Remembering the occupation of Japan

Community Columnist

Historically, the phrase “military occupation” conjures up all sorts of images involving oppression and brutality. That’s because that is pretty much what has always happened whenever victorious armies have marched into the homeland of a vanquished foe.

In Biblical times, the nation of Israel suffered often under the heavy, cruel hands of conquerors such as Assyria, Babylon, Rome and others. Once mighty Rome herself was pillaged and occupied by the Visigoths early in the fifth century.

Both Korea and Manchuria were exploited in a similar way by the Japanese in the early part of the 20th century. Poland suffered horribly under German occupation during World War II, then again under the Russians after the war. And the list goes on and on.

Occupation begins

Seventy-five years ago, in early October of 1945, a defeated Japan had been occupied by a rapidly growing number of American troops for almost a month and a half. The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, or SCAP as he was commonly known, was Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Although the occupation of Japan was technically to be a joint Allied undertaking, it was, in reality, essentially an American effort. The British did play a small part. Russian attempts to have more say, and ultimately to influence Japan toward Communism, were simply snubbed by MacArthur. This was different from the situation in Europe, where Germany was divided into four occupation sectors, one each for the U.S., Russia, Great Britain and France.

As American forces began to pour into the Japanese homeland, it marked the first, and only, time in the island nation’s history when she had ever been under the control of foreign soldiers on her own soil. The total number of U.S. troops would swell to 350,000 by the beginning of 1946.

As the war ended and the occupation of Japan began, the nation literally lay in ruins. Her cities were rubble heaps, her transportation system almost non-existent, and her people were starving to death. Food previously imported from lands that she had subjugated was now cut off, as those nations had been liberated from Japanese tyranny. These supplies had actually been inaccessible for some time due to American control of the seas. Add to that the fact that Japan’s own 1945 crops were some of the worst on record and you get a food crisis of astronomical proportions.

SCAP’s initial overall objectives were twofold, to demilitarize Japan and to mold it into a democracy. However, little progress in those areas could be expected while people were struggling simply to find enough food to stay alive day by day. The feeding of Japan’s emaciated millions quickly became the top priority.

Japanese fears

The Emperor, considered a descendant of the gods by the Japanese, had called upon his people to submit to occupation forces. Ever loyal to their Emperor, the nation’s citizens were bracing themselves for harsh treatment from what they believed to be an arrogant conqueror. Imagine their surprise and relief when the anticipated harshness and arrogance were never truly realized.

In fact, initial public statements made by President Truman, Gen. MacArthur, and U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Chester Nimitz were all clearly conciliatory toward the Japanese, signaling America’s desire to rehabilitate and care for its former deadly enemy.

Toshikazu Kase was a member of the small Japanese delegation assembled on the deck of the USS Missouri for the surrender ceremony on Sept. 2, 1945. Once positioned onboard the big battleship for the signing of the documents, he felt as if his head and hands were being locked into stocks for public display. He would later write that “a million eyes seemed to beat on us with the million shafts of a rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.”

After hearing MacArthur speak of a “better world” that he hoped would “emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past,” Kase felt as if Missouri’s quarterdeck had been transformed into an “altar of peace.” To Kase, “MacArthur’s words sailed on wings.” The Japanese diplomat was “thrilled beyond words, spellbound, thunderstruck” by this early indication of forthcoming American compassion. Lieutenant General Yatsuji Nagai, a military member of Japan’s delegation on Missouri, was also struck by the absence of vindictiveness in MacArthur’s words.

Miracle in Japan

America’s occupation of Japan would continue for the next six years. It would not be perfect, but the end results would speak powerfully. Critics, decades removed from that eventful period, are always finding fault with

U.S. policy and actions in those days. However, America’s efforts to restore her fallen enemy speak volumes about her national character and spirit of good will.

During the American occupation, under the firm hand of Gen. MacArthur, Japan would draft a new constitution establishing democratic government, institute land reform which empowered millions of peasants to rise out of abject poverty, significantly improve its educational system, extend to women the right to vote and hold public office, legalize trade unions to help struggling workers, and instigate numerous, systemic social reforms.

Over the course of the occupation, America would invest $2.2 billion into efforts to rebuild and renew Japan. That sum is the equivalent of $18 billion in 21st century currency. It is estimated that the $700 million earmarked for food during 1946-1948 saved over 10 million Japanese from death by starvation.

Japan today is a solidly established democracy, with an economy that ranks third in the entire world. It is one of America’s most trusted allies, and a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. As a member of the U.S. Navy, I lived in Japan for three years in the late 1970s. Only 25 years removed from the end of the U.S. occupation, I witnessed the miracle of Japan’s transformation firsthand. Her people are definitely hardworking and industrious, but the direction and influence provided by a benevolent American occupation paved the way forward into the nation’s bright and free future.

It never ceases to amaze me, and to grieve me as well, that so many Americans seem to delight in casting dark, and mostly false, shadows across our nation’s past. Though never perfect, in the words of John Winthrop, she has been a bright light, a shining “city upon a hill,” to freedom loving people everywhere.

Remember those whose service in the occupation of Japan brought hope to a conquered foe ... 75 years ago.