occupation
and Control of Japan (JCS1380/15),” (November 3, 1945).
152
“Basic Initial Post Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers for the Occupation
and Control of Japan (JCS1380/15),” Section (November 3, 1945).
38
mindset of militant nationalism, the American Occupation would alter that same system

to indoctrinate the Japanese youth with concepts of democracy.

American Interlude​
In his book ​ , published in 1960, historian Kazuo Kawai argues

that the prewar system of education in Japan was a “notorious instrument” for instilling

“a reactionary and ultra nationalistic point of view” and that in order for democracy to
153 ​
make headway, revolutionary reform was needed. He also argues, however, that the

Japanese people’s permanent acceptance of the reforms ensured the reforms’ success.
154
I agree with Kazuo and will show how reforms to the Japanese education system

were popular and widely accepted and how that aided in ensuring that they remained in

place.

In his article, “Making Peace with Hirohito and a Militaristic Past,” published in

Asahi Shimbun​
1989, ​ editorial writer Kurita Wataru argues that prewar education

focused too much on the imperial institution, but that those educated in postwar Japan

have learned too little about the emperor and about militarism as a result of the new
155 ​
post­war education system. In order to take an “equal and honored place” in “the

community of nations,” he asserts, Japan must face its militarist past beginning with the
156 ​
education system and must rethink its acceptance of the emperor system. I will show

that the Ministry of Education, by continuing to censor Japanese textbooks to remove

militaristic history, a move originally sanctioned by the Occupation, has created a

dangerous pattern of ambivalence among many Japanese. However, I will also show

153
Kazuo Kawai, ​Japan's American Interlude​ (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960), 183.
154
Kawai, ​Japan's American Interlude,​183.
155
Japan Quarterly​
Wataru Kurita "Making Peace with Hirohito and a Militaristic Past." ​ 36, no. 2 (1989): 186.
156
Kurita "Making Peace with Hirohito and a Militaristic Past," 192.
39
that unions have allowed teachers to retain a great deal of autonomy in creating their

own curriculums, and this I argue is an important legacy of the Occupation education

reforms.

In his book ​
Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan,

1945­1952​
, historian Toshio Nishi argues that after the Americans left Japan and the

Occupation ended, “indigenous Japanese forms remained” and remained

157 ​
“conspicuously, at that.” Important and lasting changes were made under the

occupation, for instance, the number of years of compulsory education were expanded
158 ​
under new educational requirements. However, education in the ideals of

“democracy, popular sovereignty, individual human rights, and freedom of the press”

are not concepts that have been fully embraced in Japan and Japanese still have great

respect for authority as long as initiatives are seemingly taken for the national interest.
159
I will show that while Occupation expectations for curriculums focused on democracy

initially left many Japanese befuddled, the teachings caught on quickly and were

embraced by the Japanese people. In addition, pacifism continues to be an important

concept taught in schools as a result of ideological changes introduced during the

Occupation.

What did the Japanese education system look like before the Occupation and

what elements could endanger a fledgling democracy? Writing in 1964, General

MacArthur recalled that when he arrived in Japan, he was deeply concerned with the

157
Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945­1952
Toshio Nishi, ​
(Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1982), xv.
158
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , xxxvi­xxxvii.
159
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , xxxvii.
40
education system. According to MacArthur, in the war years, the Japanese state

exercised central control over the schools; the Ministry of Education in Tokyo chose the

textbooks, for all subjects, which were filled with militaristic, anti­American teachings,
160 ​
and there were no local school boards or superintendents. Until the Occupation,

General MacArthur notes, “the schools, newspapers, theater, radio, and motion
161 ​
pictures” were all part of the state propaganda machine. They existed for the purpose
162 ​
of “thought control” rather than for their own “intrinsic purpose.” In examining the

basis of Japanese education, I will first focus on the Meiji Constitution and 1890 Imperial

Rescript on Education.

Toshio Nishi argues that the 1889 Meiji Constitution and the 1890 Imperial
163
Rescript on Education were the two most important documents of Imperial Japan.

The Meiji Constitution, he says, “codified the sanctity and inviolability of the Emperor”

while the Rescript on Education turned the Japanese education system into a tool by
164 ​
which “the people’s loyalty to the throne was nurtured.” The 1890 Imperial Rescript on
165 ​
Education was promulgated by the Imperial Government on October 30, 1890. The

Rescript says that Japan was founded by the Imperial Ancestors on “a basis broad and

everlasting” and with “deeply and firmly implanted virtue” including “loyalty and filial
166 ​
piety;” these values served as the basis of Japanese education in ethics. In addition,

160
Douglas MacArthur, ​Reminiscences​ (New York: McGraw­Hill, 1964), 311.
161
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 311.
162
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 311.
163
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 146.
164
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 146.
165
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 17­18.
166
The Imperial Rescript on Education,​official
Japanese Imperial Government, Ministry of Education, ​
translation (Tokyo, 1909).
41
the Rescript calls for subjects to offer themselves “courageously to the State” in the
167
event an “emergency” arose, thereby guarding and maintaining the “Imperial Throne.”

From 1890­1945, The Imperial Rescript served as the basis for moral education in

schools and led to a strong emphasis on nationalism, Emperor worship, and working for

state, as the new focus of schooling.

Democratic teachings had become a target of the Ministry of Education in the

late 1800s. In 1880, the government compiled a list of books favorable to democracy
168 ​
and banned their use in schools as textbooks. Then, in 1886 a textbook certification

program was created by the Ministry of Education, and after 1904 elementary school
169 ​
textbooks were produced by the government. Shortly after 1900, Japan achieved an

enrollment rate of more than 90 percent and successfully increased the length
170 ​
compulsory education from three to six years. While nearly every child now received

a basic education, historian Ienaga Saburo, who attended school during Japan’s war

years, argues that the content of this education caused a uniform outlook for most
171
Japanese through the teaching of “state­approved knowledge.”

The textbooks, which had been either censored or compiled by the Ministry of

Education, contained “moral” lessons in every subject. An elementary school ethics

167
The Imperial Rescript on Education,​official
Japanese Imperial Government, Ministry of Education, ​
translation (Tokyo, 1909).
168
Saburo Ienaga, ​The Pacific War, 1931­1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan’s Role in World War II
(New York: Pantheon, 1978), 19.
169
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 20.
170
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 20.
171
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 20.
42
book for second graders published in 1903 stressed loyalty to the emperor first and
172 ​
foremost. Here is one example provided by Ienaga:

Lesson 23.​ The Emperor attends the annual maneuvers of the army and
navy and watches the soldiers and sailors perform their duties. We must
173
appreciate the emperor’s royal benevolence.

In addition, even from a young age, students were taught that war was noble. Here is

another example provided by Ienaga:

Lesson 24. ​Kiguchi Kohei was not the least bit afraid before the enemy.
He bravely sounded the call to advance on his bugle three times. Inspired
by his brave example, our troops attacked and defeated the enemy, but
Kiguchi was hit by a bullet and fell to the ground mortally wounded. Later
174
they found his body with the bugle still at his lips.

Ienaga argues that it became the objective of the Government to “militarize the

entire curriculum” during and after the Russo­Japanese War (February 8,

175 ​
1904­September 5, 1905). The war and nationalism were to be taught in every class.
176
Arithmetic, for example, focused on examples about military matters, science

focused on information about “searchlights, wireless communication, lands mines” and

177 ​ 178 ​
so forth. And physical education included “character training and war games.” He

argues further that this rigid militarized education “implanted jingoistic ideas in the
179 ​
populace” and pushed Japan towards war. Neither parents nor the teachers had the

172
The Pacific War, 1931­1945: A Critical
Excerpt from elementary­school ethics book in Saburo Ienaga, ​
Perspective on Japan’s Role in World War II​ (New York: Pantheon, 1978), 24.
173
The Pacific War, 1931­1945: A Critical
Excerpt from elementary­school ethics book in Saburo Ienaga, ​
Perspective on Japan’s Role in World War II​ (New York: Pantheon, 1978), 24.
174
The Pacific War, 1931­1945: A Critical
Excerpt from elementary­school ethics book in Saburo Ienaga, ​
Perspective on Japan’s Role in World War II​ (New York: Pantheon, 1978), 24.
175
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 23­24.
176
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 23.
177
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 23­24.
178
The Pacific War​
Ienaga, ​ , 24.
179
The Pacific War, 28.
Ienaga, ​
43
ability to control their child’s education under the “centralized control of the Ministry of
180 ​
Education.” Therefore, he says, it was all but impossible to teach students to “think
181 ​
rationally about society.” Sato Rokuro, a former fourth grade student in Japan in

1943, recalls that his class was broken into ranks just like in the military; those in the

lower ranks had to salute those in the higher ranks, and if they did not obey they could
182 ​
be demoted in rank. Primary school, he writes, was “a training ground” for future
183 ​
soldiers; those who were physically weak did poorly. Even good grades on grammar

and arithmetic tests did not guarantee success, and students also needed good grades
184 ​
in “moral teachings.” Ienaga’s observations, widely substantiated by accounts of

former wartime students such as Sato Rokuro reveal issues with wartime

standardization and centralization of the system and of its ability to serve as a conduit

for nationalism.

Before the Occupation released education directives to the Japanese, the

Ministry of Education unilaterally prohibited military training in schools, dismissed all

military officers on school staffs, removed equipment used for the training, and
185 ​
developed plans to re­educate teachers beginning October 3, 1945. Despite the

Ministry of Education’s efforts to appeal to MacArthur before he issued specific

directions, the General Headquarters Civil Information and Education Section (CI & E)

180
Ienaga, ​The Pacific War, 28.
181
Ienaga, ​The Pacific War, 28.
182
Gibney, ​Sensō, 189.
183
Gibney, ​Sensō, 190.
184
Gibney, ​Sensō, 190.
185
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 164.
44
felt that the Ministry of Education was unable to understand democracy and unwilling to
186
embrace it.

On October 13, 1945, the Minister of Education Maeda Tamon was ordered by

Occupation authorities to make new changes to the structure of the Ministry in what
187 ​
would become the precursor to more detailed future plans. Changes included:

1. A new Bureau of School Education, to carry out reforms in elementary

and secondary education.
2. A new Bureau of Textbooks, to rewrite textbooks.
3. A new Bureau of Social Education, to cultivate the moral sense of the
Japanese people and to improve national culture.
4. Abolition of the old bureau of Moral and School Education, which
preached blind loyalty.
5. Abolition of the old Institute of Research in Racial Characteristics and
the Seminary of Moral Training, because they perpetuated racism.
6. A new Institute of Educational Investigation, for re­educating teachers
with “a strong conviction in democracy.”
7. Division of the Ministry of Education into six bureaus, to further
188
decentralization and democratization.

Thus, Minister Maeda effectively removed militarism from the schools at this point, but
189
did little to decentralize the education system.

Due to the slow progress made by the Ministry of Education, in March 1946, The

United States Education Mission was sent by the State Department to Japan to aid

SCAP; its recommendations became the blueprint for SCAP’s comprehensive education
190 ​
reforms. The mission was composed of twenty­seven prominent American academics

and chaired by Dr. George D. Stoddard, who would later serve as President of the

186
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 164.
187
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 164.
188
Unconditional
Memorandum, George to Orr, 10 July 1946, HI, Trainor Papers, Box 28, cited in Nishi, ​
Democracy​ , 164.
189
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 164­165.
190
Kawai, ​Japan's American Interlude,​187.
45
 191 ​
University of Illinois. Historian Kazuo Kawai points out that the mission gathered

much of their information about Japan from GHQ education officers under MacArthur's

command; thus, he suggests, many of the report’s proposed recommendations were

192
likely mere endorsements of pre­prepared SCAP proposals.

What the report calls “a revision of courses of instruction and of textbooks” as

well as the “purging of vicious elements in the teaching profession” was actually in full
193 ​
motion even before the Education Mission began. Following Japan’s surrender on

August 15, 1945, school textbooks were quickly altered to remove militaristic phrases.

The Japanese government mandated that schools begin the “blackening over”
194 ​
suminuru​
(​ ) textbooks even before American troops had set foot in Japan. Schools

were directed by order of the Ministry of Education to “ink over or cut out those
195 ​
inappropriate parts of the text.” Asahi Shimbun​
Writing to the ​ in 1986, former 5th

grade teacher Kawamura Fusako, sixty­five (f), recalled that they notified teachers in

Japan to “ink out the following parts in Japanese language, Japanese history, and
196 ​
geography textbooks so that they cannot be read.” These sections included parts of

the curriculum that emphasized honoring the state and that supported Japan’s “belief in
197
victory.” She, along with her colleagues, decided to burn all “valuable historic

photographs, rare books, and documents depicting the Ise Shrine” that hung in the

191
Kawai, ​Japan's American Interlude,​187.
192
Kawai, ​Japan's American Interlude,​188.
193
Report of the United States Education mission to Japan, submitted to the Supreme commander for the
Allied powers, Tokyo (March 30, 1946), 3­4.
194
John W Dower, ​ Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II​ (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
/New Press, 2000), 247.
195
Kurita "Making Peace with Hirohito and a Militaristic Past," 189.
196
Gibney, ​Sensō, 278­279.
197
Gibney, ​Sensō, 278­279.
46
 198 ​
teacher’s room and library. She felt “angry and wretched,” but also felt that she could
199
not resist.

The primary focus of the report was on the decentralization. In one section, “The

Aims and Content of Japanese Education,” the report claims that a highly centralized

educational system, even if not caught under the influence of “ultra­nationalism and
200
militarism...is endangered by the evils that accompany an entrenched bureaucracy.”

Decentralization was seen as necessary so that teachers could develop professionally

201
without regimentation and in turn develop their students into “free Japanese citizens.”

In order to decentralize the education system and achieve democratization,

MacArthur chiefly targeted the textbook system. The control of textbooks was therefore
202 ​
“promptly” taken out of the control of the Ministry of Education. In his memoirs,
203
MacArthur wrote that “a free people can exist only without regimentation of thought.”

He privatized the textbook system, putting the Japanese publishing industry on “a

competitive basis” for “the first time” and tasked them with the “preparation and printing
204 ​
of the textbooks.” According to MacArthur, while the Occupation did not force specific

texts upon Japanese schools, it did require them to be free of “previous militaristic,
205 ​
ultra­nationalistic propaganda.” As a result, MacArthur stated that it must have been

the first time in several generations that Japanese students studied from textbooks that

198
Sensō, 278­279.
Gibney, ​
199
Sensō, 278­279.
Gibney, ​
200
“Report of the United States Education mission to Japan,” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print, 1946), 57.
201
“Report of the United States Education mission to Japan,” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print, 1946),
57.
202
Douglas MacArthur, ​ Reminiscences​ (New York: McGraw­Hill, 1964), 311­312.
203
MacArthur, ​ Reminiscences​ , 311.
204
MacArthur, ​ Reminiscences​ , 312.
205
MacArthur, ​ Reminiscences​ , 312.
47
 206 ​
were “primarily educational.” General MacArthur estimates that in the first few years
207
of the educational reforms, around 250,000,000 new textbooks were distributed.

MacArthur also wrote that he wanted Japanese teachers to have “complete

academic freedom,” as uncensored textbooks would have been “little value” without
208 ​
“uncensored teachers.” In his directive to the Ministry of Education, MacArthur

ordered that all teachers and education officials who had been “dismissed, suspended,

or forced to resign” for “liberal or anti­militaristic opinions or activities” be immediately

209 ​
declared eligible for reappointment. Further, he directed that discrimination against

any student, teacher or education official based on “race, nationality, creed, political
210
opinion, or social position” was prohibited.”

After the new education system had “been in effect for some time,” Occupation
211 ​
authorities tested the effects of the reforms. In his autobiography, MacArthur called

the results, which he claimed were “a complete re­orientation” in “the outlook” of

212 ​
Japanese children, “extremely gratifying.” For example, MacArthur recalled that in a

society that had been completely militaristic years before, most Japanese school

children in the Occupation’s sampling were now interested in being professionals; out of

hundreds of students surveyed, only one expressed interest in an “army or navy

206
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
207
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
208
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
209
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
210
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
211
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
212
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
48
 213 ​
career,” and that student “wanted to be General MacArthur.” If we are to believe

General MacArthur, then the educational reforms were a complete success.

However, after the Occupation, several important changes were made to the

education system by conservatives in the Japanese Government. The Yoshida Cabinet,

which held power during most of the Occupation years, was responsible in many ways

for the success and failures of reform efforts. Yoshida Shigeru held the position of Prime

Minister from May 22, 1946 – May 24, 1947 as the leader of the Liberal Party, and then

again from October 15, 1948 – December 10, 1954 as the leader of Democratic­Liberal
214 ​
Party [which in 1950 merged again with the liberal party]. The Yoshida Government

“acquiesced” in some of the “momentous changes” to the education system but resisted
215 ​
in other areas, according to Japanese historian Takamae Eiji. The conservatives

objected to the creation of independent boards of education and succeeded in

postponing their full introduction until October 1952, after Japan had regained
216
independence.

Writing critically about teachers newfound autonomy, former leader of the Liberal

Party, Yoshida Shigeru, recalled in 1973 that: “Japan seemed to have an increasing

number of teachers who did not appear to have any idea what education was about and
217 ​
was intended to accomplish.” Teachers, he said, now tended to pamper their students

213
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 312.
214
"Prime Ministers in History,"​Prime Minister and His Cabinet,​Accessed January 26, 2016,
http://japan.kantei.go.jp/cabinet/0031­60_e.html​ .
215
Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy,​trans. Robert Ricketts, and
Eiji Takemae, ​
Sebastian Swann (New York; London: Continuum, 2002), 546.
216
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ , 546.
217
Yoshida Shigeru, ​The Yoshida Memoirs: The Story of Japan in Crisis,​Trans. Yoshida Kenichi
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973), 171.
49
and submit to their juvenile views, which these teachers believed was progressive;

teachers did this instead of encouraging students to form their own opinions rather than
218 ​
accept the latest fashionable view. Yoshida expected teachers to educate young
219 ​
Japanese as the future citizenry of the country first and foremost. Patriotism and

reverence for the Throne were widespread values of Japanese before the war, he

wrote. According to Yoshida, replacing these wartime values with the new and

unfamiliar values of democratic education left an education that lacked the same degree
220
of meaning, and purpose, for Japanese.

Yoshida recalled that social conditions and “particularly the education issue” had
221 ​
taken a turn for the worse. At the same time, little had been accomplished towards
222 ​
reconstruction of the country from the effects of war, he said. Yoshida placed much of

the blame for this deterioration on unions, in the case of education, the teachers’

unions. The nation, he said, had become prey to “destructive Communistic tendencies,”
223 ​
which led to mounting labor troubles and strife. Of concern to Yoshida were
224
numerous instances of primary school teachers and students going on strike.

Teachers’ unions originally formed with the support and encouragement of the

Occupation. For example, the Japanese Association of University Professors was

formed in 1946 and by 1951 had more than 5,200 members in 92 public and private

218
Yoshida, The​Yoshida Memoirs​
, 171.
219
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 170­171.
220
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 171.
221
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 170.
222
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 170.
223
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 170.
224
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 170.
50
 225 ​
universities. Their intended purpose as an organization was to defend academic

freedom; during October of 1949, the Association issued an “unambiguous definition of

academic freedom,” which GHQ would later undermine as part of its Red Purge. In the

public school system, teachers formed the All­Japan Teachers’ Union to improve
226
working conditions for teachers and to speed the democratization of schools.

While GHQ originally encouraged the formation of unions, the international

U.S.­led battle against communism soon led to a reversal of some important Occupation

New York Times​

reforms to education. In a ​ article from February of 1949, titled “Japan

Told to Oust Red School Cells” shows that the Occupation began to support efforts,

similar to those taken by militarists in the 1920s, to rid Japan’s universities of communist
227 ​
cells. A spokesman for the Civil Education Section of GHQ, Captain Paul T. Dupell,

criticized certain communist teachers for making converts out of disgruntled students

and other teachers; “they have become so obnoxious,” he said, “they have to be
228 ​
discharged for incompetence and undesirability.” He indicated that the Occupation

would support, “without limit,” schools that summoned police to remove discharged
229 ​
teachers who returned to “arouse students.” This statement shows a clear deviation

from the original goals of democratization of schools; if teachers were too left­leaning in

1949, they could be fired.

225
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​, 367.
226
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​, 367.
227
The New York Times​
Burton Cranes, "Japan Told to Oust Red School Cells," ​ (1923­Current File), Feb 5,
1949.
228
The New York Times​
Burton Cranes, "Japan Told to Oust Red School Cells," ​ (1923­Current File), Feb 5,
1949.
229
The New York Times​
Burton Cranes, "Japan Told to Oust Red School Cells," ​ (1923­Current File), Feb 5,
1949.
51
 In 1954, purportedly in an effort to counter these perceived threats, Yoshida’s

Cabinet introduced two laws. One of these laws prohibited teachers engaged in
230 ​
compulsory education from taking part in political activities. The second law banned
231 ​
all “overt” political education forced on teachers by the teachers’ unions. These laws

essentially banned all political activity by public school teachers both during and after
232 ​
school hours, with the exception of voting. Yoshida recalls that these bills were met

with “violent opposition” from the minority in the Diet, the teachers’ unions, and certain
233 ​
elements of the press. Despite efforts to obstruct their passage, however, the bills
234
were ratified in May of 1954.

New York Times​

In a ​ article from September of 1955, The Japan Teachers’

Union was reported to have been preparing to fight government plans to bring school
235 ​
textbooks once again under the control of the Ministry of Education. Government

officials charged that many teachers, who at the time had the freedom to select
236 ​
textbooks for their classes, chose books containing “pro­Communist material.” Kiyoshi

Okachi, Deputy Secretary General of the union, warned that the government move

threatened to bring about a return to Japan’s pre­war system in which the Ministry of
237 ​
Education held absolute control over teaching procedures. Prime Minister Ichiro

230
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 175.
231
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 175.
232
Takemae, ​Inside GHQ​ , 546.
233
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 175.
234
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Yoshida, ​ , 175.
235
The New York Times​
Robert Trumbull, "Textbooks Curb Fought in Japan," ​ (1923­Current File), Sep 9,
1955.
236
The New York Times​
Robert Trumbull, "Textbooks Curb Fought in Japan," ​ (1923­Current File), Sep 9,
1955.
237
The New York Times​
Robert Trumbull, "Textbooks Curb Fought in Japan," ​ (1923­Current File), Sep 9,
1955.
52
Hatayama and the Democratic Party had earlier released a pamphlet that concerned

the union and its leadership. The pamphlet, which was distributed to prefectural

education committees and parent­teachers associations, called the teachers’

238 ​
organization a “hotbed of communism.” It added “the textbooks with distorted

educational contents are the result of efforts by the Japan Communist Party and the
239 ​
Japan Teachers’ Union to Communize textbooks.” Such efforts by conservatives in

the Japanese Government to target teachers’ unions have shown how influential the

unions were in combating centralized control.

In 1956, under Prime Minister Hatoyama’s Cabinet, elected local school boards

were effectively abolished by the Local Educational Administration Law; thereafter, local

school boards were appointed by mayors and school superintendents were appointed

by prefectural boards, which now controlled the hiring and firing process for local
240 ​
teachers. According to historian Takemae Eiji, these superintendents, chosen by

prefectural and municipal boards, undermined local prerogatives; the boards ratified

decisions made by higher ups and used their indirect power to set local education
241 ​
policy. The Ministry of Education regained limited centralized power in the form of
242 ​
“advice, guidance, and consent” to the appointed officials. While this new system was

markedly different than the prewar system of direct control, it did take Japan’s education

system closer to centralized control. At the time the law was passed, there was

238
The New York Times​
Robert Trumbull, "Textbooks Curb Fought in Japan," ​ (1923­Current File), Sep 9,
1955.
239
The New York Times​
Robert Trumbull, "Textbooks Curb Fought in Japan," ​ (1923­Current File), Sep 9,
1955.
240
Takemae, ​Inside ​
GHQ, 546.
241
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 371.
242
Takemae, Inside​GHQ​ , 546.
53
widespread popular anger at the changes; in 1956, 500 police had to enter the Upper

House of the Diet to restrain angry lawmakers roiled up by the efforts at centralization.
243

And then in 1958, the Ministry of Education began to further reassert control over

the textbook censoring process. Through its conservative advisory body, the Textbook

Review Council, the Ministry has since 1958 censored and purged proposed textbooks
244 ​
considered harmful to Japan’s self­image. Textbook screening had originally served

as a tool for purging textbooks of militarist ideology, but is now used to whitewash texts

with perceived anti­Japanese sentiments. As a result of the Ministry of Education’s

efforts to recentralize the curriculum, they have faced outspoken criticism and staunch
245
Nikkyouso​
resistance from the Japan Teachers’ Union (​ ).

In the years after the Occupation, historian Saburo Ienaga has fought against

continued efforts by the state to shape the content of education in local schools. After

Shin Nihonshi​
Ienaga’s revised edition of his ​ textbook in 1955, the Ministry of Education
246 ​
(MOE) requested he make 216 edits; finally the book was published in 1956. New

guidelines were issued by the MOE soon after and it took him until 1958 to gain
247 ​
approval for a further revised copy, which was eventually published in 1959. Finally, a

revised 1962 textbook was rejected by the MOE, which disclosed only 20 reasons

(despite there being 323 items altogether); he made those revisions and the book was

243
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ , 546.
244
Takemae, ​Inside GHQ​ , 546.
245
Takemae, ​Inside GHQ​ , 546.
246
Nozaki Yoshiko and Inokuchi Hiromitsu, “Japanese Education, Nationalism, and Ienaga Saburo’s
Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United
Textbook Lawsuits,” in ​
States​, ed. Laura Hein and Mark Seldon (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000), 107
247
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 107.
54
then approved if he agreed to change 293 items; after again completing the requested
248 ​
revisions, this book was approved and published. These cases convinced Ienaga that
249
the textbook screening by the Ministry of education was a form of censorship.

In 1965, Ienaga sued the Ministry of Education for excising more than 300
250 ​
passages from a textbook he had submitted for review. While some legal scholars

and publishers’ unions worried at first that Ienaga’s suit was risky, Ienaga received

massive support from the Japan Teachers’ Union, the Publishing Workers’ Union, many
251 ​
individual teachers, scholars, and publishers’ staff. The suit was filed on the premise

that the state screening of textbooks was unconstitutional as it violated freedom of

expression and scholarship and ran contrary to the Fundamental Education Law [an
252 ​
Occupation reform]. The case stalled after the state appealed Ienaga’s request to
253 ​
disclose key documents explaining its objections to his textbooks. The Tokyo District

Court handed him a partial victory in 1974, ruling that the Ministry of Education had

abused its power on 11 specific items out of the 293 that Ienaga had contested; but at
254 ​
the same time it affirmed the state’s right to regulate the content of education. Ienaga

appealed.

In the mid­1980s, Ienaga was in the midst of three course cases at once, all
255 ​
moving towards the Supreme Court. The rulings were mixed. For example, on March

248
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 107
249
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,”107.
250
Inside GHQ​
Takemae, ​ , 546­547.
251
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 107
252
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 107
253
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 109.
254
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 109.
255
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 117.
55
 256 ​
1993, the Supreme Court dismissed his first case after a 28 year battle. In 1989, the

Tokyo District court ruled, in Ienaga’s third lawsuit, that censors had been wrong in
257 ​
censoring part of a textbook he had written. While the court upheld the government’s

right to review school texts and dictate course content, it also allowed Ienaga’s inclusion
258 ​
of the Nanjing Massacre and other wartime atrocities. The rulings reveal that the

Japanese people, especially those in teachers’ unions, widely disapprove of efforts to

re­centralize the education system, but that the Japanese government and the

Japanese courts continue to push centralization as legitimate.

In 1946, Dr. George D. Stoddard, Chair of The United States Education Mission,

wrote that he had been impressed with the “cultural resources of the Japanese,” their

“will to move on,” and their willingness to face the demands of democracy “unfearfully.”
259
In 2014, rankings released by education firm Pearson placed Japan in second place
260 ​
globally behind South Korea in terms of the best education systems. The education

systems at the top of the list included those with “strong culture[s] of accountability” as
261 ​
well as “engagement among a broad community of stakeholders.” These traits were,

in many ways, what the Occupation’s reformers sought to craft from Japan’s postwar

education system.

256
Nozaki and Inokuchi, “Japanese Education, Nationalism,” 117.
257
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ , 546­547.
258
Takemae, Inside​ GHQ​ , 547.
259
George D. Stoddard in “Report of the United States Education mission to Japan,” (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Govt. Print, 1946), iv.
260
Pearson, "Education and Skills for Life," The Learning Curve, Accessed January 19, 2016,
http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/2014­report­summary/.
261
Pearson, "Education and Skills for Life," The Learning Curve. Accessed January 19, 2016,
http://thelearningcurve.pearson.com/2014­report­summary/.
56
 Even though the Japanese government has regained much of its influence in the

school systems as a result of appointing local school boards and superintendents, these

structures are much different and much more susceptible to opposition than the system

of direct authoritarian control of the Ministry of Education during the war years.

Textbooks, while increasingly censored by the Ministry of Education beginning in 1955,

are still published independently. And while Ienaga has been largely unsuccessful in

challenging the State’s right to review school textbooks before they are published, he

has been successful in disputing some redactions made to his work. This also would not

have been possible during the war years. His case also reveals widespread support for

decentralized curriculums as he has received sympathy and interest from large

segments of Japanese society. Another important legacy of the Occupation’s education

reforms was the teachers’ unions. Teachers still retain much greater levels of

independence than they had before the Occupation and the unions continue to voice

powerful opposition to Government efforts to recentralize education. In addition, Japan

is a flourishing democracy with high civic participation. As the Pearson survey from

2014 shows, Japan’s education system, a system built by the Occupation, is successful

in large part due to widespread support from the Japanese people. If we return to the

original purposes of the Occupation education reforms, to rid the country of militarism

and help build a successful democratic system, the education reforms were a success.

Despite the influence of conservative forces in the government, there still exists a strong

opposition to militarism owing in part to the post­war curriculum that continues today.

57
 Chapter III: Article IX

On September 18, 2015, the upper chamber of Japan’s Diet approved

controversial bills allowing its military to engage in overseas combat in limited

262 ​
circumstances. These sweeping changes will potentially undermine over 70 years of

pacifism that resulted from post­war Occupation reforms undertaken by the Allied

powers. Much of the current debate, over the Liberal Democratic Party’s actions to shift

Japan from a pacifist nation to one capable of waging overseas war, ignores the long

process by which Japan has regained much of its military prowess. Article IX of Japan’s

constitution, which bans Japan from possessing a military, faced large challenges after

independence, however, it has remained unamended 70 years later, and furthermore,

during this time Japan has not fought a war. I will argue that the Article IX was

successful because of widespread popular support that continues through this day. To

gauge the success of Article IX, we must examine if its purpose and structure of has

remained in place.

On July 26, 1945, President Harry S. Truman, Chinese President Chiang

Kai­Shek, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Potsdam Declaration

outlining the terms of Japan’s imminent surrender. The Declaration called for: the

removal from authority of Japanese leaders responsible for leading Japan into

imperialist war; a continued Allied Occupation until Japan proved its “war­making

power” was destroyed; the disarmament of all Japanese military forces and

demobilization to civilian life; “stern justice” would be meted out to all war criminals;

262
Will Ripley, Jason Hanna, and Eimi Yamamitsu, "Japanese Lawmakers OK Greater Overseas Role for
CNN​
Military," ​ , September 18, 2015, Accessed February 02, 2016,
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/asia/japan­military­constitution/​
.
58
Occupying forces would be withdrawn from Japan as soon as demilitarization and

democratization took place; [and] the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed
263 ​
forces the alternative of which would be “prompt and utter destruction.” On August 14,

1945, Emperor Hirohito decided that the Potsdam Declaration must be accepted and on
264 ​
August 15, Japan formally capitulated to Allied forces. Reflecting on Article IX of the

Japanese Constitution, General MacArthur claims he was “convinced” that it was the

“most moral of ideas” and that it was “exactly what the Allies wanted at that time for
265 ​
Japan...they had said so at Potsdam and they had said so afterwards.” While

MacArthur wrote in 1964 that Article IX complied with the wishes of the Occupation to

rid Japan of militarism, he may in his writing have overlooked the distinctly Japanese

edits to its wording.

MacArthur recalled in 1964 that the problem of demobilization and disarmament

of Japanese forces became the Occupation’s “immediate objective” as soon as the

266 ​
surrender ceremonies were completed. On September 2, 1945, Japanese military

forces numbered 6,983,000 troops, consisting of 154 army divisions, 136 brigades, and

20 important navy units spread from Manchuria, to the Solomon Islands, to the islands
267 ​
of the central and southwest Pacific. There were 2,576,000 Japanese soldiers on
268 ​
Japan’s home Islands alone. MacArthur asserted in 1964 that demobilization of

263
“Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, Issued, at Potsdam, July 26, 1945” (the Potsdam
Declaration), ​
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c06.html​
.
264
Tōgō Kazuhiko, Japan’s Foreign Policy 1945­2003: The Quest for a Proactive Policy​ (Boston: Leiden,
2005), 29.
265
Douglas MacArthur, ​Reminiscences​ (New York: McGraw­Hill, 1964), 304.
266
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 285.
267
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 285.
268
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 285.
59
 269 ​
Japan’s “war machine” was tasked to the Japanese Army and Navy Ministers. While

General Headquarters, the Eighth Army, and the U.S. Navy helped supervise and

coordinate the demobilization and disarmament efforts, it was the Japanese

270 ​
“themselves who performed the task.” Once demobilization and disarmament was

complete, GHQ set about planning what Japan’s future would look like in a new

constitution.

The constitutional basis for Japan’s renunciation of armed forces was

promulgated on November 3, 1946 as Article IX in the Japanese Constitution. At the

time Article IX was introduced to the Japanese Diet, many Diet members voiced
271
concern that it was pledging Japan to be unarmed state in a dangerous world.

However, some significant changes were made to the article’s wording before it was

passed in the Japanese Diet. While the basic integrity of the law was maintained, the

new wording allowed later debate over and changes to the status of Japanese military

strength. Article IX of the Constitution of Japan reads as follows:

Article IX.​Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order,

the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the
threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to
accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as
other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state
272
will not be recognized.

Embracing Defeat​
Historian John Dower argues in his book, ​ , that revisions to the

original wording of Article IX made by a small group in the Japanese Diet before

269
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 285.
270
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 286.
271
Embracing Defeat,​394.
Dower, ​
272
“The Constitution of Japan,” November 3, 1946, ​
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c06.html​
.
60
passage of the Constitution created ambiguity that may have intentionally left Japan
273 ​
open to rearmament. The wording of the original version of Article IX was as follows:

War, as a sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of force, is forever
renounced as a means of settling disputes with other nations. The maintenance of
land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be authorized. The
274
right of the belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

So what was changed? Dower points out the importance of several changes in wording

made by former Hitoshi Ashida then a Diet member (and later Prime Minister) and

Chairman of the Committee on the Bill for Revision of the Imperial Constitution, the

Japanese body tasked with reviewing the new constitution. These changes in wording,

known as the Ashida amendment, included “maintenance of international peace” as the

objective of the article; and changes that included the wording, “In order to accomplish
275 ​
the aim of the preceding paragraph,” “war potential” will never be maintained. While

the original version of Article IX began with its focus on forever renouncing war as a

means of settling disputes with other nations, the Ashida amendment instead began by

focusing on international peace as its focus. Ashida’s version reads that “war potential”

will not be maintained, however unlike the original version it does not say that limited

military forces cannot be authorized. This change, says Dower, allows proponents of

military forces in Japan to argue that Japan can possess limited military forces as long

273
John W Dower, ​ Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II​ (New York: W.W. Norton &
Co./New Press, 2000), 394.
274
Original Version of Article IX of the Japanese Constitution as Submitted to the Japanese Diet, quoted in
John W Dower, ​ Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II​ (New York: W.W. Norton & Co./New
Press, 2000), 394.
275
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​396.
61
as they are incapable of waging a war of aggression thereby disturbing international
276
peace.

New York Times​

As quoted in a ​ article from 1953, former Prime Minister Hitoshi

Ashida took credit for changes made to Article IX before it was promulgated. He argued

that Japan had the right to arm itself in matters of self­defense. Japan, he said, could

“assume her responsibilities of joint defense” with other free nations of the world without
277 ​
the need for a constitutional amendment. He argues further that Japan’s peace

clause, by 1953, was no longer a matter of international debate because the 1951

Peace Treaty had recognized Japan’s “inherent right of individual and collective
278 ​
self­defense.” This argument is important because many politicians on Japan’s far

right have used Ashida’s very same argument to legally justify rearming Japan even

without officially amending the constitution.

In thinking of Article IX’s success, another way to look at it, despite changes to its

wording, is how it was embraced by ordinary Japanese. Article IX has remained

unamended since promulgated nearly seven decades ago, despite mounting efforts to

amend it. In his memoirs published in 1964, General MacArthur credits former Prime

Minister Kijūrō Shidehara for suggesting the idea that would become Article IX. He

claims that during an appointment with Shidehara, Shidehara thanked him for bringing

penicillin to Japan, which had helped the Prime Minister recover from a severe illness;

directly afterwards, MacArthur claims, he proposed that the new constitution include

276
Dower, ​Embracing Defeat,​396­397.
277
Burton Crane, "ASHIDA SAYS JAPAN HAS A RIGHT TO ARM," ​ New York Times,​Oct 05, 1953.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/112757535?accountid=14637​
.
278
Burton Crane, "ASHIDA SAYS JAPAN HAS A RIGHT TO ARM," ​ New York Times,​Oct 05, 1953.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/112757535?accountid=14637​
.
62
 279 ​
“the so­called no­war clause.” The Prime Minister, MacArthur said, wanted to “prohibit
280
any military establishment” for Japan. In doing so, the old military party would be

deprived its instrument to seize power, and it would send a message to the world that
281 ​
Japan “never intended to wage war again.” MacArthur also adds that Shidehara

believed Japan was a poor country and that whatever resources it had left should put
282
towards “bolstering the economy.”

The exact origins of Article IX are unclear, however scholars, politicians, and

researchers have strongly suggested that General MacArthur himself may have been

responsible. In the context of today’s debates about revising the constitution, many feel

that it is important to know to what degree Japanese input was involved in the March
283 ​
6th draft constitution. What is clear is that Shidehara was “profoundly enthusiastic”

about introducing reforms demilitarizing Japan, but he did not believe strongly in
284 ​
achieving those goals through constitutional reform. In an interview conducted in the

Pacific Century​
1992 documentary series ​ , Richard Poole, a former member of GHQ’s

Government Section, and one of the drafters of Japan’s new constitution, revealed that

while drafting the constitution, he expressed worries on including Article IX, which he

feared would face opposition from the Japanese, to Colonel Charles Kades. In response

Poole recalled, Charles Kades Responded, “Poole, do you know where that draft comes

279
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 303.
280
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 303.
281
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 303.
282
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 303.
283
Tōgo, Japan’s Foreign Policy​, 39.
284
Tōgō, Japan’s Foreign Policy​, 38.
63
 285 ​
from? The General. Need I say anything more?” “No sir” replied Poole. Why would

MacArthur attempt to credit the Japanese with creating the no­war clause? The

evidence supports the theory that MacArthur wanted to make the initiative for Article IX

look like it was coming from the Japanese so that it would prove more popular. While it

is unlikely that MacArthur would have attempted to convince members of the Japanese

Diet of the authenticity of the clause, perhaps he intended to influence the Japanese

people instead.

However, historian Toshio Nishi further argues that MacArthur’s “belated attempt”

to deny his close association with Article IX was due to Cold War backtracking which
286 ​
might have been a source of embarrassment for him. Speaking about Article IX’s later

interpretation, MacArthur claimed that nothing in it “prevents any and all necessary
287 ​
steps for the preservation of the safety of the nation.” If Japan is attacked, “she will
288 ​
defend herself.” Article IX, he wrote, was aimed “entirely” at eliminating Japanese
289 ​
aggression. As the Cold War intensified and communist forces gained control of

China, the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear bomb, MacArthur ordered the creation

of a National Police Reserve, the force that would later become the Self­Defense

Forces and whose existence potentially poses a constitutional threat in violation of

290 ​
Article IX. To continue to argue for the legitimacy of Article IX and ensure its ultimate

285
Pacific Century: ­­ 5 ­­ Reinventing Japan. Produced by Peter Bull and Alex Gibney (Claremont, CA: The
Pacific Basin Institute, 1992).
286
Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945­1952
Toshio Nishi, ​
(Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1982), 127.
287
MacArthur,​Reminiscences​ , 304.
288
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 304.
289
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 304.
290
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 127.
64
success, MacArthur needed to come to terms with present day realities. Either

explanation for why MacArthur credited the Japanese takes into account his desire for

the reforms to prove successful.

Regardless of who originated Article IX, it has received staunch support from

those in the Japanese Government just as it has received criticism from conservatives.

Former Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru stated in 1950 that “The right of self­defense in
291 ​
Japan’s case” is the right of self­defense without resorting to “arms.” Speaking to the

House of Councilors later that month, Yoshida added that if lawmakers held onto the

idea of protecting the country with weapons, then “we ourselves will impede the security
292 ​ 293
of Japan.” Further, true security lay in “earning the confidence of other nations.”

While Dower argues that Yoshida surely wished to hasten the end of the Occupation

and expedite Japan’s reacceptance into the international community, he also points out

that Article IX “possessed a compelling psychological attraction” to the Japanese people

who were sick of war and “burdened by the knowledge” that the world still viewed them
294 ​
as “inherently militaristic.” If Dower’s interpretation of the Japanese people’s desires

is correct, and I suspect there is a great deal of truth to his argument, Article IX was not

something simply thrust upon the Japanese. Not only did the Diet pass it into law, but a

Conservative Prime Minister later defended its pacifist intentions.

To understand the Cold War threat to Japan, we should first look at Soviet

actions directly after the War in the Pacific ended. Writing in 1964, General Douglas

291
Embracing Defeat​
Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru quoted in Dower, ​ , 398.
292
Embracing Defeat​
Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru quoted in Dower, ​ , 398.
293
Embracing Defeat​
Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru quoted in Dower, ​ , 398.
294
Embracing Defeat,​398.
Dower, ​
65
MacArthur recalled that Russia “commenced to make trouble from the very beginning.”
295
He recalled that Russia demanded that its troops should occupy Hokkaido and that
296
Russian forces would be independent of the authority of the Supreme Commander.

General Kuzma Derevyanko at first threatened that the USSR would move into

Hokkaido without MacArthur’s permission, but MacArthur threatened to “throw the entire
297
Russian Mission, including himself, into jail” after which the plans were dropped.

On March 19, 1947, MacArthur announced at a press conference that a Peace

Treaty with Japan might soon be in the works, and that Japan might be ready to regain
298 ​
sovereignty. When asked who would protect the Japanese, MacArthur stated that

Japan might need to backtrack and establish a small military, but that it would also rely

upon “the advanced spirituality of the world” to protect them against foreign aggression.
299
At the time a Peace Treaty was being considered, the U.S. government, especially

the Department of Defense, pushed back against MacArthur’s suggestion for a pacifist
300 ​
Japan. Japan was widely considered the “most important nation, strategically and
301 ​
economically” in Asia. Underlying the public announcements was a top­secret debate

between MacArthur, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense over the

positives and negatives of authorizing limited Japanese re­armament in the peace

302
treaty.

295
MacArthur, ​Reminiscences​ , 285.
296
MacArthur, ​Reminiscences​ , 285.
297
MacArthur, ​Reminiscences​ , 285.
298
Unconditional Democracy: Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945­1952
Toshio Nishi, ​
(Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1982), 268.
299
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 268.
300
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 268.
301
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 268­269.
302
Unconditional Democracy​
Nishi, ​ , 269.
66
 In his memoirs published in 1964, Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, who held the

office of Prime Minister from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954, offered his own

sentiments on rearmament directly after the war and his thoughts on the sentiments of

the Japanese people. Yoshida claimed that during his time in office, he consistently

opposed rearmament, and said that on no occasion did he contemplate taking such a
303 ​ 304
step. The idea of rearmament, he said, always seemed to be “verging on idiocy.”

Japan, unlike the United States, was not a wealthy country and could not afford a large
305 ​
military, even proportional to its wealth. Yoshida blamed politicians for conjuring the

idea in the first place, and he felt they threw it around without understanding the subject,
306 ​
and they did not understand that it could never be done. Yoshida said that what would

stop rearmament was not only Japan’s lack of wealth; Japan’s people lacked the
307 ​
“psychological background,” the desire of the people, to rearm. This he attributed to

the vivid war memories that Japanese still possessed, the memories of miseries and
308
destruction, and, he said, “they want none of it again.”

In 1951, the original U.S.­Japan Mutual Security Treaty was signed alongside the

Treaty of San Francisco, the second of which ended World War II and granted Japan
309 ​
independence. The Mutual Security Treaty was a ten­year, renewable military

agreement that outlined a security arrangement between Japan and the U.S. in light of

303
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 191.
304
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 191.
305
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 192.
306
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 192.
307
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 192.
308
The Yoshida Memoirs​
Shigeru, ​ , 192.
309
Beina Xu, "The U.S.­Japan Security Alliance." Council on Foreign Relations (July 1, 2014).
67
 310 ​
Article IX. In essence, the treaty granted the United States the right to operate military
311
bases in Japan in exchange for a U.S. guarantee to defend Japan if it was attacked.

Beina Xu, a writer at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes that the security treaty

dovetailed with the Yoshida Doctrine­ a strategy for postwar Japan developed by former

Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru­ that called for Japan to rely greatly on the United
312
States for its security needs while it focused resources on its own economic recovery.

In May and June of 1960, Japan was rocked by massive protests, some of the

largest in its history, in response to the revised security treaty between the U.S. and
313 ​
Japan. Ratified on June 23, 1960, it committed the United States to come to Japan’s

aid in the event Japan was attacked and it provided bases and ports for U.S. forces in
314 ​
Japan. The revised agreement, termed “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security

between the United States of America and Japan” faced a different climate than its

Anpo​
predecessor. In what have become known as the “​ ” protests, hundreds of

thousands of people demonstrated on the streets each day, ten million signed petitions
315
against the treaty, thousands were injured, and one person was killed.

In an interview in 2010, Yuichi Yoshikawa, 79, a veteran peace campaigner, said

that opposition to the renewed security agreement arose “as we still had vivid memories

of World War II, which had ended only 15 years (earlier), and believed the treaty would

310
Xu, "The U.S.­Japan Security Alliance."
311
Xu, "The U.S.­Japan Security Alliance."
312
Xu, "The U.S.­Japan Security Alliance."
313
Justin Jesty, "Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage and Grief Hamaya Hiroshi’s Photos of the Anti­Security­Treaty
Protests,"​ Visualizing Cultures​
(MIT: 2012).
314
The Japan Times​
Keiji Hirano, "Legacy of 1960 Protest Movement Lives On," ​ , June 11, 2010.
315
Jesty, "Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage.”
68
 316 ​
lead to another war.” While the protests started with relatively small numbers,

numbers soon swelled, revealing widespread “antiwar sentiment stirred also by the

outbreak of the Korean War and the launch of the Self­Defense Forces in the 1950s”
317 ​
added Yoshikawa. In addition, the nuclear brinkmanship of the 1950s caused

massive anxiety throughout Japanese society and as a result, support for neutrality as

opposed to an alliance with the United States, grew stronger during the pre­renewal
318 ​
period. Polls taken in 1950 showed that among those Japanese polled, 22%

supported neutrality while 55% supported the U.S.­Japan alliance; by 1959 those

numbers were 50% and 26% respectively, while by 1960, 59% supported neutrality and
319
only 14% supported the U.S.­Japan alliance.

These numbers reveal that while very little opposition arose in response to the

original Mutual Security Treaty signed in 1951, pacifism had evidently taken hold in

Japan by the end of the 1950s. By 1960, even the prospect of getting dragged into a

war through an alliance with the United States was unpalatable for a majority of

Anpo​
Japanese citizens. The ​ protests were so large in scale that they forced President

Dwight D. Eisenhower to cancel his planned visit to Japan, and opposition to the treaty

ended up toppling Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke who had pushed the bill through the
320
Diet.

Perhaps the most effective way to measure the success of Article IX in Japan is

to examine the public’s acceptance and embracement of pacifism. While calls from the

316
The Japan Times​
Keiji Hirano, "Legacy of 1960 Protest Movement Lives On," ​ , June 11, 2010.
317
The Japan Times​
Keiji Hirano, "Legacy of 1960 Protest Movement Lives On," ​ , June 11, 2010.
318
Jesty, "Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage.”
319
Jesty, "Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage.”
320
Jesty, "Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage.”
69
conservatives to strengthen Japan’s military, such as those by Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe, come often, protest and backlash against such a move equally constant. In

Asahi​
response to the ​ newspaper’s request in 1986 that readers reflect on their wartime
321 ​
experiences, four thousand readers wrote in with their experiences. Among these

letters were many that denounced war and expressed strong support for Japan’s

post­War path of pacifism. While some readers tried to explain their own wartime

misdoings or support for the war, most every reader agreed that war had been an

incredibly bad thing for Japan, economically, morally, and spiritually.

One reader, Sakuraba Mieko, fifty­six (f), in 1986, reflected that her son, home
322 ​
from college, told her of a new field called “peace studies” being taught in college. In

reply to her son, Mieko replied, “Now that’s more like it! I think it’s wonderful to have
323 ​
“peace studies.”” While we can by no means take Mieko’s enthusiasm and apply it to

all Japanese, it certainly reflects a new mindset among Japanese. Not only did her

son’s college create a field for peace studies, but also Mieko thought it important

Asahi Shimbun​
enough to write to the ​ about. While foreign media often publicizes

Yasukuni​
controversial visits by members of Japan’s Diet to ​ Shrine, it regularly fails to

publicize popular resistance to symbols of militarism.

Asahi Shimbun​
reader Kojima Yuki, fourteen (f), wrote, in 1986, of the widely

prevalent resistance to the rising sun flag seen in Okinawa. She hoped this hatred

toward militarism would push Okinawans, who experienced such horrors during the war,

321
Sensō: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War: Letters to the Editor of Asahi
Frank Gibney, ​
Shimbun​ (Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), vii.
322
Sensō, 303.
Gibney, ​
323
Sensō, 303.
Gibney, ​
70
 324 ​
to fight future militarism. On top of these hopes, Yuki took great pride in the

Constitution and reforms, which she believed had contributed to a lifestyle more

“affluent than it was during the war;” in addition, she expressed a strong desire to “etch”

into her heart the horrors of war and to help Japan progress toward peace thereby
325
aiding in the “progress of mankind.”

Another reader, Mogi Yoshio, sixty­eight (m), a former principal in Japan,

expressed guilt, in 1986, for contributing to militaristic education. He recognizes the

huge “switch in values” embodied in the new Constitution, but calls on all Japanese to
326
take pride in it and resist anything that infringes upon it, in order to prevent future war.

War, he says, is “a horrible act” that “suppresses the conscience and thought” of a
327
people, and “tramples” on their “basic human rights.”

This new pacifist identity receives criticism from Japan’s far right because they

see a new, more effeminate Japan, unwilling to hold its place in a dangerous world.

However, to other Japanese, their pacifist identity is a matter of pride. Kawaguchi Ikuo,

sixty­one (m), took pride in Japan’s new Constitution when he wrote to the ​
Asahi

Shimbun​
in 1986. Japan, he said, will not be able to abolish war by opposing it alone,
328
but policies could be adopted that would prevent Japan from “growing close to war.”

Keeping military expenditures low was one such measure; and Japan, he said, should

be proud of the diversion of such expenditures toward international economic

324
Sensō, 304.
Gibney, ​
325
Sensō, 304.
Gibney, ​
326
Sensō, 300.
Gibney, ​
327
Sensō, 300.
Gibney, ​
328
Sensō, 302.
Gibney, ​
71
 329 ​
assistance and cultural exchanges. While some, he recognized, see the Constitution

merely as “an idealistic daydream,” it had allowed Japan to rise to its “present state of
330 ​
economic prosperity.” Even if Japan were to amend Article IX, the difference between

modern day Japan and pre­1945 Japan is that Japan’s population, resistant to

militarism, is vocal, can vote, and the government has checks and balances in place to

prevent a handful of powerful men from sending the country on imperialist forays.

In addition to popular opinion, pacifism is also an official foreign policy position of

the Japanese government in the way it distributes foreign aid. Starting in 1990, the

Japanese government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, released

an Official Development Assistance (ODA) charter that included an objective of nuclear

331 ​
nonproliferation. In making aid decisions, lawmakers would consider: “(1) trends in

military expenditures; (2) the development and production of weapons of mass

destruction and missiles; (3) exports or imports of arms; and (4) democratization efforts,

the development of market­oriented economies, and the status of human rights and
332 ​
freedom.” As the world’s “largest donor of aid,” Japan is defining an important role in
333 ​
international non­proliferation through the manipulation of foreign aid. And thus it

329
Sensō, 302.
Gibney, ​
330
Sensō, 302.
Gibney, ​
331
William J. Long, “Nonproliferation As a Goal of Japanese Foreign Assistance” in Akitoshi Miyashita, and
Yoichiro Sato,​ Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific: Domestic Interests, American Pressure,
and Regional Integration​ (New York, NY: Palgrave, 2001), 119.
332
William J. Long, “Nonproliferation As a Goal of Japanese Foreign Assistance” in Akitoshi Miyashita, and
Yoichiro Sato,​ Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific: Domestic Interests, American Pressure,
and Regional Integration​ (New York, NY: Palgrave, 2001), 119­120.
333
William J. Long, “Nonproliferation As a Goal of Japanese Foreign Assistance” in Akitoshi Miyashita, and
Yoichiro Sato,​ Japanese Foreign Policy in Asia and the Pacific: Domestic Interests, American Pressure,
and Regional Integration​ (New York, NY: Palgrave, 2001), 120.
72
occupies a vital role in the international community in encouraging peace and human

rights.

The Japan Times​

In March 2016, ​ covered current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s

efforts to amend Article IX. Abe has said openly that he hopes to pass a constitutional

amendment to Article IX while he is still in office; his term as the Liberal Democratic
334 ​
Party’s leader ends in September 2018. He hopes to alter Article IX to allow the Self

Defense Forces, which he says have had the public’s support since 1954, greater

capabilities and to allow Japan to come to the aid of allies even when Japan does not
335 ​
face a direct threat of attack. Abe’s remarks have drawn criticism from fellow

members of the LDP and its coalition partner, the Komeito party; they worry that efforts

to amend Article IX will alienate voters and unite the opposition parties ahead of this
336 ​
summer’s Upper House elections. Abe himself acknowledges that revising Article IX
337 ​
does not yet have popular support in Japan. He says he will focus on making

changes to the constitution starting with less controversial subjects, such as granting

the prime minister emergency powers in times of crisis such as natural disasters or
338
direct attacks on Japan, before he focuses on amending Article IX.

Article IX of Japan’s constitution has faced large challenges after independence,

however, it has remained unamended 70 years later, and furthermore, during this time

Japan has not fought a war. As the renewal of the Mutual Security Agreement between

334
The Japan Times,​March 15, 2016 (Accessed
Editorial Board, "Abe's Drive to Amend Constitution." ​
March 17, 2016),
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/03/15/editorials/abes­drive­amend­constitution/#.Vuo7BRIrLIF​
.
335
The Japan Times,​March 15, 2016.
Editorial Board, "Abe's Drive to Amend Constitution." ​
336
The Japan Times,​March 15, 2016.
Editorial Board, "Abe's Drive to Amend Constitution." ​
337
The Japan Times,​March 15, 2016.
Editorial Board, "Abe's Drive to Amend Constitution." ​
338
The Japan Times,​March 15, 2016.
Editorial Board, "Abe's Drive to Amend Constitution." ​
73
Japan and the United States came to a vote in the Japanese Diet in 1960, huge

protests rocked the capital city of Tokyo, revealing an intense desire among the

Japanese people to prevent being drawn into another war. And while conservative

forces in the Japanese Government, such as current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,

continue to push to amend Article IX, widespread popular support still stands against

them.

74
 Conclusion

Reminiscences​
Writing in his memoir, ​ , in 1964, MacArthur reflected that among

his goals for the Occupation, had been to: “destroy the military power…punish war

criminals…build the structure of representative government…modernize the

constitution…establish a free labor movement…encourage free economy…liberalize

339 ​
education…decentralize political power.” These tasks had occupied him for more than

five years until the end of the Occupation in 1952. All of these reforms, he wrote, were
340 ​
“eventually accomplished, some easily, some with difficulty.” The goals of the

occupation, put simply, were to demilitarize and democratize Japan. However, while

MacArthur claimed absolute success, scholars with expertise on the Occupation

reforms disagree on the success of each reform. Japan is not the country it once was

and it owes a large deal of credit to the United States Occupation for shaping the new

laws and institutions of the post­War era. The Japanese people too deserve credit for

their resilient spirit and dedication to rebuilding a country devastated by war. The three

zaibatsu​
major reforms focused on in this work, the reform of the ​ , reform of the

education system, and Article IX, have faced very different fates despite all three

undergoing intense undermining pressure by conservatives in the U.S. and Japan

beginning in the late 1940s. As I have shown, what separated success from failure were

the differing levels of widespread popular support, in Japan and in the United States,

which each reform received. Let us briefly examine where each reform stands today.

339
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 282­283.
340
Reminiscences​
MacArthur, ​ , 283.

75
 zaibatsu​
The debate over whether to reform Japan’s ​ had arisen from the debate

over whether they unfairly restricted economic activity and the free market in Japan.

MacArthur and his staff believed that a democratic Japan would be a Japan free from

the influence of powerful business leaders. Complying with President Truman’s

zaibatsu​
directive, MacArthur and his staff immediately set out to dissolve the ​ and to

remove their top­level executives from power. As the Japanese economy continued to

struggle through 1947 and 1948, and as Japan’s increasingly leftists labor movement

grew, conservatives in Japan and the United states mounted a successful campaign in

the United States media and in Congress to halt the reforms. Worried that Japan was

venerable to communist takeover, conservatives in both countries pushed for economic

stabilization over democratization.

zaibatsu​
In 1948, the United States officially withdrew its support for anti­​ policies

and instead began to encourage Japan’s Government to once again support big

business. Beginning in June of 1950, with the onset of the Korean War, the successors

zaibatsu​
of Japan’s ​ , such as Mitsubishi Shoji (Mitsubishi Corporation), led Japan’s

economy down a path to growth and prosperity unrivaled in history. These successors,

keiretsu​
known as the ​ , have since retained their privileged place in the Japanese

economy and in Japanese politics. The Toshiba scandal in 2015 has once again

brought light to the close and compromising relationships between government and big

business in Japan that the Occupation reforms had attempted to severe. In the end, the

zaibatsu​
reversal in ​ reforms undermined both their structure and purpose. And while

76
Japan’s economy stabilized and has prospered, the Occupation’s reform of the ​
zaibatsu

failed.

Japan’s education system had served as a notorious tool for indoctrinating young

Japanese into the principles of nationalism and had inarguably helped fuel militarism up

to and during World War II. Because education served as a means of shaping Japanese

political and cultural values from a young age, it was an essential target for reform in the

creation of a new democracy. Not only was subject matter democratized, but the

administration of schools was also democratized and decentralized to prevent control by

national political parties, the Ministry of Education, or special interest groups.

Efforts by conservatives in the Japanese government, beginning in the 1950s, to

recentralize control under the Ministry of Education, such as implementing increased

censoring of school textbooks, have challenged the reforms greatly. So too have

conservatives’ efforts to undermine the teachers’ unions, a successful legacy of the

reforms, which continue to fight recentralization. However, despite these challenges,

widespread support still exists for decentralized education and free, often pacifist,

curriculums. Teachers, with support of the unions, still retain much greater levels of

independence than they had before the occupation. And while the Ministry of Education

continues to increasingly censor what it sees as anti­Japanese sentiments in textbooks,

Ienaga’s lawsuits show widespread support across Japanese society to fight this trend.

In addition, Japan is a flourishing democracy with high civic participation. If we return to

the original purposes of the Occupation education reforms, to rid the country of

militarism and help build a successful democratic system, the education reforms were a

77
success. While their structure has been somewhat altered in place, their purpose

remains in place. As the Pearson survey from 2014 shows, Japan’s education system is

successful in large part due to widespread support from the Japanese people. Despite

the influence of conservative forces in the government, there still exists in Japan a

strong opposition to militarism owing in part to the post­War curriculum that continues

today.

Article IX of Japan’s constitution has proven to be one the Occupation’s most

successful reforms. While it has faced large challenges after independence, it has

remained un­amended 70 years later, and furthermore during this time Japan has not

fought a war. As the renewal of the Mutual Security Agreement between Japan and the

United States came to a vote in the Japanese Diet in 1960, huge protests rocked the

capital city of Tokyo. The protests revealed an intense desire among the Japanese

people to avoid being drawn into another war. Since 1954, the growth of Japan’s Self

Defense Forces has caused concern among many Japanese; however, it remains a

non­aggressive and defensive force with limited size and limited capabilities. And while

conservative forces in the Japanese Government, such as current Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe, continue to push to amend Article IX in order to grant greater strength and

greater capabilities for the Self Defense Force, the efforts have so far been

unsuccessful. Both the structure and purpose of Article IX have remained intact. And

even Shinzo Abe, who has led recent efforts to amend Article IX, publically recognizes

that the Japanese people widely support it. As the Japanese people continue to

embrace pacifism, the legacy of Article IX is one of success.

78
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Basic Initial Post Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers for
the Occupation and Control of Japan (JCS1380/15)​" November 3, 1945.

Cohen, Theodore and Herbert Passin.​

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