Transcript Post-Occupation Japan

Occupation-era Japan
Dr Elyssa Faison
University of Oklahoma
[email protected]
The Pacific War
• 1931: Manchurian Incident
The Pacific War
• 1931: Manchurian Incident
• 1937: China Incident
The Pacific War
• 1931: Manchurian Incident
• 1937: China Incident
• 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor
Ending the War
• Germany surrenders, May 1945
• Potsdam Declaration, July 1945
Potsdam Declaration
• Signed by US, Great Britain, China
• July 1945
• Called for unconditional surrender of Japan,
specifically…..
1. (6) removal from government of those
leaders responsible for leading the Japanese
people on a path of military expansionism
2. (7) the occupation of Japan until war making
powers are destroyed, and a new order of
peace, security and justice is established
3. (8) limitation of Japanese sovereignty to Honshu,
Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku, and such minor
islands as decided upon by the three powers
4. (9) complete disarming of the Japanese
military forces
5. (10) the punishment of war criminals,
development of democracy, establishment of
freedom of speech, religion and thought and
respect for fundamental human rights
6. (11) restriction of Japanese industries to
those that would allow for sustaining of
economy and payment of reparations, but
not so much as to allow for re-armament
War in the Pacific
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1945 March, Tokyo air raids
1945 April, Battle of Okinawa
1945 July, Potsdam Declaration
August 6, atomic bombing of Hiroshima
August 8, USSR enters the war against Japan
August 9, atomic bombing of Nagasaki
August 15, Japan surrenders
Surrender
• August 15, Japan surrenders
Allied Occupation of Japan
• SCAP: Supreme Commander Allied
Powers
• General Douglas MacArthur
US Occupation of Japan, 19451952
• Postwar slogans: “Peace and
Democracy”
US Occupation of Japan, 19451952
• Postwar slogans: “Peace and
Democracy”
• Continuities from wartime:
– Emperor
– Bureaucracy
US Occupation of Japan, 19451952
• Postwar slogans: “Peace and
Democracy”
• Continuities from wartime:
– Emperor
– Bureaucracy
• Constitutional changes:
– Emperor as symbol
– Article 9
– Women’s rights
Major Occupation Reforms
• Political reform:
– Militarist purge
– rebirth of the left
Major Occupation Reforms
• Political reform:
– Militarist purge
– rebirth of the left
• Land reform
Major Occupation Reforms
• Political reform:
– Militarist purge
– rebirth of the left
• Land reform
• Break-up of the zaibatsu (financial cliques)
Major Occupation Reforms
• Political reform:
– Militarist purge
– rebirth of the left
• Land reform
• Break-up of the zaibatsu (financial cliques)
• Constitutional reform
Major Occupation Reforms
• Political reform:
– Militarist purge
– rebirth of the left
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Land reform
Break-up of the zaibatsu (financial cliques)
Constitutional reform
Educational reform
PBS The American Experience: Douglas
MacArthur
https://youtu.be/4wZIwfUAJV0?t=36m28s
Min 36 until min 52: “MacArthur ended the
tours”
Cold War and Reverse Course
• International context of the Reverse
Course
– 1948
– 1949
– 1949
– 1949
Berlin Blockade
NATO formed
first Soviet nuclear test
China “goes communist”
• Cold War becomes a hot war: Korea 1950
Tokyo Tribunal, 1946-48
• 28 men tried for war crimes and “crimes
against humanity”
• Seven executed, including former Prime
Minister Tojo
• Emperor NOT put on trial
Reverse Course
• 1947 MacArthur bans planned general strike in
Tokyo
• 1949 JCP captures 35 seats and 10% of vote in
general elections
• 1950 Red Purge
• 1952 Creation of Japanese National Safety
Force (later becomes SDF)
San Francisco Peace Treaty
• Signed in 1951
• China (both PRC and ROC) is not asked
to participate or sign
• Soviet Union refuses to sign
PRC or ROC?
The Kuril Islands issue
“Japan” in Peace Treaty
US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty
• Takes effect 1952, just as occupation ends
• US may operate military bases in Japan
• No other country may have military bases
in Japan
• De-facto US control of Okinawa
Legacies of the Occupation
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Democratic Japan
Japan as US ally in the Cold War
Permanent US military bases in Japan
Article 9
Sets the stage for high economic growth
Yoshida Doctrine (1950s-1973)
• Economic Growth is Japan’s main
objective
• Involvement in international political affairs
should be avoided
• To guarantee security, Japan will rely on
US bases
• KEEP MILITARY EXPENDITURES LOW
Japan’s Self-Defense Force
• Under US pressure, PM Yoshida agrees to
create a Self-Defense Force by 1954
• No constitutional revision
• Primary function is disaster relief
• Japan has 5th largest military budget in the
world today
• First deployment to a war zone is Iraq
2004
Corollaries to the Yoshida Doctrine
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SDF will not be dispatched abroad
Japan will not become a nuclear power
Japan will not export arms
Japan will limit defense spending to 1%
GDP
• THESE PRINCIPLES WERE OBSERVED
FROM THE 1950s TO THE 1970s
High Economic Growth
• 1950s Three S’s: Senpuki, Sentaku,
Suihanki
• 1960s Three C’s: Kaa, Kuraa, Kara Terebi
• 1970s Three J’s: Jueru, Jetto, Jutaku
The “Shocks” of the 1970s
• 1971: US devalues currency against the
yen
• 1972: US embargoes export of soybeans
• 1972: Nixon’s visit to PRC
• 1973: OPEC Oil embargo
PBS Frontline:
Japan’s About Face