Ruin, Reform, Reconstruction, Recovery
(Vignettes of Military Occupation In Japan)
While the Northern Marianas pays tribute to the returning veterans on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the invasion and liberation of Saipan and Tinian both previously important areas within the Japanese Mandated Islands of Micronesia my research for this article jumps ahead to explore life and reform (albeit in a nutshell) in Japan proper after the conclusion of hostilities and in particular the last two years of the American occupation.
Author John Gunther recorded his observations of daily life in Japan in his book, “The Riddle of MacArthur” (1) and points out this was the first time the United States had the job of unilateral administration of a defeated world power. The effort was no less than the remaking of an entire nation and to prove to Asia that democracy was better than communism.
At war’s end 70 percent of all buildings in Tokyo, a city of more that 6 million people, had been destroyed; 80 percent in Osaka and 90 percent in Nagoya. Over 2. 2 million private homes had been destroyed and 7 million repatriates were returning from overseas, many of whom no longer had homes or even living relatives with whom to reside. Packing crates served as homes for thousands. Four hundred thousand were missing and by 1949 only 90,000 had actually returned. Japanese losses were staggering:
Military killed in action: 1.1 million
Aircraft losses: 49,500
11 battleships and 20 aircraft carriers sunk
Merchant ships lost: 2,346
8. 6 million tons of merchant shipping lost
Estimated civilian deaths 953,000
The estimated cost -$41.3 billion.
Toward the end of the war when food was in such short supply those children who had been moved to the countryside for safety created a pitiful card game. Nine sets of cards were hand drawn, each set consisting of a drawing divided into three pieces. After shuffling the cards, the players would compete in matching the right combinations of three pieces each to produce the original drawing. These drawings were of a plate of food but with no meat or eggs and only a small portion of rice and vegetables. The only way for many of the children to see good food was through this game.
During the days of the occupation one was likely to see charcoal-burning taxies powered by a stove and bales of wood for fuel. Pedicabs, a marriage between a bicycle and a rickshaw, was a common means of transportation.
Many streets had been given temporary American names such as 12th Street and Hashimoto Avenue and after a thoroughfare had been cleared of debris, traffic at night was directed by neatly dressed uniformed police officers at busy intersections with paper lanterns illuminated by candles. Each intersection had more than one police officer some as many as four. When ask why MacArthur reasoned that it allowed for more families to be fed as a result of the employment
There was Doolittle Park, Washington Heights and Roosevelt Area. Popular cigarettes with brand names “Peace” and “Happy” could be purchased. There were humorous signs in misspelled English: “Curious Antics”, (meaning Curios & Antiques); “Pearls, Curios & Fresh Fish” ; “Off Limits
Venereal Disease
Welcome Foreign Traders” ; “Forgive & Forget” ; “Sanitary Manure Only. “Restaurant menu items printed in English might read “Assoarted Frut” ; “Custurded Pudding. “
American soldiers were not permitted to enter any bar or night club marked “ Off Limits” and could not stay in a Japanese home after 11 P. M. They were discouraged from eating local food in Japanese restaurants when prepared by local cooks unless approved by military health authorities. This was a sanitary precaution as some local produce was cultivated using “night soil. “The restricted policy also eliminated any charge of exploitation by either party. Most importantly, however, Americans were expected to provide for their own food and take nothing from the food-short Japanese people.
To assault or molest a Japanese could result in the American being sentenced to a maximum of 5 years in prison. A G. I. robbed a tea house of 500 yen ($1. 30) and was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 10-years hard labor.
My good friend, Harry McCutcheon who served in the occupation remembers, “We were the victors and could do no wrong as long as you didn’t commit a crime. General MacArthur ran a very tight ship, several Americans were hung on Okinawa for rape and murder.
“There was an 11:30 p. m. curfew and you had to be off the street. If you got caught by the Military Police on the street after curfew they would pick you up and you would have to spend the night in an open cell in the jail and they would send a ‘Harry is a bad boy’ note to your first sergeant. “
Moral of the story lesson to be taught victors though they may be American soldiers were not above being punished if they broke rules and the law. This was not lost on the ever observant Japanese. It was not until the Peace Treaty was signed that a Japanese law enforcement officer could arrest an American soldier for some illegal action.
According to Gunther who resided in Japan in the early fifties, fraternization was not forbidden, apparently it was MacArthur’s attitude that “soldiers will be soldiers no matter what and that people of different nationalities ought to get to know one another. “Gunther went on to observe, “Odd and striking as the point may seem, most Americans in Japan appear to have forgotten completely that the Japanese were ever our implacable, mortal enemies; there is practically no evidence of hostility, resentment, or even suspicion. This is not to say that Americans by and large actually liked the Japanese, nor did they understand them well; most were baffled day by day by peculiarities in Japanese behavior and found them a profoundly impenetrable people. “
Interestingly, foreign diplomats in Japan were not accredited to the Emperor or the Japanese government but to MacArthur himself. They could make no contact with the government except by permission and approval of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). All foreign heads of missions presented the credentials of their respective governments to MacArthur and were not permitted any direct official access to any Japanese. Remarkably, even the United States Department of State and the American Ambassador was an emissary to MacArthur and many SCAP officials considered the State Department a nuisance. And they paid no attention at all to the Russians in Tokyo who considered themselves a member of the Allied Council. The Soviet Union entered the war against Japan only two days after the Hiroshima bombing.
Theodore Cohen in his book, “Remaking Japan The American Occupation As New Deal” (2) describes the occupation as “the most massive cultural clash in modern history. Two societies, that of occupiers and that of the Japanese, each built on premises alien to the other, existed side by side. “
Not long after the start of the occupation large numbers of battle hardened veterans were discharged and sent home. In many instances they were often replaced by their younger brothers who had not participated in the bitter fighting and harbored no hostility toward the Japanese. As time went on fewer and fewer in the American Army of occupation were actually veterans of the fighting.
Cohen poses the question: “After discarding years of feudal isolation and their own nation’s military dominance over their society, how was Japan able to convert its economy and institutions after a relatively short period of 6 or 7 years of military occupation and establish a political democracy?”
His answer rests partially on the provision of enormous quantities of American food aid; defense against foreign war reparation payments (at least until the 70’s); United States support of the country’s return to the international community of nations; adoption of a Constitution and progressive economic democratization.
Professor Takasaka Takashi of Kyoto University observed that “only a powerful outside force could have broken the immensely tenacious traditional mold which permitted postwar transformation. “
The dynamism of the Japanese people was freed from the confines of the past and the world has witnessed the innovative results of an industrious and capable people.
Is it possible that Mr. Cohen has pointed the way for a solution to a vexing contemporary military problem in the Middle East? Based on his observations: “Though the immediate power balance between conquerors and conquered would seem to indicate the exact opposite, it was far more important for the Americans to impress the Japanese favorably than vice versa. The success of the occupation and the acceptance by the Japanese of American objectives dependent upon it. “
“In an occupation that claimed to be liberating the people from the bad old days, it was imperative that the occupiers act like liberators. By Japanese standards, and especially in light of initial Japanese fears, they surely did. “
I will resist the temptation to draw a parallel between then and now with respect to recent events in Iraq except to state there’s a lesson there somewhere. (1) Harper & Brothers, N. Y.,1950 (2) The Free Press, Div. of Macmillan, Inc., N. Y., 1987