Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

Transforming Japan

A major land reform was conducted, led by Wolf Ladejinsky of MacArthur's SCAP staff; however, Ladejinsky himself stated that the true architect of the land reform was Hiroo Wada, then-Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from the Japan Socialist Party. Between 1947 and 1949, approximately 4,700,000 acres (1,900,000 ha), or 38% of Japan's cultivated land, was purchased from the landlords under the government's reform program, and 4,600,000 acres (1,860,000 ha) was resold to the farmers who worked them. By 1950, 89% of all agricultural land was owner-operated and only 11% was tenant-operated. MacArthur's efforts to encourage trade union membership met with phenomenal success, and by 1947, 48% of the non-agricultural workforce was unionized. Some of MacArthur's reforms were rescinded in 1948 when his unilateral control of Japan was ended by the increased involvement of the State Department. During the Occupation, SCAP successfully, if not entirely, abolished many of the financial coalitions known as the Zaibatsu, which had previously monopolized industry. Eventually, looser industrial groupings known as Keiretsu evolved. The reforms alarmed many in the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, who believed they conflicted with the prospect of Japan and its industrial capacity as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia.

Japan's hereditary peerage, called kazoku, that lasted for over a millennium in different but essentially similar forms, was abolished by the new Japanese constitution that was heavily influenced by MacArthur. This was similar to the European peerage system involving princes, barons and counts that were not part of the royal family. Also, the extended royal family, called ōke and shinnōke, was abolished and stripped of all rights and privileges, transforming into commoners immediately. The only Japanese that were allowed to call themselves a part of royalty or nobility after the U.S. occupation were the emperor and about 20 of his direct family members. This action by MacArthur and the writers of the constitution helped transform Japan drastically by abolishing all of the old extended royal family class and the nobility class.

Welfare programs

One of the largest of the SCAP programs was Public Health and Welfare, headed by US Army Colonel Crawford F. Sams. Working with the SCAP staff of 150, Sams directed the welfare work of the American doctors and organized entirely new Japanese medical welfare systems along American lines. The Japanese population was in a poor state: most people were badly worn down, doctors and medicines were very scarce, and sanitary systems had been bombed out in larger cities. Sams' earliest priorities were in distributing food supplies from the United States. Millions of refugees from the defunct overseas empire were pouring in, often in bad physical shape, with a high risk of introducing smallpox, typhus and cholera. The outbreaks that did occur were localized, as emergency immunization, quarantine, sanitation, and delousing prevented massive epidemics. Sams, who was promoted to Brigadier General in 1948, worked with Japanese officials to establish vaccine laboratories, reorganize hospitals along American lines, upgrade medical and nursing schools, and bring together Japanese, international, and US teams that dealt with disasters, child care, and health insurance. He set up an Institute of Public Health for educating public health workers and a National Institute of Health for research, and set up statistical divisions and data collection systems.

Constitution

One of the most significant actions of SCAP during the occupation was the drafting of a new Japanese constitution. One of MacArthur's top priorities was an overhaul of the existing Meiji Constitution, to bring the country in line with its new democratic government. He gave the task of drafting the constitution to his officers, frustrated by the slowness of legislators. They would finish the task within a week, and presenting the new constitution as a wholesale amendment to the Meiji Constitution. It provided protections to the Emperor, placing him at the head of the state. It was ratified in November 1946 and went into effect May 3, 1947.

Article 9

The most polarizing aspect of the Japanese constitution, a part that still sees debate to this day, is the presence of Article 9, a clause covering the status of the Japanese military. The clause outlaws belligerency and prohibits the establishment of organized armed forces by the government. Despite this, Japan maintains a "self defense force" (a de facto defensive military) of around 250,000 active personnel. Article 9 and the JSDF are both hotly contested subjects of debates in modern Japanese politics, as pacifists see the JSDF and military involvement in foreign countries as unconstitutional, while nationalists seek Article 9's removal and a wider rearmament of Japan.

War crimes issues

SCAP arrested 28 suspected war criminals on account of crimes against peace, but it did not conduct the Tokyo Trials; the International Military Tribunal for the Far East was responsible instead. President Harry Truman had negotiated the Japanese surrender on the condition the Emperor would not be executed or put on trial, a condition which SCAP carried out.

As soon as November 26, 1945, MacArthur confirmed to Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai that the emperor's abdication would not be necessary. Before the war crimes trials actually convened, SCAP, the IPS and officials from Hirohito's Shōwa government worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated in Sugamo Prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.

As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, MacArthur also decided not to prosecute Shirō Ishii and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. On May 6, 1947, he wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as "War Crimes" evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948.

Media censorship

Above the political and economic control SCAP had for the seven years following Japan's surrender, SCAP also had strict control over all of the Japanese media, under the formation of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) of SCAP. The CCD eventually banned a total of 31 topics from all forms of media. These topics included:

• Criticism of SCAP (individuals and the organization).
• All Allied countries.
• Criticism of Allied policy pre- and post-war.
• Any form of imperial propaganda.
• Defense of war criminals.
• Praise of "undemocratic" forms of government, though praise of SCAP itself was permitted.
• The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Black market activities.
• Open discussion of allied diplomatic relations (Soviet Union–United States relations).

Although some of the CCD censorship laws considerably relaxed towards the end of SCAP, some topics, like the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were taboo until 1952 at the end of the occupation.

Approach to the Japanese Communist Party and Post-War Reforms

MacArthur legalized the Japanese Communist Party despite reservations from the United States government and invited them to take part in the 1946 election, which was also the first ever Japanese election to allow women to vote. He ordered the release of all political prisoners of the Imperial Japanese era, including communist prisoners. MacArthur approved the first May Day parade in 11 years in 1946. On the day before the May Day celebrations, which would involve 300,000 Japanese communists demonstrating with red flags and pro-Marxism chants in front of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and the Dai-Ichi Building, a group of would-be assassins led by Hideo Tokayama that planned to assassinate MacArthur with hand grenades and pistols on May Day was stopped and some of its members arrested. Despite this plot the May Day demonstrations went on. MacArthur stopped the Communist Party from gaining any popularity in Japan by releasing their members from prison, conducting landmark land reform for the rural Japanese farmers and peasants, and allowing the communists to freely participate in elections. In the 1946 election they won only 6 seats.

Legacy

MacArthur remained in Japan until relieved by US President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951, after which he was succeeded as SCAP by General Matthew Ridgway. The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on 8 September 1951, marked the end of the Allied occupation, and when it went into effect on 28 April 1952, Japan was once again an independent state. That same day, General Order 10 was issued, formally dissolving GHQ-SCAP, with its remaining functions transferred to the Far East Command headquartered in Tokyo, before it was in turn abolished on July 1, 1957. The United States continued to administer some Japanese islands after that. For example, Okinawa was continually under US administration until 1972.

Active US military presence

All branches of the United States military forces are still present in Japan today. They primarily function in a support role, providing defense for Japan and the surrounding region, per the agreements of the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty. The United States Forces Japan consists of around 50,000 service members deployed all over Japan to protect Japanese and US interests alike. This has led to tension at times between Japanese citizens and American servicemen, with incidents frequently occurring between locals and servicemen and crimes frequently committed by servicemen against locals, such as the 1995 Okinawa rape incident. These incidents led to plans to relocate military bases in Okinawa, namely Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, as three quarters of all USFJ installations are located in the prefecture, despite its small size. However, the plan has been delayed due to protests at the site designated for its relocation on another part of the island.

Works cited and further reading

• Bix, Herbert P. (2000). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-019314-0; OCLC 247018161
• Dower, John W. (1999). Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-04686-1; OCLC 39143090
• Gold, Hal. (2003). Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation and the Post-War Cover-up. Boston: Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-4-900737-39-6; OCLC 422879915
• James, D. Clayton (1985). Volume 3, Triumph and Disaster 1945–1964. The Years of MacArthur. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-36004-0. OCLC 36211311.
• Lind, Jennifer. (2008). Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4625-2; OCLC 214322850
• Manchester, William (1978). American Caesar. New York: Little, Brown and Company, pp 459–544. ISBN 0-316-54498-1
• Schaller, Michael (1985). The American Occupation of Japan: The Origins of the Cold War in Asia. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-503626-8. OCLC 11971554.
• Japanese Press Translations Collection from Dartmouth College Library
• Justin Williams papers, served as the Chief of the Legislative Division for the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers from 1945 to 1952. At the University of Maryland libraries.